Public Relations course provides feedback on Hoda Kotb's Joy 101 app

This semester, it's really exciting. We get to work with a former Today Show anchor and School of Communication alumna Hoda Kotb on her wellness app. The kids are not only getting real experience working with a client, but it's also fun because it's someone they've all watched on TV. It's someone they know as an alum of Virginia Tech that they all happen to love because she's just amazing. I used to watch her every single morning. I used to watch the Today Show with my family every day before I would leave for school. So I am just her biggest fan. Hoda Kotb someone I've always looked up to coming to Virginia Tech. I always watch the Today Show in the morning with my dad. And so, being able to do a project with her here is like crazy real world experience. And I can actually put it on my resume. And when I go through and try and find more jobs in the PR world, like I have this experience. This is a public relations writing and editing course. And I like to bring in a real client. That way it feels more authentic. Students aren't just doing assignments. They're actually doing real PR work. Having that client makes me feel so much more confident and makes me a lot more invested in that client. Using that app, we create news releases, story pitches, media advisories, things like that. We also try to think about, like, marketing strategies for the app. There's actually media here, and we're actually talking to them and working with them, and it's really cool to learn how to work with them and understand, like, how they process things and how to work with them. And it's really, really cool. And they learn when the reporter comes in, what are the things we need to think about? What are the things that we need to do? How do we present our client and tell our client's story in a public relations way? It's one thing for me to say in the classroom, this is how you pitch to the media. But it's another thing for them to actually pitch the media and see, did I have success? Did I get a hit? and then have the person come and be able to say this was a really good pitch, and this was why, and this is why I'm here.