Mars Wrigley’s Allyson Park shares top skills for rising comms pros

What is the path for aspiring communicators to rise to the top of the profession?

“I believe careers are a bit like a chess game,” Allyson Park, global vice president of corporate affairs for Mars Wrigley, shared in an interview with our DePaul University graduate class.

“You can get across the board in lots of different ways, but you have to be clear on where you want to go.”

A good start, she noted, is to determine whether you want to specialize or work as a generalist. That will help you decide on your career and understand what experiences you need to acquire along the way.

“One of the things that really benefited me early on is, when I graduated, I knew I ultimately wanted to be leading global communications for a large, multinational company,” Park said. “So, I was able to gain the right experience over the years to be competitive and successful.”

A big believer in gaining agency and consulting experience, Park honed an array of skills at agencies Hunter PR and Jackson Spalding before working her way up to become vice president of worldwide public affairs and communications at The Coca-Cola Company with responsibility across 207 countries.