My Superpower? Being Completely Self-Taught By Daria Fennell
of The Daria Fennell Media Group, they are shocked. I am extremely accomplished for someone who has never taken one Public Relations or Journalism class in college.
I became an official Entertainment Publicist during my Sophomore year at the University of Maryland at College Park. I taught myself how to write my first press release for the Student Black Women’s Council (a student-run organization on Maryland's campus) so that I could invite DJ EZ Street (one of the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area’s most
popular DJ’s) to a Student Black Women’s Council event. When EZ Street attended our event, I was extremely excited and amazed at the power of my writing.
After that event, my friend Saafir suggested that I apply to become the P.R. Director for S.E.E. Productions. S.E.E. Productions is a completely student-run Entertainment company that brings all of the entertainment to the University of Maryland at College Park campus. Students do everything from booking the talent to negotiating the contracts to the Public Relations, Publicity, and Marketing of the talent.
I became PR Director of S.E.E. Productions and I began doing PR & Publicity on campus for Wu-Tang Clan, RUN DMC, G. Love & Special Sauce, Dr. Lonise Bias (Mother of the late, great University of Maryland at College Park basketball star, Len Bias), and Tony Kornheiser (former Sports Columnist of The Washington Post).
Fast forward 26 years later. I have placed Clients in Forbes Magazine, The Washington Post, XM Satellite Radio, Fox 5 Morning News (Washington, D.C.), The Diamondback (the University of Maryland at College Parks daily student newspaper), on and on. I have also interviewed and published articles on Taraji P. Henson, Anthony Hamilton, John Legend, Rhymefest, Musiq Soulchild, Towanda Braxton, Raheem DeVaughn, etc.
When I first began my career, I was very self-conscious because I didn’t possess a degree in Public Relations or Journalism. The degree that I received from the University of Maryland at College Park is a B.A. in Afro-American Studies with a Minor in Film and Theatre. Eventually, as I got older and much more seasoned in my career, I realized that being completely self-taught was most definitely my superpower!
Why was being completely self-taught my superpower? (1) It taught me to lean completely on myself and totally trust my instincts; (2) God always blessed me with the right questions to ask when I needed to learn something and the correct person to ask those questions of; (3) Being completely self-taught gave me the ability to take risks that people officially trained in Entrepreneurship, Public Relations, Publicity, Journalism, Writing, & Editing might not have taken. I am now very proud to be self-taught. I have worked extremely hard in my career to be successful. I absolutely love what I do and I wouldn’t have it any other way!
Learn more about Daria Fennell at www.TheDFMediaGroup.com
Twitter: @DariaFMedia
Twitter: @DariaFMedia
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