public interest communication Archives

How will you use what you know?

Posted on: November 15th, 2023 by Amy Lynn Smith No Comments

As I reflect on the milestone of earning my master’s degree, I’ve been asking myself: “How will you use what you know?”

After receiving my Master of Arts in Mass Communication with a specialization in Public Interest Communication from the University of Florida — which I’m proud to say awarded me Graduation with Distinction honors — those words written by Wendy Wasserstein for her play The Heidi Chronicles keep rolling around in my head. Others are asking me similar questions: “What’s next?” “What did you learn?” “How has earning your degree changed how you approach your work?”

That last question is as intriguing as Wasserstein’s. And it led me to remember another line from The Heidi Chronicles, in which I played Heidi many years ago: “All people deserve to fulfill their potential.” I could not agree more — and it’s a good way to describe my intention for how I will use what I know.

This isn’t to say I wasn’t fulfilling my potential. I already specialized in Public Interest Communication for clients doing meaningful work, such as the United Nations, the American Foundation for the Blind, Spitfire Strategies, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and many more over the years. As one colleague and friend told me, “You’re a Swiss Army knife,” which was his creative way of saying I am a highly versatile communicator. My work includes strategic storytelling, messaging strategy and execution, content creation such as blog posts and human-interest profiles, issue campaign development and delivery, writing and speaker coaching, editing and more.

I enrolled in the Public Interest Communication program’s inaugural semester in 2019 and it took me until 2023 to earn my degree. Because I work full time as a consultant, I mostly took one course per semester. I learned that many other returning students did the same. And I discovered that my years of professional and personal experience enriched my learning.

Without question, the program expanded my expertise. I not only learned more about topics I’m familiar with, such as storytelling and creating an issue advocacy campaign. I also dove into new realms I’d heard about, such as value propositions and design thinking, but had never explored. Particularly in the latter course, I learned a great deal about myself, too.

Because of that course, I now ask myself periodically, “How’s it going?” It’s a strategy taken from the book Designing Your Life: How to Build a Well-Lived, Joyful Life that was engagingly taught, and I still periodically check in on my life. Is it going in the direction I want it to? Am I spending more time on things I love and less time on things I don’t? The answer is generally yes. And when it’s not, I pause to redesign my life accordingly.

It’s intriguing that the willingness to change course in my own life — to try something new, to ditch something old or improve on it — is also serving my work and my clients well. Of course, I now have master’s-level abilities in my field. But the way my work has transformed is about more than simply sharpening my skills.

I look at my work differently now. I recognize opportunities to recommend unique or better approaches. I use my diverse creative skills to imagine and create more impactful communications. I’m exploring new ways to work, not just with my clients but in collaboration with colleagues. I’m discovering how to be more efficient and productive. I still work hard — perhaps even harder sometimes, because jobs that use my thought leadership skills are more complex — but I’m definitely working smarter.

I was already fulfilling my potential. But as I move forward after graduation I know that potential is greater than it was. I can — and am eager to — raise the level of the potential I intend to fulfill. That means stretching myself, accepting sometimes daunting challenges and meeting them. That means saying “yes” to projects that feed my soul and, whenever possible, saying “no” to those that don’t.

Most important, I’m more inspired than ever to make a difference in the world — to make sure everyone has an opportunity to thrive. After all, everyone deserves to fulfill their potential. And doing everything I can to make that possible for myself and others is the answer to the big question: How will you use what you know?

Tags: graduation, Mass Communication, Master of Arts, master's degree, public interest communication, Spitfire Strategies, The Heidi Chronicles, United Nations, University Florida, Wendy Wasserstein
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Learning something new every day

Posted on: February 12th, 2023 by Amy Lynn Smith No Comments

As I head to the frank gathering at the University of Florida, I have many reasons to reflect on learning.

Of course, there’s frank — “the gathering for people who change the world” — which I’ve attended for nine of its 10 years. Within my first day there nine years ago, I knew I’d found my tribe: people who are actively engaged in catalyzing significant social change. It’s work I’d been doing but wanted to do more of, and I soaked in every moment of the brilliant speakers, breakout sessions and opportunities to talk with people at all levels of the field of public interest communications.

