We know there are different people in this world but how well can we understand and embrace these differences? In a perfect world everyone could, but at least there is a way to educate people on these differences. With my experiences abroad and my leadership positions at the University of South Carolina, I plan to continue my pursuit of cultural awareness after graduation.

I plan to work in a public relations agency after graduation. One change I seek to bring in this position is with diversity workshops. I believe workshops are a great way to educate but also reinforce a change. In a public relations agency, employees are constantly working with different clients and knowing how to work with various people is important. A part of public relations also deals with working in teams. With this workshop, I can teach why diversity is an integral part for an agency to understand, embrace and operate in a more multicultural world, both in the marketplace and in the workplace.

My goal is not to persuade but to educate. In an agency, some clients can be locally or globally based so learning more about diversity and cross-cultural communication is beneficial to any employee and the agency as a whole. In public relations, one of the most important elements is communication. This is something I can promote because understanding and working with different types of people is another way that communication can effectively be used within the workplace.

To implement diversity workshops, I would promote them as a form of professional development. This can work because professional development is something most companies try to incorporate. As a professional development series I would hold it once a month with different activities for each session.

I seek to do this because I have personally experienced how well workshops work. In the past I attended the Student Leadership and Diversity Conference (SLDC) which helped me think about ways I could be more culturally aware to implement programs as a student leader that brings awareness to certain issues. I also attended several workshops as a resident mentor and peer leader. From every workshop, I always took something away and that is what I hope to do with these workshops within the company.

What I have learned is that most people learn best through several activities. I plan to incorporate this through a mix of speaking, multimedia and with open and peer-to-peer discussions. Diversity is not something that can just be taught, but learned through experience. I plan for this workshop to give employees the tools to better embrace diversity when dealing with other employees and clients.

Since diversity is such a broad topic, my goal is to break it down through several workshops. My first workshop would be an overview of how important it is in the workplace and then how to deal with it when it comes to specific clients. Topics I would focus on that I believe are most pressing for public relations would be on culture, gender and race. Without understanding these topics, employees cannot respond to client needs as effectively and cannot work cohesively to address these needs. From these topics, I can show how diversity and inclusion are an inherent part of agency growth by embracing similarities and differences of employees, ideas and clients.

I feel prepared for this challenge because of my position as a resident mentor at the International House at Maxcy. Being an RM helps me on the diversity side because I know what to incorporate in the workshop to give people on overall sense of how important diversity is in the workplace. I know this because I have worked with international and domestic students for over three years and have promoted and implemented programs on cultural awareness.

An essential part of the workshop is teaching and my experience as a peer leader for University 101 prepares me for this. As a peer leader, I taught on different topics to first-year students in helping them with their college transition. I had to prepare lesson plans and that experience helps me when creating lesson plans for this workshop to add structure and specify key learning outcomes. My oral communication skills were enhanced because of this position which also helps me when conducting a workshop because I have experience and am comfortable speaking in front of groups of people.

To evaluate how well these workshops are, I plan to end them with a short reflection session to see what people thought of the presentation and assess the key points they take away from it. From there I will tell the participants how we can instill what we have learned from the workshop to the agency. Following through on the topics can influence more people to attend and invest in future workshops. For specific data evaluation, I would send a follow up survey for feedback to better structure future workshops. These evaluation methods serve as a way of justifying and keeping this professional development series.

The main reason why I seek to take this initiative is to provide a positive learning environment that teaches the values of diversity for individuals but also in maximizing team effectiveness. No matter which public relations agency I get into, it is always important to understand, serve and connect with the diverse clientele and this workshop serves as a way of attaining that goal. I look forward in using my leadership and cultural experiences in fostering an inclusive work environment where different people and perspectives are valued.