Digital dynamo: PR grad programmed for success

Posted on Tuesday, July 24th, 2018

Just seven years after graduating from Algonquin’s Public Relations program in 2006, Kelly Rusk found herself working as a digital media expert at Banfield, a well-known Ottawa marketing and communications agency that’s been around since the word digital meant a wristwatch with flashing numbers.

Within two years of joining Banfield, she was a partner in the business and now serves as the agency’s digital director. If this seems like overnight success, don’t be fooled, says Rusk.

Rusk says her career, or at least its careful nurturing, began while she was still attending classes at Algonquin. It is a formula for success that she urges on current students.

“Don’t start when you graduate, start when you start (college),” Rusk says. “Going out, joining professional associations, networking, volunteering with non-profits, doing whatever you can to build up your resumé.

“The fact of the matter is that when you graduate there’s going to be a whole class of people with the exact same resumé as you, so you need to do what you can to stand out.”

Rusk was attracted to the Public Relations program at Algonquin because, as she puts is, “it was a little bit of everything: writing, graphics, advertising, all rolled into one. I loved the program because I thought the professors were so dedicated to student success.”

“My favourite part of the program was probably the social connections we made,” Rusk says, adding that she counts former classmates and professors among her close friends. “In public relations, networking is really important. So they really made it imperative that we got to know each other and built that network right from school.”

A highlight of the two-year program was the fund-raising project that teams of PR students are required to plan, market, and run. In a two-week campaign that included a display of graffiti art and a bake sale, among other events, her team raised $12,000 for Operation Come Home, an outreach for homeless youths.

“The whole class came together,” says Rusk. “It’s a real-world application of everything you’ve learned, while you’re still learning it.”

Rusk’s biggest lesson, though, was realizing that school is only the start of a career-long learning curve.
“The biggest take-away I learned from Algonquin is that (college) is really just the beginning of your learning experience. They teach you the skills and training to start your career, and to keep learning throughout it.”

In Rusk’s experience, Algonquin graduates are able to hit the ground running. “I find that, out of school, Algonquin graduates are well-equipped, well-skilled, and very well-trained.

“They also have a strong thirst for knowledge and learning. About half of our staff (at Banfield) are graduates Algonquin graduates. I find that there is a variety of (Algonquin College) programs that offer us exactly what we need here.”

Rusk believes in Algonquin enough to have joined the College’s Alumni Committee in 2011. “I thought it was a really interesting way to stay connected to the College, stay informed about what they’re doing, and what they’re offering for alumni.

“It’s important for me that the reputation of the school and the program is maintained past me being there.”


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