{"id":17909,"date":"2023-05-10T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-05-10T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/affiliate.wcu.edu\/comm\/?p=17909"},"modified":"2023-05-10T08:57:32","modified_gmt":"2023-05-10T08:57:32","slug":"alumni-spotlight-julia-duvall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/affiliate.wcu.edu\/comm\/blog\/2023\/05\/10\/alumni-spotlight-julia-duvall\/","title":{"rendered":"Alumni Spotlight: Julia Duvall"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"In December of 2015, Julia Duvall graduated from Western Carolina University with a degree in communication, with a concentration in public relations, and a minor in marketing. During the time when Duvall\u2019s family owned a business in Dillsboro, she had the chance to see Dr. Farmer\u2019s students work on a WCU and Dillsboro collaboration project. She was intrigued by the work communication professionals do.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOnce I realized all that was possible with a communication degree, it was a no-brainer,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Currently, Duvall is the senior media relations coordinator at WCU. Her first public relations job was as a PR assistant to Tyler Goode at Southwestern Community College. From 2018 to 2022, she served as the public communication specialist for WCU\u2019s Division of Educational Outreach. When she saw her current position available, she felt it would be a significant next step in her career and get back to storytelling and working with the media. She describes the company culture as very team-oriented and focused on the mission of WCU and how they can best serve students in the community.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Moreover, her day-to-day work as a senior media relations coordinator involves writing stories and sending press releases to the media. She also handles media inquiries that come into the university. Her team recently launched a brand campaign called Live Western. Duvall said the campaign truly speaks to the wonder of WCU and the beautiful surroundings of Cullowhee.<\/span><\/p>\n

Since graduating from WCU, Duvall has made notable achievements in her career. She has earned several certifications, attended conferences, and joined the Public Relations Society of America Western North Carolina Chapter. She also started her master\u2019s degree at UNC Wilmington in the Integrated Marketing Communications program. Duvall continues to develop her PR skills and improve her AP style writing, as well as \u201cjust having confidence in my ability and knowing that I can do the hard stuff,\u201d she said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Moving forward, something she learned from the WCU Communication Department that helps her is that PR professionals are stewards of the public trust.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAs a PR professional, it is my responsibility to ensure that our stakeholders are getting timely, accurate information and that they can trust me,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Additionally, Duvall\u2019s favorite quote for PR professionals to live by is \u201cCharacter is who you are when no one is watching,\u201d by Paul Rabil. \u201cWe are doing the behind-the-scenes work, which isn\u2019t always glamorous, to better our organization, and it takes grace, grit, determination, and patience to do the unseen work,\u201d said Duvall.<\/span><\/p>\n

Duvall\u2019s career goal is to finish her master\u2019s degree and become a PR or communications director.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI want to stay in higher education because I truly feel that is my calling,\u201d she said. \u201cI love the difference we are able to make in the lives of our students, which has a ripple effect on our local, regional, and global communities.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Furthermore, Duvall strongly encourages students to get involved in as many student organizations as possible.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cPRSSA was a great resource for me as a student, and now being a PRSA member, it provides great professional development and networking opportunities,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

She also encourages students to diversify their skillset as much as they can.<\/span><\/p>\n

Lastly, students can reach out to Duvall on her <\/span>LinkedIn.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In December of 2015, Julia Duvall graduated from Western Carolina University with a degree in communication, with a concentration in public relations, and a minor in marketing. During the time […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3297,"featured_media":9648,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[94,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17909","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/affiliate.wcu.edu\/comm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17909","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/affiliate.wcu.edu\/comm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/affiliate.wcu.edu\/comm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/affiliate.wcu.edu\/comm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3297"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/affiliate.wcu.edu\/comm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17909"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/affiliate.wcu.edu\/comm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17909\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17911,"href":"https:\/\/affiliate.wcu.edu\/comm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17909\/revisions\/17911"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/affiliate.wcu.edu\/comm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9648"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/affiliate.wcu.edu\/comm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17909"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/affiliate.wcu.edu\/comm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17909"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/affiliate.wcu.edu\/comm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17909"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}