Intern Alert: How To Handle Chaos and Crisis
Working in the PR and/or fashion industry is not only about hosting glam events and fashion shows. The industry is competative, tough and can be very stressful at times. Even the most hard working intern or fashionista will find herself facing chaos and crises. This is how to deal!
After a long, and completely stressful, break from Intern Chic I am finally back to share my insight and advice in the PR and Fashion world straight from New York City. Thanks to my ridiculously tumultuous hiatus (filled with hurricanes, power outages, hotels, illnesses, you name it!) I thought this would be the perfect opportunity for me to share what I learned through my experience and explain how any PR or Fashion intern can handle absolutely anything that is thrown at them.
As busy women who are usually on their smartphones 24 hours a day figuring out what client meetings they have to go to, how to throw the perfect event and be the perfect hostess, what latest celebrity gossip has leaked and how to meet important deadline while trying to explain to your bf why you cannot make it home for dinner, we are used to the hectic lifestyles that we lead. And sometimes life gets in the way of important plans. Take a hurricane for example; you can’t expect something like that to happen but when it does, it creates chaos! If something like a natural disaster or family emergency comes up, stay calm, breathe, and most importantly, tell yourself you will get through it.
PR and fashion professionals are some of the toughest women out there. From working in this highly competitive and stressful industry, we have created a go-getter personality so if a crisis leaves us out of touch for a week or more we know how to deal, am I right? Make sure you email your supervisors and boss to let them know that you are OK but due to extenuating circumstances cannot make it in that particular day/week. Let them know that you can still get any work done and will do everything you can to stay on top of your tasks. Make sure you express how sorry you are and how you will keep them updated once things settle down.
Everyone understands that some things cannot be controlled and even in the PR and fashion industry, nothing is perfect. Sometimes the work piles up and we get behind in our responsibilities. Even the perfect PR girl and the most fabulous fashion girl get behind in their work sometimes. It is important that you don’t blame yourself! More importantly, we have to support each other and be proud of our successful women peers. After all, we can’t control everything in our lives and when the unexpected happens we have to take a step back and look at the bigger picture.
If you have a deadline coming up, try your hardest to get the work done but if certain circumstances get in your way then don’t stress. We are always on the go 24/7 and our health and safety come first in dangerous situations. We have all handled the client emergency of not having enough press kit copies, or losing a big placement, or even losing a clothing sample. We are everyone’s go-to girl when it comes to a PR or fashion crisis! We perform effortlessly under work pressure, so in uncontrollable emergencies we have to perform even better. However, that means when things get better you have to get back on track, fast!
Coming back from a long break means you will have to step up your game and get work done faster than you ever have before. Personally, I like to make “to-do” lists, sticky notes, and phone alarms to remind me what I have to do. Getting back on the workhorse after an unwanted break is always a good thing. Keep in mind that things were a lot worse a few weeks ago and now everything is back to normal. We all have certain routines that we like to stick to and having that sense of normalcy back is comforting for us! The first day back might be hard, but grab that cup of coffee, hop on to the computer, start sending those emails and things will work themselves back into place!