Carolyn Fearing

“When I first learned about PR, I thought it was about product or celebrity promotion. When a mentor made me aware of communicating for social change and the field of social marketing, I was excited and intrigued. Ever since, I’ve focused on this area in my career and derived great satisfaction from putting my energy into work that makes a positive difference in communities.”

Memorable professional moments: 

• Working with World War II veterans to raise awareness of the Library of Congress Veterans’ History Project and sharing their stories in communities across the U.S. to preserve history and bring generations together.
• Seeing one of the first infographics I worked on go viral and get picked up in media outlets around the world. It depicted the growth of restaurant portion sizes since the 1950s.
• Getting chased down by Secret Service in the Capitol Building after supporting an event with the First Lady to promote the importance of literacy. I’d inadvertently walked off with the keynote speaker’s personal copy of his best-selling book that he’d asked me to hold for safekeeping.

People often find it interesting that …
I grew up in the UK, studied foreign languages and literature, lived in Mexico and France, and ended up in PR in the U.S. For me, learning how to speak other languages and living in new places was the key to being a better communicator. You see things from a different perspective, you know how it feels to be an outsider and you learn how to be creative in order to communicate!

What does people-first mean to me?
It’s the Golden Rule, plain and simple: Do unto others as you would do to yourself. That applies in the workplace and how you interact with your colleagues, as well as how you choose to invest your time and energy in work and other activities.

CREDENTIALS

• B.A., French and Hispanic Studies, University of Nottingham, UK (Study abroad Universidad de Las Americas, Mexico and University of London in Paris, France)
• M.A., Comparative Literature, Purdue University, Indiana

AFFILIATIONS/RECOGNITION

• Marketing Committee member, Social Marketing Association of North America
• Silver Anvil, Public Relations Society of America, Veterans History Project