“Writing is an exploration. You start from nothing and learn as you go.”

The biggest part about writing is that it is not just about sharing things that you know, writing is the primary basis for so much more. It is the foundation for your work, your knowledge, and even your experiences.

 Writing is one of the most important ways to go into the professional world and show them who you are and how you can express yourself.

Writing is the only way you can take your thoughts from being temporary to tangible. You can share the thoughts in your head with as many people who are willing to read them. With it you can ask questions, give feedback, tell stories, and so much more.  

The Most important and unique part about writing is that you can use it to express and define yourself in both a professional and personal way. You can use your skills to help people see you in whatever light you would like them to.

Photo Captions

A whiteout to remember -BRECKENRIDGE, Colo. - Feb. 13, 2011- After two weeks of frigid weather with no snowfall, the weather took a turn for the better. The temperature rose by 10 degrees and left skiers with six feet of snow on the ground. The resort was able to open back up Alpine Basin after the icy conditions melted. For more information contact Kira Baldwin, Breckenridge Communications, 727-244-4667. Photo by Kira Baldwin.

Breckenridge National History Museum reopens- BRECKENRIDGE, Colo. - Feb. 13, 2011- After six months of remodeling the museum reopens with two new rooms: the moose cave, and the history of skis room. The museum also added a café and coffee lounge. For more information contact Kira Baldwin, Breckenridge Communications, 727-244-4667. Photo by Andrea Essick.

It's a 'Simple Life' in Breckenride-BRECKENRIDGE, Colo. - Feb. 13, 2011- Last Saturday Paris Hilton, Kim Kardashian, and Nichole Richie were spotted walking the streets of town. They would not answer questions regarding their stay in Breckenridge or reasons behind it, but town members spotted them roaming town after midnight. For more information contact Kira Baldwin, Breckenridge Communications, 727-244-4667. Photo by Andrea Essick.

A Basin is above the rest-BRECKENRIDGE, Colo. - Feb. 13, 2011 - Last Saturday, Breckenridge opened their newly built ski lift at Alpine Basin. The ski lift stands at 13,586 feet making it the third highest ski lift in America. For more information contact Kira Baldwin, Breckenridge Communications, 727-244-4776. Photo by Kira Baldwin

Breckenridge's next rising star-BRECKENRIDGE, Colo. - Feb. 13, 2011 - Freerider Andrew Horn completed the Olympic Alpine Basin jump course last Saturday in under 13 minutes, record time. The freeride record for this course prior to Horn was 13 minutes and 45 seconds. For more information contact Kira Baldwin, Breckenridge Communications, 727-244-4667. Photo by Kira Baldwin.

Castles are not just for kids-BRECKENRIDGE, Colo. - Feb. 13, 2011- Last Saturday Breckinridge’s freeride team member Andrea Essick rented out the Breckinridge snow castle for her 21st birthday. Snow themed drinks and appetizers were served in between rounds of relay races down the mountain. Breckenridge management team has decided to make renting out the snow castle for events a new option. For more information contact Kira Baldwin, Breckenridge Communications, 727-244-4667. Photo by Kira Baldwin.

The Perks of Tweets

In today’s advertising and public relations field about 90 percent of one’s day is spent on the computer. Specialists in this field probably spend more time with the Internet than they do their children. What better way for a rising Ad/PR student to get noticed by these specialists than to make a name for yourself on the Internet?

As a beginner in this field you probably find yourself thinking “Well I already have a Facebook, isn’t that a Web presence?” Unfortunately what these experts want to see doesn’t have to do with football tailgates or girl’s night’s out. The best way to develop your brand image (other than deleting all those racy Facebook pictures and putting your Facebook on extreme privacy settings) is the use of a Twitter.

What is a “Brand Image”?

You are probably wondering what a brand image even is, and why you need one. Successful companies like McDonalds, Facebook, and Nike have created brand images for their companies. As soon as you see the golden arches you can expect the smell of hamburger to reach your nostrils. A single swoosh mark on your shoe reinforces that “This must be a good, comfortable shoe.”

These companies have created an image that can be associated with instant thoughts about them. This is what you, as an ad/pr student must do as well. Use descriptors, blogs, followers, and examples to create an image for yourself that future employers will remember.

How do I make This Image?

The first step in this image is starting from scratch and creating a Twitter. This tool is not to write your every step in life about what you are eating and where you are going, it’s to create intelligent thoughts and an online presence.

Twitter connects you with the things you are actually interested in. If you love penguins (like myself) and would someday love to be a part of the public relations team for SeaWorld, make that known. Show them what your passions are. Create a bio and a background that really says a statement about who you are.

What most people don’t realize about Twitter is that you actually can get an internship from it. The moment I joined twitter and began making my brand image geared towards advertising I had marketing, advertising, and public relations companies following me with Tweets such as email j@newyork.com if you are interested in New York City Marketing internships.

