Past Mohawk PR Graduate: Lara Santosuosso


Past Graduate, Lara Santosuosso

Past graduates of the Mohawk College Public Relations Post Grad Certificate Program are the clear example of what a trained and highly skilled young professional looks like. For most of us in our studies right now, we are both excited and nervous to reach the point where we will be looking for employment in the PR world. In order to ease our nerves and understand what its like to be a young professional in the working world, we can look to past graduates for some insight. Meet Lara Santosuosso. She is both a young female professional, a seasoned dancer and an emerging public relations practitioner. Her first taste of post-secondary education came to her when she attended McMaster University, ultimately graduating with her Bachelor of Arts in Sociology. While at Mac, Lara gained theoretical knowledge in the field of Sociology and perfected her written and critical thinking skills. To keep a fine balance between work and play, Lara was heavily active with the McMaster Verve Dance Team acting as both a member and the co-director in her later years. Although she loved McMaster and had a great four-year run at the school, she felt that she was not workplace ready just yet. 

After a bit of researching, the Mohawk PR program came up and she thought it seemed like something she would excel at. Lara says that, “It was such a great program it really prepared me for what was to come in the ‘PR world’". Throughout her studies at Mohawk, she was able to conduct various fundraising and awareness programs for the United Way as well as the Canadian Deaf Blind Association. For her 105 hour placement, Lara had the privilege to intern with Christy's Gourmet Gifts located in Burlington. During this placement, Lara was thrown a variety of different tasks to perform, some of them being developing a media kit for the company, being responsible for their media relations and managing the company's social media accounts. Lara told me that opportunities such as the internship and fundraising that she was required to do with the Mohawk PR program truly made her feel workplace ready. "Through the internships and all of our guest speakers, we were able to interact one on one with them and that set many people in my program up with career opportunities. When I started in the field I felt extremely prepared thanks to the program." A handful of volunteer opportunities that she participated in throughout the year were also something that she found very educational and helpful. Lara volunteered as a public relations volunteer at the Hamilton Economic Summit and the Hamilton Health Sciences 25th Anniversary, both great successes. 


Since graduating from the program, Lara has worked hard within the PR industry and made a respectable name for herself as a young emerging PR professional. She held the title of Communications Consultant with CAES (Career Advancement Employment Services) of Burlington for a year after school, and then worked as a PR freelance professional on the Hamilton Fall Home Show and Sale. For Lara Santosuosso, the best is yet to come. As for her favourite aspects of the profession, she says it would be between media relations and crisis communications. "Dealing with the media is crucial and it is important to build long lasting relationships with media outlets in order to be successful and really convey your message properly." With her vast educational background and strong PR skills, there is no doubt that we will be seeing many more great things from this young public relations professional very soon. 

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