On the Road with Kelly
San Diego, CA
May was a whirlwind. I was fortunate to be able to spend time with leadership from Nashville, San Diego and the nation’s top PR professionals.
As a member of the 2022 Nashville Chamber of Commerce Leadership Study Mission Cohort to San Diego in early May, we met with their leadership to learn what advances and priorities they’ve made over the past several years on topics such as affordability, inclusion, innovations, talent and economic development.
There were 130 people in the cohort, so it made for a fun and educational trip learning not only from San Diegans, but also meeting and learning from the many leaders that live and work here in Nashville.
A few key takeaways were:
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Affordable Housing and Homelessness are a real issue that cannot be ignored. San Diego has been creative through public/private partnerships to find solutions, and Nashville is working to do the same.
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Investing in infrastructure works and without funding major problems unfold. Smart infrastructure investments including bike lanes, sidewalks and Bus Rapid Transit are a few of the topics we learned about.
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Funding for K-12 education, as well as post-secondary education, is vital. We can teach and retain local talent right here in Nashville, and we need to invest and reward our students.
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I learned there are no dumb questions. I sat with different leaders from various sectors at meals, happy hours, and during walks, and those conversations amazed me. We all have ideas, we all have dreams, and we all want the best for our city. A collection of ideas is how we move the ball to continue to make Nashville the great city it is.
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And last, but not least, go to San Diego on Cinco de Mayo for the best experience and history, and yummy margaritas.
Scottsdale, AZ
In mid-May, I traveled to Scottsdale, Arizona for the 2022 Counselor’s Academy of the Public Relations Society of America’s (CAPRSA) annual conference. I recently joined the executive committee of CAPRSA and have met many amazing public relations professionals from across the nation who have now become great resources for all things PR.
This conference provided many takeaways and tools to guide us into the next year. Key topics of discussion included communications trends, life after the pandemic, how to best serve clients in a digital world, sessions on leadership and management in a remote world, and employee retainment. I gained much knowledge from the conference itself, but the nationwide relationships are invaluable to me.
