QA &

By Rachel Harsley

Rachel: What sparked your passion for PR?

Kim: It’s funny you ask that because as a kid, I was very quiet and bookish in school. It just wasn’t my thing to be out in front. I did love to write, and my mother was an English teacher. I had a friend at Baylor who said, ‘Hey, I’m taking this journalism and introduction to public relations class. You should take it with me. It’s a great elective,’ and so, I took it.

I was just fascinated because the teacher talked about all the things he had done in his career. By being able to tell a story well, it had taken him across the world. He was an Associated Press journalist who covered wars and major political things that had happened in the world, and I thought, “OK, here’s the place that I can apply my ability to write well and speak well. And tell a story and help people understand the complicated issues.” So, it was like a perfect fit of my natural abilities.

I went into it wanting to be in the background. As I matured, in my first job that I got out of Baylor, I was like, “Oh, I’m actually kind of good at speaking to people.” As you get a little more confident in yourself, the front facing part of the job starts to emerge. I was like, “Well, I’m actually pretty good at this, too.” I think that’s a good lesson for people: you don’t have to be a super extrovert. In fact, I think in my career, most excellent communicators are probably more of an introvert. They’re very detailed, and they feel and speak from an internal voice as opposed to strictly what sounds great. That’s nothing against extroverts. It just means that you can be a great public relations person even if you’re not the life of the party.

Rachel: Walk me through your PR journey. Kim: When I graduated from Baylor, I was dating a boy that was a year behind me and, of course, I didn’t want to leave because who knew what was going to happen with that? So, I decided to look for a job in Waco. At the time, there weren’t a lot of public relations positions in Waco. Most people left as soon as they graduated, and I thought I was going to Dallas or Austin to work at an agency. That was my dream. When I applied for the one Waco job that was open at the time, I found out about the job through PRSSA. One of my professors said, “You really should go to a PRSSA meeting with me.” I went and I met this gentleman who was hiring at a local electric utility company called Brazos Electric. I was like, “Huh, not exactly what I imagined I’d be doing.” But I figured, I’ll take this job for a year and we’ll see what happens with the boyfriend. Right? Well, that turned into an eight-year career at Brazos Electric. That’s kind of where I found my voice and grew into myself. I had opportunities to do some great projects that really stretched my abilities. The boyfriend, you know, exited stage left.

I ended up marrying and having my first child. When my second child came along, I decided I was not going to work full-time anymore. I stayed home for a couple of years with both of them. And then, I was ready to get back into the field, but I didn’t want to do it full-time because I was still focusing on my kids. MCC had a part-time position in the public information office doing newsletters, taking pictures, writing press releases — just very basic entry level type stuff. It got me back into using my skills. It was a perfect position for the time.

I didn’t know anything about community college. Where I came from, we didn’t have community college. I was at MCC for about two weeks, and all of a sudden, I was like, “Oh my goodness. I so get this mission.” I love the mission. I love that we are an open door admissions office. Anyone who wants to pursue higher education can do so through a community college. It just grabbed my heart. And so, as with everything else in my life, I started out part-time and then about four years later, the president asked me to be the director of community relations and marketing because the college didn’t really have that role. He realized that I had a good skill set, and that the college at the time really needed to step up its public relations game. I took that role and I was in that position for many years. I then moved over to the MCC Foundation for about eight years and did the same sort of work there. I learned about foundation work, fundraising and telling a similar story with a slightly different end result in mind. Public relations is still basically telling your story well, and instead of resulting in enrollment, it results in gifts and support for the organization.

I moved over to our University Center for three years because that program needed a boost. We actually had some double-digit enrollment increases in that program, and we were doing some really cool marketing for them. And then, I became the executive director. I jokingly say my husband worries that I have commitment issues because I’ve changed jobs several times. It wasn’t that I was unhappy or disinterested in what I was doing. It was always like there was another great opportunity out there. I think that’s another great lesson that I’ve learned in life is that change can be scary, but God has a plan and you just have to open your eyes and your heart and your ears and say, this is God showing me this path and I should give it a shot. And it’s always worked out.

Rachel: What’s your favorite campaign you’ve worked on?

Kim: The marketing campaign that we launched for the University Center was really a textbook case of how to rebrand yourself, launch a new communications campaign and actually see results. We literally started the campaign and within the next semester or two, we were seeing huge enrollment increases. Nobody knows about the University Center. It’s our “best kept secret,” and it shouldn’t be. The University Center, at the time, had been around for close to 20 years. The new message was, “You can get a bachelor’s degree from Texas Tech University right here in Waco for under $25,000. And so, if you are not seeking the full campus experience, if you’re not wanting to go away for school and if you’re OK living at home, you can get a really excellent bachelor’s degree and not have to take out loans.” If you look at the population in McLennan County, we are not in a rich community. There are so many families that are overextending themselves on higher education. We went from about 200 students up to 600 or 700. It was awesome. That’s one I’m especially proud of.

Rachel: You were named “Outstanding Fundraising Professional” by the Central Texas Chapter of Fundraising Professionals. What advice would you give to fellow PR professionals in being successful at it?

Kim: I never, ever thought I would be in fundraising. I was never the kid that sold the most Girl Scout cookies. I just didn’t really like approaching people. What I learned is, again, it’s just telling the story well and letting the donors understand what you’re doing. It’s also matching what they’re interested in with what you have and figuring out how you can tie those two things together. Public relations skills are paramount for fundraising, and we’re not just talking about the slick, “Give us some money and we’ll put up a plaque for you.” It’s not like that. That’s going to be one of the things I miss the most about this work that I’m in now when I transition to teaching this fall. These donors are my friends, you know, and I’m not being Pollyanna about that. I really care about them as people, and they care about me. They ask me about my family, my husband and our trip to Hawaii. My biggest message on this is to not be afraid of fundraising. Even if you don’t think you would ever do fundraising, you’ll be surprised how often some semblance of that is going to come into the work that you do. If you work for a nonprofit, your role may be communications, but you’re communicating about the need for support. It’s not as scary as people think. People don’t run from the room when you walk in. This is what gives me the edge: I believe so strongly in this mission that I want to just tell people about it. I always say if you’re not passionate about something, you might need the job, but try to find something that you really are passionate about and support it wholeheartedly.

Rachel: How did Baylor help you in your career journey?

Kim: I found my voice at Baylor. I grew into myself there. The gift of Baylor is that it gave me a safe place to do that. I got around people that were from very different backgrounds compared to mine, but we were all rooted in that Christian conscience. It gave me a place to grow up and make some mistakes. It’s kind of like when you’re at the bowling alley. There are those bumpers when you don’t know how to bowl well, and you put the bumpers up to keep you from going in the gutter. Baylor was like those bumpers for me in that I could do something stupid and then bounce back from it and say, “OK, well, I learned that wasn’t a good way to go.” It helped guide me through rocky times where I was going from a smart kid that was very quiet and introverted to being able to get up and you know, go to a leadership seminar, present to a class, talk to adults, find my voice and get my footing under me as an adult.