Too many coincidences in two weeks?

I never considered myself integral with the world of Public Relations (PR), nor be a magnet for the media. But too many media-related incidents have happened to me these two weeks to make me wonder if these coincidences are a way for God to tell me to go into PR or journalism - something that I've resisted because I've always thought that I have a different calling in life.

The first incident was NYC's publishing an article that they wrote of me and Project ENP in their monthly magazine. Although they did not clear the article with us, I'm glad that they gave some publicity for the project since they are our sponsor (although I shudder at how they have portrayed me).

The second incident happened two Fridays ago, when we hosted a dinner for 20 Saudi Scholars as part of my Business Study Mission (BSM) Middle East programme. I was in charge of media relations and was responsible for crafting the media strategy and documents, and leading the media team to pitch to over 20 media outlets. For 4 days, we worked the ground and crossed our fingers for the media to bite. Fortunately, at the last moment, we managed to secure coverage of up to 4 articles by Berita Harian and Blue & Gold. Berita Harian wrote a nice article on the Saudi students.

The next amazing thing that happened on that Friday was that Suria TV turned up without informing us beforehand with a cameraman but NO reporter. Sweating furiously, I decided to do an impromptu interview with the people there and send the footage to Suria for airing. With no script, I decided to throw questions off the top of my mind at the interviewees.

That was my first taste of broadcast journalism. It was very scary but extremely exhilarating. I heard that Suria aired the clip two Saturdays ago, and I'm still trying to get the clip for media tracking purposes. Not bad for a newbie like me!

The fourth incident happened last Friday when Blue & Gold magazine published a two-page-long reply by the SMU Student Associations Council (SAC) to my commentary on the need for more accountability and improved strategic communication by the SAC. By any standards, it was a long reply but it's satisfying to see that they are now making the effort to communicate more with the student population.

The fifth incident happened on Saturday when there was a record sign-up and turn-out for the Branding, Marketing & PR workshop for AIESECers that I organised with Rachel and Grace. By most standards, it was a success, and I used the opportunity to hone my craft with the guidance of our two trainers from Ogilvy & Mather. I took out more from the workshop than I ever expected.

And then, this week, my article on student journalism was selected to be published in the Straits Times: Youthink. It's been a long while, really, considering my last piece was published in the beginning of this year. It has restored my confidence in writing more often for the column.

Finally, the SMU Corporate Communications Office called me recently and informed me that The Straits Times wants to interview me and two other students on our experience with blogging for the SMU Blog which is targeted at prospective students. The journalist wishes to find out if we were subjected to any form of censorship (or self-censorship) that might have made us portray a too-good-to-be-true image of the school. For the record, we are basically free to write whatever we want on the blog but as always, we have to be responsible writers.

Thomas Griffith once said that "journalism is in fact history on the run" while Napolean lamented that "fame is fleeting but obscurity is forever". I had (will have) my few moments of fame and I will move on just as quicky as it happened.

Unless God has other plans for me.