New Year Message from the President

Akeam Ashford

Welcome to 2022

I’m excited to serve as your 2022 PRSA Kansas chapter president. I understand the past two years may have been rough on you personally, and even professionally, but I welcome you to lean into PRSA Kansas even more this year. We have a dynamic board filled with both young talent and seasoned communication professionals that are dedicated to making 2022 the best year yet for our chapter.

PRSA offers a number of professional resources to help you in your career. I can personally tell you I have made life-long friends in our chapter, and I wouldn’t be where I am today if not for those relationships. I invite you to attend our monthly events to explore current and future trends, discover best practices and network with fellow PR pros. Starting in February, these events will take place every fourth Wednesday of the month. You can stay up-to-date by signing up for our email newsletters, following PRSA Kansas on Facebook and LinkedIn and visiting PRSAKansas.org.

Our national organization also provides immense opportunities for development. I encourage you to log on to PRSA.org often, navigate to the MyPRSA tab to find upcoming webinars and helpful links to engaging content. These resources are free for PRSA members and a great way for you to learn more – advancing both yourself and the profession. If you’re interested in obtaining an Accreditation in Public Relations (APR), reach out to our APR Chair Cynthia Wentworth, APR, at cynthiawentworth@gmail.com for more information. We are lucky to have multiple APR’s in our chapter and I encourage you to use them as a resource.

I want to give a big thank you to Kristy Bansemer, our immediate past president, for leading PRSA Kansas through a global pandemic. I want to build on what she’s done and bring new ideas to our organization, but I need YOUR help. Please join me for volunteer and service opportunities in our community throughout the year.

In closing, I want to say thank you for all you do for PRSA Kansas. Thank you to Meghan Carver, our president-elect, and the entire PRSA board for agreeing to serve alongside me this year. I hope this year brings you much success and happiness. I’m proud to be part of a profession that is a critical part of any organization. Thank you for selecting me to serve as your president in 2022.

Happy New Year!

Akeam Ashford
PRSA Kansas President
Akeamashford@gmail.com