PRIA NSW Young Guns Bolsters Committee With Fresh Industry Talent

The NSW chapter of the Public Relations Institute of Australia (PRIA) Young Guns has welcomed seven talented new members to its board. This doubles the committee’s size, and includes representation from senior and junior practitioners spanning in-house and agency roles.

The PRIA NSW Young Guns have welcomed Abby Kent, Account Executive at Sling & Stone; Sarah Meenan, Senior Account Executive at Mango Communications; Maxim Thomas, Senior Account Executive at The P.R. Group; Lottie May, Communications & Stakeholder Engagement Consultant at Aurecon; Rachel Jones, Corporate Affairs Graduate at Lendlease; Ellie Thomas, Account Director at Ogilvy; and Maddie Kiel, Freelance Communications & Public Relations Consultant.

Co-chair of the committee and founder of Wild PR, Rachel King, said the response to the new member callout was phenomenal and the committee was pleasantly surprised by the industry appetite to be involved with this initiative.

“We received almost 40 expressions from students, junior and senior PR and communication professionals. We were completely overwhelmed by the interest we received and the high caliber of talent that applied to be members of our team,” King said.

“To ensure we welcomed the industry’s best and brightest and continued to bring a fresh, innovative, and inspiring range of professional development offerings, we decided to double the size of our committee, and have already benefited from their diverse experience and thinking.

“We are really excited about the program we are bringing to life this year and the strategic direction our committee is taking,” King concluded.

The NSW Young Guns’ member base almost doubled in size ahead of 2022, demonstrating the growing demand from young practitioners and emerging professionals for career advice, industry connection and mentorship, and peer support.

Commenting on the committee’s focus for 2022, co-chair and associate director at Palin Communications, Maya Ivanovic, said there was growing demand for the Young Guns’ offering and the new committee brought a wealth of creativity to this year’s program.

“There has been a big shift in the way we work, collaborate and network. With work from home now the new norm, those in the early stages of their careers may find it increasingly difficult to access career mentoring, learning and development opportunities, and build their professional network. That’s where we come in – and the role of the NSW Young Guns has never been more important than it is right now,” Ivanovic said.

“The NSW Young Guns exists to provide meaningful support and development opportunities for emerging communications professionals and this year we have some exciting activities in the pipeline, including webinars, panel events, mentoring opportunities, and of course our PRinks networking drinks.

“I am also really excited about the opportunity we are able to offer our new committee members to not only support their industry colleagues but also to build their own skills, network, and experience,” Ivanovic said.

The new committee members join an experienced current committee of communications professionals, who have pursued careers in a variety of sectors, including: Co-Chairs Maya Ivanovic, Associate Director at Palin Communications, and Rachel King, Founder of Wild PR, alongside committee members Georgie Quigley, Founder of GQPR; Caitlin Stevens, Communications and Engagement Officer at Transport for NSW; Danielle Veivers, Corporate Affairs Manager at Citi; and Anastasiia Nazarenko, Account Manager, Palin Communications.

The NSW Young Guns committee has already been busy preparing for their first event of the year, an industry networking and speed mentoring evening, being held on Zoom at 6pm on Tuesday 29th March. Registrations close this Friday and places are limited. Click here to learn more.

To keep up to date with the NSW Young Guns and be the first to hear about upcoming events and networking opportunities, join the Facebook group here.

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PRIA NSW Young Guns Public Relations Institute of Australia