Opportunity doesn't give a heads up...

...it just shows up.

Last week, a gentleman from the Bangor Daily News called the School of Pharmacy asking for me. I had missed his original call, but his voicemail stated that he was gathering facts for an editorial piece he was doing regarding the creation of two new pharmacy schools in Maine. I first looked for my boss, the Dean. He wasn't around. I then called Julie, the PR person at Husson. She didn't answer. I tried her cellphone. STILL no answer. Nervously, I jotted down some important facts about our school and called back the reporter. He said not to worry, he was just looking for an angle for his piece and wanted more information about the school. My apprehension faded at that point and we just talked. Talking about The School of Pharmacy is easy for me, as I'm very passionate about the subject. We talked for about fifteen minutes and by the end, it felt like I was having a good chat with a person I'd known for a long time. He thanked me for the information and we said goodbye. Upon seeing the Dean, I informed him of the phonecall and showed him my notes I'd taken. He had no problems with it and I went about my day...never giving the phonecall another thought.

I didn't think about the phonecall again until yesterday morning. The phone rang and I saw it was Julie's extension.

"I want to know how much extra I get paid for being Audrey Brissette's publicist."

I paused. "Ummmm...what?"

Then Julie started to read the article. And then she said my name. The reporter had quoted me in the article. I immediately froze. I didn't expect to be in the article. I just thought I was giving information about the program. Any other time I'd been in the paper, I was asked if I gave permission to be in the paper. I started thinking back to what I'd said...trying to think if I'd said anything wrong.

"I just want to commend you. You did a great job. A hell of a job. This is fantastic and I couldn't have done it better myself. We're all thrilled and I imagine your bosses are, too."

Sigh of relief.

"Aside from them calling you Mr. Brissette in the end, it was a fantastic piece. And it was the lead editorial. Not bad."

We chatted for a bit longer and by the end, I'd found the article online. They did, indeed, call me Mr. Brissette at the end...but other than that, I was pleased to see that he took much of what I said to heart and the enthusiasm I have for the program read very well through the piece. Word spread and I continued to get compliments from the Husson community.

This morning I received a phonecall with President Beardsley on the other end of the line. I assumed he wanted to talk to the Dean and had been unable to reach him. "Audrey, I just wanted to tell you how please I am with the article in the paper yesterday. It is very rare for us to get the lead editorial piece - so rare that I think this is only the second time in my presidency that it has happened. I can't imagine anyone doing a better job." He went on to tell me just how much he loved the article and how he was very pleased at my quick thinking and using my intuition to call back the press as opposed to waiting for someone to approve it. (I'm sure if I'd said something wrong, that wouldn't be the case. ;)) But for five minutes, he sang my praises and said he'd be sending out a letter to the Husson community and have the article be the closing news item. He said repeatedly that I must have said something very compelling to the reporter, because it is very rare to be mentioned so often in an opinion piece.

I'm thrilled that I had the opportunity to talk to the press on behalf of Husson. If I hadn't of answered the call in the time that I did, the reporter was going to contact University of New England and we would have lost this great opportunity of free press. I came to work expecting to fill out travel forms, process reimbursements and schedule meetings...not being a temporary mouthpiece for the school. But I'm so glad that it did work out this way. It isn't often that you get the chance to impress the higher ups and promote something for which you have a passion in one fail swoop. ;)
http://www.bangordailynews.com/detail/114135.html