BEST OF 2011: An ‘awesome’ career: 10 things PR pros do in their jobs

Feeling uninspired or perhaps unsure why you want to join the profession? A PR pro weighs in on what people in the industry do and why it matters.

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I watched the Indy 500 this year. I’m of those people who didn’t care about the Indy Racing League—the cars, the drivers, the sport.

That is, until I worked on the ethanol account at a public relations firm. For two years, my team and I had an incredible opportunity to shape a national debate: Would ethanol be a part of our nation’s solution to our dependency on foreign oil?

The people who hired us wanted to build awareness for the corn-powered fuel and educate Americans on its benefits. It proved to be a challenge. Outside of the Midwest—where corn is hauled to ethanol processing plants and turned in to pure alcohol—it did not have much name recognition.

Until the Indy Racing League announced that all of its drivers would use 100 percent ethanol in each and every race.

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