“We are in unprecedented times” echoes through the news, media, and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill weekly newsletters. The world has never seen a pandemic as drastic as right now. In this time, there is a crucial choice to be made: will I be a “yes” person or a “no” person.

The former would be an individual who is resourceful, cultivates creativity, shows compassion to those around them, all while being flexible and open-minded. The COVID-19 pandemic has given me the opportunity to write for crisis communication, think proactively, and use strategic communications to highlight the hope in the current situation. In the real world, there will always be some level of crisis to manage, and by working with my client I was able to put into practice protecting and promoting the organization.

Learning how to produce deliverable content to the wonderful nonprofit, Fill Your Bucket List Foundation, could be seen as the most valuable aspect of the class. I agree that the practical skills acquired in this course will benefit me in the future, however, there was something bigger that I will take with me. Putting the client, and in that matter, other’s before myself is what will benefit society in the long run. When I was ready to throw in the towel, Professor Carter encouraged us to reassure our client that they remain our top priority. Loyalty and consistency are traits I learned in this course and I will carry that throughout my personal life and professional career.

Working with a nonprofit is a unique opportunity that I have thoroughly enjoyed. With being a nonprofit, however, public relations may not the organization’s main priority. The biggest challenge of working with Fill Your Bucket List Foundation is that, despite out efforts, we only received two responses. It is understandable that there are many external stressors during such a time, however it did make it harder to create precise recommendations for the nonprofit. Every part of working with FYBLF was valuable, however there are several parts of the media kit that the organization did not seem to know what they would use it for. Creating content could be seen as not the best use of time, however I believe it caused me to look ahead towards the direction FYBLF wants to go and provide content that they still may use in the future.

My main recommendation for the Fill Your Bucket List Foundation is to create a sleeker and brighter website that holds the level of professionalism and creativity that the organization strives to display. I would also recommend posting content on social media platforms that bring value to its followers, such as quotes, statistics, and new research that is coming out to combat cancer. Additionally, I would suggest that the font and color for all social media content be in accordance to the organization’s style guide.

Fill Your Bucket List Foundation was a wonderful organization to work with. Our main point of contact was very responsive and assisted us with answering our questions and keeping us updated on the progression of COVID-19s effect on events and external communication needed. I would highly recommend Carolina Center for Public Service continue to partner with this APPLES client for future courses.

Overall, this course has given me not only the practical skills to establish and maintain mutually beneficial relationships between an organization and the publics on which its success and failure depend, but it also provided me with the perspective in which I can best serve clients.

For the PDF version, click here: HoTong_MEJO 332_Reflection Essay

For Word Document version, click here: FYBLF-Communication Audit

For Word Document format, click here: HoTong_fyblf_News Release 

For Word Document version: click here: HoTong_FYBLF_Profile

For Word Document, click here: FYBLF Social Media Content Guide