An insight into the team at Open Comms

Right, so we always say that we aren’t your typical PR agency and we also advise that brands consider injecting some personality into their comms – after all it’s the one thing that can’t be replicated by competitors. We therefore felt it would be a good idea to follow our own advice.

We asked our new(ish) recruit Tarina some questions to give you a little insight into what makes her tick. We will update tomorrow with the same questions from Naomi, our most recent team member – so make sure you come back to hear more from the team here at Open.

How would you describe yourself in three words

Ughh, I’ve never been good at answering this question, but going on what I’ve been told by family and friends, I suppose it’d be; mellow, sarcastic and fun-loving

What do you most enjoy about working in PR

So far the best thing about it for me has been the variety of tasks that we all have set each day of the week, we were laughing in the office a couple of days ago about how one minute you’ll be finding a lively venue for a kids event, and the next you could be writing a serious article about Chlamydia. It definitely hasn’t been boring.

What is your favourite book

I personally don’t really like reading, I’ve always preferred to listen to music, and I could sit doing nothing for days if I had music to listen to. I’ve grown up going to gigs and festivals as often as possible, and reading was never “my thing” but just recently I’ve downloaded one of these kindle fandangles and I’m currently reading ‘The Rum Diary’

What did you want to be when you grew up

I have no idea. I have a vague memory of imagining myself getting out of a fancy car with a briefcase and some perfect heels. But I don’t suppose that’s an uncommon dream. At one point I wanted to be an architect, but when I realised maths wasn’t my strong point, that hope went out the window.

The most important goal to me is a promise I made to myself at the age of about 10, to visit every continent at least once before I die. So far I’ve managed about 5%.

…one day.

What do you find most challenging about working in PR

I sometimes find it hard to get through the monotonous parts, the reports and basic bits of research, because I’m constantly eager to get on with the fun bits, but if it wasn’t for the research, the fun parts would pretty much be a massive flop, so you’ve just got to keep yourself motivated with the thoughts of that end product I suppose, and once you get there you’ve totally forgotten about it.

If you could be anything else, what would it be (career wise)

A makeup artist. For the last few years I’ve really loved makeup, I’ve spent hours watching tutorials and playing with new products and I do get told a lot that I’m good at creating looks and suiting styles to different people. Before I started in PR I was aiming towards a professional makeup qualification in the hopes of becoming self employed. I think I’ll still end up doing it at some point in my own time, maybe not to earn any money, just because I enjoy it.

If you had a super power what would it be

I would read peoples minds. I think it’d be possible to do anything if you could read minds (well….except fly……but there’s planes for that), and you’d know who exactly was worth your time.

What is your guilty secret (food / TV programmes)

Jeremy Kyle!  I’m sorry to say I miss it so much now I’m here full time, me and my closest friend Danielle are always getting laughed at because we’ll sit and text eachother about the people on it….while were both watching it, and we’ve applied for tickets to sit in the audience. It’s fairly embarrassing, but hey ho!

What are you most proud of

I was just about to say “the fact I haven’t eaten any chocolate today”, until I realised I’ve just finished off a Boost bar.

Which account would you most like to work on if you could choose

There are so many.

As you’ll probably see in one of my other Blogs, I’d love to work with a charity that provides support and developments for developing countries. I have so many ideas for these types of campaigns and I think it would be amazingly rewarding to see I had contributed to changing peoples lives.

Next up would probably be something along the lines of music events, promotions or venues. I was really hoping to get into events management at one stage in my life, and I love that PR gives the opportunity to attend some of the events that you help put together. Being in a venue with a crowd of other people all feeling good vibes from music is just about the best place in the world, and I’d be ever grateful if I had the chance to introduce people to that.

I’d also love to be a part in some makeup campaigns or promotions. My favourite brand is Urban Decay; I love everything about it and have too many times raided my purse to get my hands on products they make. So I suppose they’d be another dream account.