A Pandemic-Era APR Celebration in Atlanta

April is Accreditation Month at PRSA. It’s a time to learn about how becoming Accredited in Public Relations can help advance your career. Look for posts on the PRsay blog, where Accredited PRSA members will share their personal stories this month. Learn more about earning your APR by visiting PRaccreditation.org.

As the pandemic took hold in March 2020, several PRSA members from the Georgia Chapter decided to move forward with plans to study for the Accreditation in Public Relations Examination, capped off by a Drive-Through APR Pinning Ceremony.

With meeting in person out of the question, the four members of the Chapter’s Accreditation Committee volunteered to virtually help those starting the APR process.

“For us, we saw that it was March 2020, and the world had stopped, but APR had not,” said Rocio Rivera, APR. “We had practitioners scheduled for Readiness Reviews. We had counselors gearing up for the computer-based exams… we couldn’t let those folks down.”

Rivera, who works for LexisNexis Risk Solutions, offered up her company’s technology platform for video conferencing. Through this service, the practitioners preparing for their APR journey could engage. They set up the first virtual panel for Michelle Geiger on its original March 21, 2020, date. 

“We were empowered to try new things — one of the great assets of a visionary volunteer organization,” Rivera said. 

With the virtual coursework underway, the APR committee members understood that they needed a way to mark the successful conclusion of their hard work.

“I knew that my fellow PR colleagues had the resilience to complete the coursework, but we needed to do something inspirational to help them across the finish line,” said Quiana Pinckney, APR. “Now that we had these online video meet-ups, panels and prep sessions in place, we realized we needed something tangible to celebrate their accomplishment.”

That’s when the idea of a drive-through ceremony came about. 

“We sent an all-APR email to our Accredited database, asking for colleagues to meet up at a location near the practitioner’s home,” said Kristie Swink Benson, APR. “We made signs, brought old-fashioned noise-makers, inflated balloons — it was an organic party on wheels.

“And, what a success — when you see their faces, and they know that they have achieved this designation,” Benson continued. “It is truly a moment to relish.”

Leading the charge

Benson and Pinckney know all about moments to relish. As Black communications leaders, neither saw many people who looked like them in APR circles. 

Even as a PRSSA president in Arkansas, Pinckney felt she was an outsider. But when they looked across a room full of Atlanta-based counselors meeting to learn more about the Accreditation back in 2014, a friendship was born out of a mutual desire for success in the profession. 

As the friendship grew, so too did the desire to help others acquire the knowledge, skills and practices. 

“Here we are, almost seven years later, leading the charge that others did before us,” Pinckney said.

The fourth leader of Georgia’s Accreditation team is Erica England, APR.

 “Georgia is a big Chapter, so when I stepped into PRSA meetings and saw all these people with ‘APR’ on their nametags, they seemed like rock stars,” England said. “I used to walk into big board rooms of Fortune companies here in Atlanta and feel like I was an imposter because I couldn’t display the mechanics of public relations with demonstrable action. Now, I can. The Accreditation in 2018 was a game changer for me.” 

Making It Work

With three Accredited from Georgia in 2020, and several on tap for the process in 2021, the members of the Chapter’s Accreditation Committee are looking forward to the future. Here, each of them offered lessons learned from the APR process:

Kristie Swink Benson, APR: “It’s about knowledge applied. Make it relatable. Study it on Tuesday, apply it on Wednesday. It had to become something I used every day. Now, it’s second nature, and I readily use the processes to solve complex problems.”

Erica England, APR: “Understand the mechanics. That’s 80 percent of the test. When you apply those mechanics, it becomes real.”

Quiana Pinckney, APR: “Study the policies and then practice them in real-life situations. Sit back and look at the process, and then think about how an APR would answer the charge. Demonstrate your knowledge. You got this!”

Rocio Rivera, APR: “It’s not about being the smartest person in the room, it’s about understanding how to drive behavioral change in the target constituencies.”