An essay on the issues facing Bermuda’s tourism industry and the challenges that needed to be addressed was enough to land Kenisha Pough a place at prestigious New York public relations firm Lou Hammond & Associates.Having sent in her CV and the 1,000 word plus essay, which also included why she was the best candidate for the internship, Ms Pough was selected to take part in the Bermuda Department of Tourism’s (BDOT) David H Allen Internship programme working at one of its international agencies in New York.In her role as public relations intern working under the supervision of Lou Hammond & Associates on projects related to its client BDOT, she covers everything from contributing to the development of itineraries for group press trips and individual visits to liaison with the Bermuda Hotel Association to provide the agency with a greater depth of information for each hotel property on Island.Ms Pough also researchs and compiles appropriate geocentric media lists for events, press trips and specialised pitches, as well as helping to organise logistics of media opportunities and conduct follow-up calls and media pitches.“I believe BDOT positioned me with this particular company judging by my professional background,” she said. “They made a good decision.”The 22-year-old from Warwick graduated from the Berkeley Institute in 2007 and in the 2006/07 academic year she was voted Student Council President by her peers.Going on to attend Bermuda College for two years prior to graduating with an Associate in Arts (Business Administration) with Merit, May 2009, she received a few scholarships from the Bermuda community that allowed her to further her education at Temple University in Autumn 2009, where she expects to graduate with a Bachelor of Business Administration, dual-majoring in International Business/Marketing in January 2012.Ms Pough also did a semester study abroad at Saint Louis University - Madrid Campus, in Spain from August to December, 2010, as she says, for the experience and to improve her Spanish.Her path into PR came from an early age since her school days.In her last year at the Berkeley Institute she took a Marketing course which exposed her to its many components, such as product, price, place, promotion - ‘the 4 P’s of marketing’.“I read as much as I could on the subject to try and find an area that would best fit my personality; bubbly, love to talk and always had a knack for words and writing,” she said.“Marketing communications was just that. It was not the graphic design behind advertising that enticed me, but the words and way in which the message was conveyed that I found interesting.”In the summer of 2009, Ms Pough had the opportunity to work in the marketing department at the Bermuda Telephone Company and last summer during HSBC Bank Bermuda’s student trainee programme, she used her networking skills to work with the manager of corporate communications and draft the release for a corporate social event.Now in New York, she is thriving in her new environment and believes that the transition from working at Bermuda company to a US company was not hard to adjust to, working alongside a predominantly young and dynamic set of employees.The only downside, Ms Pough said, was some of the more tedious tasks she have to complete, such as the hotel fact sheets and restaurant database.“But, I did learn one very important lesson about the tasks,” she said. “My manager explained that in the industry of PR, information is everything.“I understood what he meant because the medium or news outlet that gets the message out the soonest, will have the most followers/viewers, and those followers will be looking at the outlet as a reliable source of up-to-date information.”Among her most interesting experiences at work have been the opportunity to travel to Lenox Square Mall in Atlanta, Georgia for a ‘Sales Blitz’, where herself and a colleague operated the table with Bermuda brochures, maps, and magazines, the best part of which, she said was talking with shoppers who had been to Bermuda many moons ago listening to their old tales of Bermuda.Citing her close-knit family team of father Gary Williams, mother Marilyn Pough and sister, Clarissa Pough, Ms Pough said that they had consistently worked together to help guide her in a positive direction.She also has admiration for Christian Amanpour, formerly the chief international correspondent at CNN, who overcame a number of challenges, including being a woman working in a traditionally male-dominated world of journalism, and shedding light on issues in Rwanda, Afghanistan and Iran.In the future, Ms Pough plans to complete her Master’s degree and CPA (Chartered Public Accountant) designation and work in the industry for another two to three years, before pursuing her passion for language and culture, travelling to various countries, interacting with locals and keeping a journal of her experiences.Further down the line, she wants to become an entrepreneur, with an overall goal to run my own non-profit organisation, possibly helping the elderly or in education.And her words of advice to any young Bermudian thinking about following in her footsteps or any other chosen career are to network.“Irrespective of the career path that a young Bermudian may choose, it is imperative to network,” she said. “Networking will put you in touch with people you may not have been able to be in contact with otherwise and it can take you places that you may have never expected.“Likewise, have courage to step outside of your comfort zone because at that point one will truely find out what one’s real capabilities are. Lastly, remember that life’s paths do have an opportunity cost; to pursue one endeavour, you might miss out on another prospect, but leap out on faith and do not be afraid to make a sacrifice.”