Over the years, I’ve been increasingly involved behind the scenes at frank. At times, I’ve served on the steering committee and reviewed research prize submissions, but my most consistent and beloved contribution is being a speaker coach and, for a number of years, the gathering’s lead speaker coach.

As a speaker coach, I draw on decades of directing theatre and being a public speaker myself. I thrive on helping speakers shine onstage, but I greatly value what I’ve learned from every speaker I’ve coached. They’ve taught me fascinating things about the work they do, and the other lessons I’ve learned have been myriad, from helping someone overcome stage fright to knowing when to step back and trust a speaker’s expertise.

But my learning at UF doesn’t end with frank. That’s where I discovered the university’s online master’s degree program in Public Interest Communications. I’m graduating in summer 2023, and my experience returning to school after 30 years has been immensely gratifying. I already work in public interest communications, helping nonprofits, foundations and campaigns tell the stories of their work in a way that motivates others to act. But even when I took the required course in storytelling — my primary area of expertise — I intentionally brought an open mind and found there is always more to learn.

In every class, I’ve sharpened my skills and absorbed new ideas and insights from both my instructors and my fellow classmates. Part of the program’s appeal is that it attracts people of all ages from all over the world, making it a wonderfully diverse learning experience. And much like speaker coaching, the learning can be a two-way street. I was honored when I learned that a story I wrote for UNHCR (the UN Refugee Agency)’s Innovation Service was on the syllabus for the Introduction to Public Interest Communications class.

Although I look forward to holding my diploma in my hands, I’ve been applying what I learn to my work after each semester. I’ve brought new ideas to my clients, inspired them to create value propositions, developed campaigns based on their goals that they can use if they wish — and sometimes, I’ve learned to think differently about how I approach my own work. I’m eager to bring all my knowledge to comprehensive campaigns in my ongoing mission to create great content for the greater good.

I have some idea about what I’ll learn at frank 2023. But there’s quite a bit I don’t know and I can’t wait for the delightful surprises frank always brings forth. I’ll spend the week there with an open mind that’s ready to absorb as much as my brain will hold — and there’s absolutely no question that I will learn something new every day.

Photo by LAF Lines Photography.

Tags: Center for Public Interest Communications, frank, frank gathering, master's degree, public interest communication, UF CJC online, UF College of Journalism and Communications, University of Florida
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How do you help others tell their stories?

Posted on: February 1st, 2020 by Amy Lynn Smith No Comments

There’s an unspoken rule among ghostwriters and speechwriters: We never tell. We let the speakers speak for themselves. So it’s a rare opportunity when I can show my work and talk about what goes into helping others tell their stories.

When working in public interest communication, issue advocacy or social change communication, nothing is more powerful than centering stories around the voices of those most impacted by an issue. If someone is incarcerated, let them speak for themselves. If someone wants to share their journey as a transgender person, lift up their voice and stay out of the way, something I worked hard to do in my transgender story series at Eclectablog. If a person is struggling to make ends meet because they’re not earning a living wage, let them talk about their own lived experience.

I had the pleasure of collaborating on a project with the UN Refugee Agency’s (UNHCR) Innovation Service and the Center for Public Interest Communications at the University of Florida that put these principles into play. We worked as a team to help a refugee tell his story of the smart solution he created to address issues being faced by his fellow refugees in Uganda. We each had a role to play in helping this enterprising young man, Peter, share his experience and personal narrative in his own voice. The goal was not only to celebrate Peter’s accomplishments — which are well worth noting — but also to remind other refugees and displaced people that they have a vital role to play in re-shaping their lives. They have help, certainly, from UNHCR and other humanitarian organizations, but displaced people are empowered to take action on their own.

Because the Innovation Service is keen to experiment with storytelling and how it can be better applied to demonstrating the work not only of UNHCR but the refugees it works with, they interviewed all of us involved in the project. The end result was an article that shows what goes into helping someone shape their own personal narrative, in their own voice, and lifting up their own story for the world to hear.

As I said, ghostwriters never tell. But in this case, I didn’t. Someone else did it for me. I hope you’ll enjoy reading about our collaboration as much as I did being part of it.

Read “5 Lessons on Crafting New Voices for Innovation” here.

[Photo credit: LAF Lines Photography]