“It was a lot better hearing about women’s empowerment from a woman”- Anne Doyle
Women‘s empowerment
Ellen spoke to us about all the places she has travelled to and some of her experiences. She told us about how different women are treated in other parts of the world. Ellen told us about a woman who is a professor from the United Arab Emirates. Women there are treated a lot differently compared to other countries. The professor had a student doing work with Ellen and the professor gave him the wrong book or made some other simple mistake like that. The student said completely horrible stuff to the professor and about her. I was completely shocked to hear this, but apparently, it seemed completely normal to the professor. I honestly couldn’t believe it. To be honest I didn’t realize how different everything was for women around the world. I mean I obviously know about gender inequality, like I’ve experienced microaggressions about my gender first-hand. The thing is I had never heard much about sexism in other parts of the world straight from someone who has experienced them. She talked a lot about women’s rights and empowerment with her own experiences. This is a much better way than just giving us facts and studies. Obviously, we as women know what it is like but it is better for men to hear about it that way. It was a lot better hearing about women’s empowerment from a woman compared to a man telling me that I can do and be whoever I want to be when he hasn’t actually gone through what most women do.
What happens in a day in the life of Ellen Gunning
Ellen is really passionate about her career in PR. You can tell by the amount of energy she has when she talks about it. She has sparked a real interest in a career in PR for me. She brought us through her day and how busy and varied it is. It really helped us picture if this actually was the career for us. Like if you would hate every day to be the same or if you like a routine. If you chose the first option then PR is an excellent career for you. When Ellen went through her day it made me stressed just hearing about it. It also sounded 10 times more exciting than a boring office job to me. Every time she stopped for a breath I thought she was finally done for a day, surely. But no! She starts each day as soon as she’s finished the day before.
Ellen talked about what she does when she’s helping someone through a crisis or a PR emergency. She gave us a story about someone who owns a charity and was going through a crisis. She brought us through how she got them to get media trained, got them an interview on TV, and their hair makeup and an outfit for being on television. Then in the interview, she told us all about how she had actually helped this person completely get ahead of the media and talk about the crisis themselves. This gave everyone a great idea of what happens in PR and how to help someone, essentially the inside scoop on a career in PR.
What else has she done…..
Ellen told us all about how she first started in the career of PR. She also talked about the books she has written and what got her into becoming an author. You would think that she is already filled up to her nose with work but she also has a radio show on Dublin City F.M. I think it is really amazing how much Ellen has been able to achieve and it shows how hardworking and dedicated she is to her career.
All of my classmates were fascinated with her talk. Most of the time we are all half asleep listening to these talks, but Ellen kept us engaged and gave off such amazing energy. I remember she started giving out her cards and everyone just ran up to grab one. It was a really amazing talk and I hope someday I could even be half as successful and passionate about my career as Ellen Gunning.