Twitter is the newest most effective way of networking. It’s not always realistic to run into someone on the street and get a job, but you sure can tweet about them.

Tweet away young Ad/PR students. Remember to stay professional and keep the focus on creating a professional brand for yourself. You never know who you could meet through a tweet.

Professional Bio

Austyn Williams- Communications Coordinator

Austyn Williams joined the Breckinridge/Vail Resort public relations team in April of 2010. She leads the marketing and public relations plans for the Breckinridge resorts, the speed race team, and events such as Dew Tour, the North American Open, and Nastar Ski Races.

Austyn studied public relations at the University of California and graduated in 2008. While in school she interned at Turner PR and CBS College Sports. Her career began as a special events coordinator at Copper Village for a summer. She was the manager for XGames 13 Disney Sled Fest in January 2009. After that she began working for Breckinridge in November 2008 as the event planner for the Breckinridge Race Crew. After a year and a half she began as the communications coordinator.

Austyn brings approximately six years experience to the Breckinridge team and a strong passion for what she does. She discovered her love for extreme snow sports at a very young age, after competitive snowboarding at the age of fifteen She realized she wanted to combine what she loved in the mountains with her love of public relations as a career.

She is often involved in Breckinridge’s countless community events or can be found on the slopes in her spare time. Not everyone can be lucky enough to have a career that they love in an environment that they love, but she is. 

Kenneth Cole Tweets about Egypt Situation to Promote Spring Collection

I’ve heard of making jokes in light of tragedy, but Kenneth Cole may have taken that a little more than overboard. Last week Kenneth Cole tweeted what he thought would be funny involving the situation in Egypt. He tweeted “ Millions are in uproar in #Cairo. Rumor is they heard our new spring collection is now available online at http://bit.ly/KCairo- KC”. The initials at the end imply the post was approved by Kenneth Cole before it went public.

As according to Huffington Post, Kenneth Cole immediately removed the post and created a new one apologizing for his actions. His second post said “Re Egypt tweet: we weren’t intending to make light of a serious situation. We understand the sensitivity of this historic moment-KC”. Even though Kenneth Cole immediately apologized, the Public Relations damage had already been done.

As if this wasn’t enough damage angry viewers continued to add to the publicity nightmare. Viewers were furious about the “Hijacking” of the Cairo hashtag that was intended only for tracking the latest news in Egypt.  Many viewers thought it would be comical to create fake Kenneth Cole PR twitter accounts with posts such as “People from New Orleans are flooding into Kenneth Cole Stores!” and “Our new looks are dropping faster than the World Trade Center”.

Kenneth Cole’s purpose may not have been to create such a whirlwind of bad decisions, but it certainly doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see the problems with a satirical tweet on such a sensitive situation. Hopefully this string of events will lead Kenneth Cole to think twice before posting another one of these publicity mayhem tweets.

This I believe

I Believe Our Elders Deserve Utmost Respect

As a young child I was always surrounded by my grandparents. Whether the occasion was birthday parties, Christmas Eve get togethers, or just a mommy vacation weekend where I would be shipped off to grandmas. One of my favorites was sitting on grandpa’s lap for him to read me the Elmo book time and time again. He used to tell me that by the time I was three years old he could recite the book backwards by memory, and that he had lost some feeling in his legs from how often they were my favorite chair.

My grandfather told countless stories about World War II, the German troops, the Soviet Union, his ships, and other memorable events to him. He could go on for hours just telling one event. Something as simple as the word “hatchet” could start him off on an entire day’s worth of story telling. 


One day he pulled out his stash of illegal pictures from a naval base bombing that he took. As I looked through his photos and compared them to those of my history books he had many similar photos of the same places in my book that he had taken. He would point to the event and chuckle. “If only they told you what really happened”, and expand on the all of the details of historical events that my history books left out. My grandfather may not of been coined as the smartest man in the world, but in my world he was. He held so much knowledge beyond that of just book smarts, literally. All the events that we pay hundreds of dollars to learn about he actually lived through. And for that he deserves the utmost respect.

My grandmother on the other hand may not be an expert on history, but she has the biggest heart of anyone I have ever met. Her passion in life is loving. The kind of love I watched between her and my grandfather is the kind I’ve only ever heard about. At eighty-five years old my grandmother told me about the first time she met my grandfather. She was sixteen at the time, and here she is seventy years later still getting butterflies as if it were yesterday. My grandmother is a breed of person that you really don’t see so much anymore.


My grandfather passed away in October of last year. Reminiscing on his stories I wish I would of gotten involved in them at an earlier age. I wish I had learned to respect all of the knowledge he had to offer. On the day of his funeral I looked around me and it was amazing to me how many people knew and respected him so very much.


I developed a true solid respect for not just my grandparents but also the older generation as a whole.  My grandparents and the people like them are my heroes, and I have learned to give them true, utmost, genuine, and everlasting respect