The first few weeks

Hello my name is Veronica Nombhulelo Garebatho, I am currently doing my internship at Mongoose which is an internationally experienced communications business with offices in New York, London, Mumbai and Kuala Lumpur. Well I am based in Kuala Lumpur. Well just to be brief Mongoose is the publisher of magazines such as Time Out KL, Expatriate Lifestyle,Arrivals and Golf Vacations.

Working in an international office with different people from different countries is not as I imagined. Some are friendly and some are not. But each day I try my best to practice what I learnt in International PR; being tolerant observing of others cultures.The first few weeks of work were busy as Mongoose was preparing to have a big event. It was the Time Out KL Food Awards, which was an annual event since 2009. In preparation for this event I helped my supervisor to come up with a media list of relevant media outlets which we would like to attend the awards. The list included blogers (mainly food) because if they actually liked the event they would post it on their blogs thus publicity for the company. Radio stations like Fly FM were invited, TV stations,magazines and news wire. I was reminded constantly that the media was important to get the event to the people. So we had to invite media channels that the the Malaysian population is focused on. This required me to research on what people listened to, watched and read the most. Five days before the event I drafted a press release which was uploaded on the company website and given to the newspapers informing the public about the event.

And then finally the event! It was hectic but fun cause I had the privilege to get dressed up. The Top chefs in KL got awarded. From the event I learnt that as an intern you have to be prepared for anything. Instead of rubbing shoulders with corporate people, I was ushering them to the entrance when they arrived and leading them to the photographer.And the day after the event I drafted another press release to inform the public that indeed the event was successful. So just like we were taught in class; The media plays a vital role in PR especially when there are events.