Photo Caption: Meghan Gattorna – UNW Public Relations ’22 – Marketing and Community Engagement Director for Chick-fil-A, Woodbury, MN speaking to Public Relations Cases & Crisis Communication students on Monday, September 25.
Last week public relations students were treated to chicken sandwiches and advice from 2022 PR graduate Meghan Gattorna who guest spoke back in the very classroom in which she honed her skills.
Gattorna shared her journey from the classroom to Marketing and Community Engagement Director for Chick-fil-A, Woodbury, MN, with PR Cases & Crisis Communication and PR Principles and Social Media Strategies students. She discussed how she landed the job, what she’s learning and what she wishes she’d done differently when she was a student.
The foundational bit of advice she offered was to be dependable. Dependable employees are hard to find: employees who show up – on time – and do what they are being paid to do. Furthermore, “your boss isn’t always going to tell you what your next step should be,” says Gattorna. She encouraged students to take initiative and make their goals known to their supervisors – let them know that your goal is to move up. When asked how she got promoted to her position, she replied, “I asked for it.”
“Your boss isn’t always going to tell you what your next step should be.”
Although she didn’t envision herself in this line of work initially, Gattorna says she’s come to love her work and her co-workers. She values her opportunity of serving the Woodbury community and her coworkers. “My mother always taught me that the people who are in your life right now are the people God’s given you to care for,” says Gattorna. The stories Gattorna told the students reinforced her commitment and concern for others and demonstrated how the “building relationships” part of public relations work trickles down into everyday life.
