– Lavanya Singh, Nucleus PR

1. The boring work isn’t separate from the real work.

When I started my internship, a lot of my work revolved around research, tracking publications and spending my mornings reading newspapers. I’ll admit, it wasn’t what I imagined PR would look like. I wanted to write campaigns and brainstorm ideas, not sit with a stack of newspapers wondering why everyone still swore by print.

But after a few weeks, I realised I was looking at it the wrong way.

The point wasn’t to read newspapers because they’re old-school. It was to understand how stories travel, how journalists think and how perception is built. You can’t communicate well if you don’t understand where people get their information from in the first place.

The work that I thought was boring wasn’t taking me away from PR. It was teaching me the fundamentals of it.

2. Your work doesn’t end with you.

One thing college doesn’t prepare you for is that your work eventually becomes someone else’s responsibility.

During my first month, I submitted an incomplete events sheet before a client meeting. My boss told me that if the client opened that document, they wouldn’t ask me why it was incomplete. They’d ask her.

That conversation stuck with me because it completely changed how I thought about deadlines. In college, procrastination mostly affected me. I’d lose a few marks, promise myself I’d never do it again and somehow repeat the cycle next semester.

At work, rushing something at the last minute doesn’t just affect the quality of your work. It affects the people who trusted you enough to put your work in front of a client.

That was probably the first time I understood what responsibility actually feels like.

3. Emotional regulation isn’t something you learn in college.

Whenever I had a bad day in college, I usually skipped class and went home.

Work doesn’t really give you that option.

There are days when life is messy, but there are still meetings to attend, calls to make and people who need something from you. I’ve realised that being professional isn’t about pretending everything is okay. It’s about learning to hold yourself together for long enough to do what needs to be done.

Nobody teaches you that. You slowly pick it up because your responsibilities don’t pause every time life does.

4. I wish I had stayed more curious.

Somewhere along the way, my generation decided that reading newspapers were a boomer activity. Now, one of my favourite parts of the day is reading them.

Beyond current affairs, they’ve helped me understand why they’re still one of the most credible sources of information. They’ve also reminded me how much I enjoy good writing and good vocabulary. Words that aren’t just “6-7.”

I wish I’d started sooner, not because someone told me to, but because curiosity is a muscle. The earlier you exercise it, the easier learning everything else becomes.

5. Work follows you home in the best way.

Nobody tells you that your first job changes more than the eight hours you spend at work.

I sleep on time now. I eat actual meals instead of surviving on fumes and vibes. Problems that would’ve completely thrown me off in college now feel like things I can sit down and solve instead of spiralling over.

Working in PR has also changed how I look at people. Every day, we’re trying to understand how consumers perceive brands and founders. Somewhere along the line, I started extending that same thinking to my personal life. I’ve become less interested in winning arguments and more interested in understanding why someone sees the same situation differently.

Somewhere between my first client meeting, my first mistake and my first few months of working, I also became more reliable.

For the people around me, for my boss and, finally, for myself.

About Nucleus PR

The 16-year old firm has clients across multiple verticals. With an already established presence in 4 major metros, they have successfully created a strong affiliate network across 88 towns across the country via a team of trusted professional experts. With its inclusion in the exclusive and prestigious worldwide collaborative network of PR firms – PRBI Boutiques International, it adds brilliant minds from over 40 agencies across 14 countries to their resource pool. As the first members from the Asian sub-continent, they represent the entire region in the prestigious international PR network. Their current portfolio includes entertainment, lifestyle, media, hospitality and corporate clients across MNCs, SMEs, and Startups.