We sat down with Alexis over some glasses of our favorite drinks, and we were interested to hear about her college journey thus far. She gave some advice for young females who may be looking to go into the Broadcasting field. Let’s meet sophomore Alexis Lyers! Cheers to her for aiming high and wanting to make a difference in the media. She is a Broadcasting major with a minor in Advertising and Public Relations at Point Park University. Never miss a second from this Broadcasting major, follow her on Instagram.
What is your intended career & what do you want to do with your degree? Why?
AL: I wanted to do sports reporting, but I’m not sure yet because there’s a lot of things going on in the media right now that’s kind of making me want to change becoming a newscaster, maybe on CNN or something like that. Other news stations can sometimes portray only one side of the story and I would want to be unbiased while reporting. In AD & PR, I would like to be with a major sports team and be a part their marketing or social media departments.
What advice would you give a freshman entering into school with the same goal or similar goal as you?
AL: Get involved as much as you can on campus. I wish that I could of done more things besides my radio show, like different on campus groups or involved with non-profits all over Pittsburgh. Because Point Park has such a good Communications program, you’ll learn a lot just from the professors and courses you choose to take. It is also important to branch out and meet different people and actually do things that you enjoy with different groups on campus and in the Pittsburgh community.
What preparations do you think people in this career field should do in order to give them a well rounded experience while studying so they will be adequately prepared after graduation?
AL: Internships, internships, internships. But also networking, because you can know a lot of information but also if you go to a job and they like someone’s personality who may be less qualified, they actually might hire that person because they like their personality. It’s about networking, getting involved, and getting to know a lot of people.
Have you had internships, shadowing, temp or any opportunities in your field thus far? If so, what?
AL: I have not had any up to date. I want to do an internship at a courthouse just to see public relations, but also to see how the law works and how it is put together with media, especially with everything that is going on right now. Internships is a way to test exactly what you know and that way you can evaluate yourself and see what you need to do to move forward in your career.
Where do you get your inspiration from in the communications industry?
AL: When I see different injustices going on on the television and the media is being one-sided about it, that really inspires me to make sure I pursue my goal and get where I want to get so that when I do get a job at a major news outlet or sports outlet and things like this go on I have a say. In Ad & PR, it’s something that I really enjoy and the inspiration with that comes from me being a huge sports fan. I think it would be so cool if one day I could be the social media person or marketing person for a big sports brand. I get inspired to do all the things I’m learning now on a bigger scale.