Becoming A Professional

My thoughts on global citizenship, collective responsibility and the future of PR

By Karson Simpson, Class of Spring 2022

As a global citizen it is the responsibility of each individual to consider their actions as they relate to both the individual and the collective. To me this means holding space for community, in all its many forms and the personal experiences and intersections of individuals and groups as they relate to and experience the world. Meaningfully considering the ways in which individuals feel safety and security as they go about the world is a key responsibility of all global citizens.

In both professional and personal situations, I believe it is my responsibility to encourage and enforce an accessible environment to all individuals regardless of their personal characteristics, while taking in how the lived experiences of others can come to impact their comfortability within a given space. For me, this means considering the ways in which my personal characteristics and intersection of privilege enable me to move comfortably and confidently throughout the world, and developing meaningful points of action to attempt to develop comfort and recognition for those that have a different experience.

I am not in a position of great power on a macro scale, but that does not mean that I do not yield power in the communities and spaces that I am a part of. This means I have a responsibility to consider and analyze power dynamics and relationships in my personal and professional environments and to position myself as an allied changemaker.

Within the workplace, that means understanding what equitable and fair employee relations looks like and ensuring that a certain standard is being met and upheld, at minimum within the spheres that I am operating within. For me, in both personal and professional spaces this looks like actively practicing an anti-oppression framework and ensuring that equity and inclusion are enforced and understood while supporting, advocating for and championing the experiences and voices of those around me.

As I enter into the field of public relations and communications, it is important to me that I take with me all of the things I have learned and supported during my time in school. Now that I am a human of the world who is branching out into a profession and beginning my career, it is integral that I advocate for just, fair and ethical principles within all spaces I am a part of.

Diversity, equity and inclusion are not just “buzzwords” that can be said but not done, enforcing this kind of change within the workplace and beyond requires the actionable change making of all individuals throughout all levels of the industry and the world. It is a personal commitment to myself and to those around me that I am practicing anti-oppression work in all aspects of my life and work, in the ways I meaningfully and realistically am able to do to ensure the safety and security of those around me, and of their voices.

Throughout this semester, I have spent a great amount of time contemplating not only diversity, equity and inclusion as a concept, but DE&I as it can exist in action. Working on the Storyworks campaign for Canadian Council of Public Relations Firms (CCPRF) has been such a fulfilling and challenging experience and has been so important as it has enabled me to consider not only the past and present of the industry that I have chosen to be a part of, but also the future of the industry that I am just beginning in.

In my thinking and in the execution of our teams work, we have all had to consider how to appropriately communicate CCPRFs objectives and key messages of encouraging new and diverse talent to enter the field in order to evolve the future landscape of the industry, but have also had to consider the kind of profession that we want to be part of and contribute to.

I think something that has been the greatest takeaway for me is the idea of changemaking as an action. I think public relations as an industry has a reputation of being a lot of talk, with practitioners focus being “how can we make it sound good” but not “how can we do good”. For me, for my peers, for the current and upcoming communications professionals, I do not want it to be one or the other, I think it has to be both, and that’s truly something that I think was at the heart of our Storyworks campaign, because it was at the heart of our intentions and beliefs for the future of PR that we want and need.

Talking about the need for change and calling for a shift in social responsibility is wonderful, and it is a great first step, but it is one that I believe most industries have taken since they become motivated to take a stance on systemic issues that have always existed, but were brought to light during the events of summer 2020. I think we have heard a lot of wonderful speeches, seen a lot of important newsletters, and read a great deal of commitments from industry leaders who are “listening” and “learning” and vowing to do better. I think we’ve heard enough, and it is time to enforce real and meaningful actionable change to enforce anti-oppression frameworks and structures within all industries and all relations, championing the voices of new and diverse talent that existed long before we decided to collectively recognize and prioritize it.

I think the actionable work of enforcing inclusion and diversity at all levels of the industry is a key step, but it also must include listening to and prioritizing diversity, equity and inclusion on a forward basis. Not just hiring “new” and “diverse” talent, but championing those voices, listening to the calls and prioritizing a shift in the status-quo that benefits only a select few.

It is not enough to just include new individuals, we must continue to provide upward opportunities and act as vessels of change for the calls that are being asked of us as new, old and upcoming professionals. For the future of our industry, all industries and our personal relationships.