- Introduce yourself and share your role at Complete PR
Hi, I’m Cassie Davis, the spring 2018 intern at Complete PR!
- Where are you from?
I’m from Seneca, SC and am a current student at Clemson University.
- Any hobbies?
I’m pretty big into fitness and nutrition… on the flip side of that I really love baking! I also enjoy the arts and go to live shows, galleries, etc. as frequently as I can.
- Good to know! Our office is always accepting baked goods. As a lass, what did you want to be when you were a grown-up?
In elementary school I did all my school reports on strong women like Amelia Earhart and Princess Diana. I didn’t really want to be a princess or pilot, but even then I liked the strength and poise and bravery that they exhibited in the public eye.
As I got older I wanted to be a journalist since I loved writing, telling stories, and having a voice in big conversations. As I got into college, my interest in public relations grew and showed me an opportunity to do all of those things with the additional chance to be a strong, brave, and poised woman along the way – just like I’d always hoped as a kid.
- Do you have any special skills or weird talents?
I am specially skilled at killing plants. I do not have a green thumb. I even killed a jade plant! A friend of mine gave me a jade plant as a gift saying “Jade is great. Impossible to kill. Anyone can raise it, even you, Cassie!”
It was wilting by my third month of owning it. And over Christmas, the frost killed it because I had moved it to the porch to clean and forgotten about it. I’m a monster.
- Okay, we’ll keep our current arrangements for office plant care as is. What is your favorite part of your job now?
Working in an agency setting is new for me. All of my previous experience has involved working for one name and focusing solely on what they need, so right now I’m very much enjoying getting to know our clients and learning from my coworkers how to handle faster-paced agency life.
- Would you rather have a pet monkey or pet tiger?
Tiger. No question.
1) Tigers are magnificent.
2) I could train it to run with me and never have to worry about getting attacked!
3) Best cuddle buddy ever (assuming it won’t eat me).
4) Anybody here watch Archer???
- Are you a morning or night person?
Morning. I like how if you get up early enough, no one is awake yet. There’s a certain excitement in the air, like if you’re awake that early something amazing must be about to happen.
- We take the shows we watch very seriously. What is your favorite & least favorite TV show?
I have a lot of favorites – The Office and Archer for the writing and character development, Black Mirror for cinematography and mind games, Game of Thrones for the drama and dragons, Master of None for the soundtrack and amazing apartments…
Not a fan of Family Guy, King of the Hill, The Voice, and Big Bang Theory got played out…
- For the record, we totally predicted R + L = J before it was a mainstream theory. You’re in good company here. Are you superstitious?
Yup. I toss spilled salt over my shoulder, never open umbrellas inside, knock on wood, all the classics. Black cats don’t really bother me though, I think they’re nice.
- What’s your favorite thing about Greenville?
I like how rapidly it’s growing and how many young professionals are in the area. It also has a good mix of history alongside the shiny and new. It seems like a great place to get a lot of personal and professional experience without the intimidation of larger cities.
- Favorite social media channel?
Instagram… can’t stop scrolling. If you follow the right people the visual content is amazing.
- What’s your favorite app (not including social media)?
Spotify is my most-used. I listen to music constantly and am always looking for new artists and genres.
- What is your favorite publicity stunt/ PR campaign of all time?
I got a kick out of the Cards Against Humanity Stops The Wall campaign. Everyone knows about President Trump’s intention to build a wall along the border of Mexico, and CAH – in line with their more liberal customer base and brand image – bought a plot of land directly in the path of the potential wall in order to be a pain in the butt when the government tries to actually build a wall..
This would have been a big enough headline in itself, but CAH took it a step further by providing their customers with the opportunity to donate toward the purchase of the property. Everyone who donated received a certificate and map verifying their donation to the cause.
Of course, CAH can’t prevent the government from building a wall, but it was a clever, humorous protest that garnered a lot of positive attention for the game company from all political parties.
- What was your favorite class in college that was unrelated to your major?
Last semester I took a sociology class about the root causes of societal issues like poverty, homelessness, and racism. It was fascinating. We frequently view these issues as smaller than they really are, and this class helped me wrap my head around what was actually going on and get thinking about how to make a difference.
- If you could say one thing to your previous boss, what would it be?
“No,” “I don’t have enough time to do that,” and “I need more information” are honest expressions of my limits and what I need from you to perform well. Please respect my time and honesty and give me what I need to do the job while understanding that I want to do the best work possible.
- If you could write a message to yourself five years ago, what would you say?
“High school stuff doesn’t matter. Prom, boys, mean girls, drama, the majority of the work – get your degree and move on to the bigger and better things in life.”
I had a lot of people tell me this 5 years ago (when I was a sophomore in high school and already plotting my escape). However, hearing from myself that, YES, it’s all ridiculous, would have been much more encouraging.
- Not trying to open a can of worms here, but if you could change one thing about the world, what cause would you choose?
Humans are inherently selfish. If we could think about something other than ourselves for 5 minutes there would be a lot of change in the world in everything from personal relationships to environmental struggles to politics to equality and everything in between.
- That’s deep. And nice. What was the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?
My mom has a saying, “Use your wiggler.” It basically means “listen to your gut.” The premise is that whatever the situation is – big or small – you will have an initial feeling about it that is almost always right. I’ve used my “wiggler” in everything from choosing between job offers to enrolling in college courses to dating to deciding if I feel safe in an unfamiliar situation. 99.9% of the time, it’s right.
- One last thing- how do you take your coffee?
Cream, no sugar.
Cassie is an intern at Complete Public Relations for the spring 2018 semester and is a student at Clemson University.