Account Executive | GrandPR
Dec. 2023 – May 2024 | Allendale, MI · Grand Valley State University
From a 37-page media kit to a 24-hour campaign sprint, here's how I ran client relationships, led a team, and built PR and content strategy from scratch at GVSU's student-run communications firm.
2 client accounts led
37 pages in a media kit written & designed with a team of 4
7-person team led on the FellinloveFarm Account
24 hours to build a full nonprofit campaign from scratch
GrandPR is Grand Valley State University's student-run integrated communications firm: real clients, real deadlines, no simulation. I came in as an Account Executive for two accounts at once: Tilting the Earth's Praxis, a nonprofit-focused podcast client I ran end-to-end as primary liaison, and Fellinlove Farm, a nonprofit petting zoo where I led a 7-person team through a 24-hour campaign sprint.
The two accounts asked for almost opposite things. Praxis needed a slow build: media kit, press release, media list, a full launch strategy developed over months of client meetings. Fellinlove Farm needed the opposite: a complete campaign, from brochure copy to event planning, built and delivered in a single day.
The Role
Client One: Tilting the Earth’s Praxis
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Served as primary client liaison for Dr. Salvatore Alaimo, a GVSU nonprofit management professor launching a podcast about issues facing civil society
GrandPR's proposal for the account covered five workstreams: a LinkedIn-only content strategy, an e-newsletter template, podcast syndication and distribution guidance, logo design, and a media kit paired with a local media list, all aimed at building podcast awareness in the Grand Rapids and GVSU community
Met with Dr. Alaimo directly across the engagement, relaying his decisions back to my team in writing so work stayed aligned to his direction between meetings
When he raised a technical production question, recommended Anchor for hosting and distribution and Audacity for the multi-track mixdown he needed to separate and pan guest speakers, solving a specific problem he didn't have an answer for himself
Fielded his strategic questions directly: whether to promote the podcast ahead of launch, whether to add listener comments and transcripts, how much to invest in a long-term guest contact list
Incorporated his creative feedback into direction for the team, including his call to keep all social content LinkedIn-only and to make the tilted-earth logo visually reflect more people and diversity
Each week, personally wrote and sent the task-assignment message that delegated specific work to my team: editing newsletter drafts, engaging in secondary research, brainstorming content topics
Coordinated logistics through the firm's Basecamp system
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Wrote and designed a complete 37-page press and media kit for the podcast, organized around nine distinct subject-matter episodes: Nonprofit Advocacy, Workforce Development, Fundraising, Global Insecurity, Libraries, Museums, People with Disabilities, Prison Reform, and Public Relations, plus a press release and host-contact page
Researched and wrote professional biographies for roughly two dozen guests across all nine episodes, translating each person's career (a national lobbying-strategy author, the CEO of a national workforce-development association, a former Obama White House disability-policy official, the president of the American Library Association) into concise, credibility-building copy for a media audience
Wrote the host bio, condensing Dr. Alaimo's 20-plus-year career into media-ready language: 14 years teaching nonprofit management and philanthropy at GVSU, a Fulbright Scholar appointment at the U.S. Embassy in the Czech Republic, two documentaries screened on PBS affiliate WGVU, and nine years of prior nonprofit work at United Way and the Girl Scouts
Wrote the kit's About section to define the podcast's brand positioning for outside contacts
Built the nine-episode table of contents to double as a season calendar so media contacts could see the show's full editorial arc at a glance
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Wrote and designed a full LinkedIn content calendar for the podcast's launch, building platform-ready copy and matching Canva graphics across three episodes as a repeatable template for the rest of the season
Built a six-post framework per episode: a "coming soon" teaser, guest highlights, a topic explainer, a pull-quote graphic, a discussion-question post, and e-newsletter promotion
Wrote a full press release announcing the podcast's May 1 launch
Built a local media list of 10 named journalists and producers, reporters and hosts at WZZM-TV, WOOD-TV, WGVU-TV, Corp! Magazine, MLive, FOX 17, and the Grand Rapids Business Journal, each with a written rationale tying their beat to the podcast's subject matter
Documented a standardized seven-step pitching process for the client to follow
Wrote a fill-in-the-blank pitch and follow-up template so a client with no PR background had a ready-to-send outreach tool from day one
Client Two: Fellinlove Farm
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Fellinlove Farm is a nonprofit animal sanctuary; this account was built entirely inside a 24-hour CreateAthon sprint, a full campaign, concept to delivery, in a single day
Served as Account Executive leading a 7-person team: four Account Associates, two Design Associates, and an Editor
Directly owned the campaign timeline and all of the brochure copywriting
Co-owned the audience personas and the event-planning recommendations alongside teammates
Shared research responsibility applied to everyone on the account
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Wrote all of the copy for the client's tri-fold brochure: the About and mission narrative, the founder's origin story, and framing for the farm's field trips, tours, and themed-party offerings, working alongside a Design Associate teammate who handled the visual layout
That copy is what the client still uses today
Laid out five original seasonal event concepts by quarter for the client's annual calendar: an April Fools' Day mismatched-animal day, Mother's Day and Father's Day animal-parent tours with a craft workshop and raffle, a Grandparents Day hand-print-painting event, a National Nonprofit Day guided tour and picnic, and a Halloween spooky-tour night with a costume contest
Each event was scoped with a specific guest experience, not just a date on a calendar
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Co-developed four audience personas for the client alongside teammates: a 76-year-old seeking mood and enrichment support, a 43-year-old with unique needs referred by a friend, a 7-year-old in foster care processing past trauma through an adoption-center group visit, and a 21-year-old stressed college student who discovers the farm via Instagram
Each persona was mapped to a specific discovery channel and motivation to guide the rest of the team's messaging
Co-developed the broader events strategy, including a proposed field-trip and tour outreach push to schools, senior living communities, and community groups
Was a hands-on contributor on the campaign's nine PR storylines, the media list of 10-plus regional reporters and outlets, an 8-creator influencer outreach list, and the team's 12-month integrated content calendar
Client Relationships Don’t Run on One Speed
Praxis taught me how to hold a relationship together over months, relaying decisions accurately, following up on open questions, building something a client with no PR background could use on their own. Fellinlove Farm taught me the opposite: how to lead a team and hit a deadline with no time to iterate. I want a team where I get to use all of these skills.