Hello! My name is Reese Skaggs and I’m the new intern here at Smart Connections PR. I recently completed my junior year at West Virginia Wesleyan College (WVWC) where I am pursuing an undergraduate degree in marketing as well as a master’s degree in business administration.

I originally attended Shepherd University where I played football until I sustained various hamstring injuries that ultimately forced me to hang up the cleats. After much thought, I decided it was in my best interest to transfer to a college closer to home. At WVWC, I have made friendships that will last a lifetime while being an active brother of the Kappa Alpha Order: Beta Chi Chapter.

I developed an interest in public relations after completing related assignments in a few classes I completed this past semester. Public relations, along with other aspects of the business industry, are evolving. This past semester, I was instructed to experiment with AI on multiple assignments in various classes. We were first tasked to develop performance improvement plans for ourselves using the course text and online resources. After we completed our improvement plan, we were instructed to incorporate AI into an additional performance improvement plan.

The first performance improvement plan took me hours to complete. But, when I implemented artificial intelligence, the hours I previously spent researching and creating a Word document were completed within seconds. Artificial Intelligence is a great tool for businesses to use, but it lacks one thing: human intuition. In public relations, human intuition plays a vital role in its success. If we take human intuition out of the equation, the successes in public relations, along with other aspects of business, will diminish substantially.

I believe if we incorporate artificial intelligence into public relations in a way that allows us to implement our human intuition, businesses can save time and succeed in cost minimization in the long run.

I’ve always been intrigued by marketing and public relations as in how broad these disciplines seem. More specifically, every business needs high-performing marketing and public relations departments to be successful. In the past few years in school, I’ve developed writing and communication skills that I’m looking to expand with this opportunity at a boutique PR agency such as Smart Connections PR.

Not many people know that in addition to competing in sports, I have played guitar all my life as and participated in theatre throughout high school. Theatre taught me how to get comfortable with being uncomfortable, which has turned me into an extrovert above all else. With this, I can implement my social skills along with my writing abilities to grow and learn at SCPR.

With this opportunity at Smart Connections PR, I am excited to be a part of an elite team and organization to show me the ropes of public relations and all it entails. This is my first experience with a job that corresponds with my major, so there are some nerves and a lot of excitement. I can’t wait to get started and be a part of this team!