My Second Day and First Press Conference!

I’ll set the scene:

It is my second day interning at Tuesday’s Children and I am at a press conference with Johan Santana, Mets pitching ace who, together with the Mets Foundation, has donated 20,000 dollars to Tuesday’s Children to help reach the needs of spanish-speaking families directly impacted by 9/11. I am the Marketing and Public Relations intern so I have eagerly accompanied my boss, Tuesday’s Children’s Marketing and PR manager, to the Mets’ Citifield with the hopes of catching a glimpse of Public Relations in action. I chat with the TC family members present and find out that one of today’s speakers not only has my same exact birthday, but is a female professional wrestler! I contemplate a switch in career direction, then decide against it.

The Press Conference begins with Jeff Wilpon, the COO of the New York Mets welcoming us and introducing Tuesday’s Children’s Executive Director Terry Sears. After Terry speaks about Tuesday’s Children and thanks Johan for his generosity, Johan speaks, followed by two latina family members who speak about their positive experiences as part of the Tuesday’s Children community. In order to attract spanish-speaking audiences, half the press conference is being held in spanish and, afterwards, half the media is conducting interviews in spanish– including major US latino television broadcaster, Univision. At this moment, my 6 months in Peru are coming in handy because I can help make sure the questions asked in spanish are appropriate for the younger family members.

All of a sudden, I am being asked a question: How do I feel?

Since I am the only spanish-speaking staff member present, Terry has given me the “OK” to interview– normally all interviews go through our LAK Public Relations contact.

I’m pretty sure I said something along the lines of, “I’m so excited about the generosity of Johan Santana and the Mets Foundation, and what this contribution will mean for the spanish-speaking families that want to get involved with Tuesday’s Children” but, honestly, I was so nervous I blacked it out! It turns out the woman from Latin Post was speaking to me in english– It also turns out my big moment didn’t actually make it into the paper, so we’ll never know my exact words! Thankfully Tuesday’s Children did receive a lot of great press that day (featured below)! AND I have since begun reading Latin Post, a weekly spanish newspaper for the New York/ New Jersey areas (Check it out here: http://www.thelatinpost.com/)!

Judging from my first week, it seems like this internship is going to be a GREAT experience! I appreciate Tuesday’s Children’s confidence in me, and I can’t believe I’ve already gotten to experience the thrill of a press conference– What more could a PR intern wish for? I’m also excited to see Tuesday’s Children’s great work expand into the hispanic community, which I feel especially connected to after my time spent abroad in Peru and in El Paso on an HC Spring Break Immersion trip.

To finish it all off, Johan Santana pitched a no-hitter on Friday’s game. I wonder if it had anything to do with his incredibly clean conscience! Unfortunately, he pitched it against my beloved home team, the St. Louis Cardinals…

Check out some of the press articles from the conference at the links below:

New York Daily News: http://articles.nydailynews.com/2012-06-05/news/32060870_1_ed-greenberg-johan-santana-foundation-citi-field

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nlwZBBO9PA

JohanSantana.org: http://www.johansantana.org/news/johan-santana-foundation-supports-tuesdays-children

Mets Today: http://www.metstoday.com/7735/mets-2012-games/johan-santana-teams-up-with-mets-for-tuesdays-children/

Some pictures from the Press Conference!

Con cariño,

Katharine.

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