Tristyn Surprenant ’20

MAJOR: Communications & Media Studies

AFTER GRADUATION: Public Relations Assistant, Ropes & Gray

As an undergraduate, Tristyn Surprenant ’20 took an interest in Associate Professor of Communications & Media Studies

Dr. Mark Flynn’s (pictured) work in health communications and served as his research assistant. Together, they worked on projects about the effects of mindfulness and flow on television binge-watching and the healthiness of food advertisements in magazines.

“It was one of my most valuable experiences,” she said. “I was exposed to academic literature and technical or ‘weedy’ materials that really challenged me, often about things on which I had no prior knowledge.”

But it was Dr. Flynn’s course in public relations, and the impression left by guest speaker Aaron Kellogg, the director of public relations for Ropes & Gray, that would eventually change the course of her career. “I didn’t even have my first internship yet,” Tristyn said. “I was sitting there thinking of how cool it would be to work at the top of the Pru.”

When a position for a PR Assistant opened at Ropes & Gray, Dr. Flynn encouraged Tristyn to apply. “I thought it would be a perfect fit because I’d be reading and writing communications on similarly challenging topics,” she said.

“One of the things that continues to surprise me about this job is how much I learn daily, on subjects like cybersecurity, commercial real estate, asset management, private equity transactions,” she said. “To do media relations at a law firm, it’s important to understand how to talk, read, and write about different industries.”

In a “full-circle” experience, Tristyn recently returned to campus with Kellogg to speak to Dr. Flynn’s PR class, where she sat just four years earlier.