I had the pleasure to job shadow Mrs. Ginger Tyra, Director of Marketing and Public Relations of Piedmont Cartersville, for my Work Based Learning Job Shadow. I shadowed Mrs. Tyra on February 8th, 2022 at the Piedmont Cartersville facility located at 960 Joe Frank Harris Pkwy SE in Cartersville, Georgia. When I sparked an interest in marketing and public relations, Ms. Boyer referred me to Mrs. Tyra. I received her contact information, reached out to her by email, and set up both a career consultation and job shadow with her. Mrs. Tyra's office is located specifically in the Cartersville Physician's Center building where she works on marketing plans, deals with the media, and brainstorms advertisements for Piedmont Cartersville. While at the Piedmont Cartersville Location, I got to meet a variety of professional clientele including Piedmont Cartersville's CEO, Chris Mosley, Piedmont Cartersville's CFO, Benny McDonald, and while in the hospital itself, I got to meet Dr. Subbiah, an Interventional Cardiologist. I also got to meet a variety of prestigious clientele on Piedmont's Brand Growth Team through an online meeting including Douwe Bergsma, Piedmont's Chief Marketing Officer, Elizabeth Wang, Piedmont's Executive Director of Brand Building and Communications, and John Manasso, Piedmont's Director of External Communications. I chose to shadow specifically at a hospital because I have a passion for healthcare but more in the sense of marketing and communications rather than in the medical field.

Piedmont Cartersville is one of sixteen Piedmont Hospitals in the state of Georgia, so it would be considered a branch of a large corporation. In Mrs. Tyra's position, she works alone and is considered a one-man department. She is the only person in charge of Piedmont Cartersville's marketing, communications, and brand development. However, looking more state-wide, there are a total of 55 people on Piedmont's Brand Growth Team. The people in this field are extremely creative, and they have an eye for how Piedmont should be marketed in a clear, simple, and appealing way. With this being said, the people in this career are extremely blunt, and they are not afraid to say if something is out of place, looks cluttered, or isn't presented correctly. The people on this team who are more involved in communications are extremely fluent writers, social, and can speak well with others. Looking at Piedmont Cartersville as a whole hospital, there are a variety of different doctors, nurses, and administrators, both male and female, who come from many different ethnic backgrounds and are a variety of ages. Since a hospital is home to a variety of different careers and titles, the educational background and training varies drastically depending on the field. In the career field I shadowed, Marketing and Public Relations, the educational requirement is to receive either a bachelor's degree in marketing and a minor in mass communications/public relations or vice versa. As long as there is some sort of background in both marketing and communications, a Director of Marketing and Public Relations position is attainable. Regarding the work environment of Piedmont Cartersville as a hospital, I cannot say much due to the fact that I was only in the hospital itself for roughly twenty minutes. However, for the short time I was inside the hospital, it seemed like a very close-knit, caring work environment, which I appreciate since there is truly no time to spare in a hospital. Now, regarding Mrs. Tyra's office, the work environment was very secluded since she is a one-man department, which didn't appeal to me. If it were up to me and my future, I would prefer being in a work environment with more people.

I started out my job shadowing day at 9 am, and we finished up around 5 pm. As soon as I got there, Mrs. Tyra and I sat in on a WebEx which is basically a hospital wide call for Piedmont Cartersville employees to keep everyone in the loop of what is going on inside the hospital. Mrs. Tyra listens in to see if there are any interesting stories or facts that she could share out to the public. After this meeting, we ordered business cards for a nurse at Piedmont Cartersville, which I thought was interesting to see the steps of how to digitally create a business card. Also, Mrs. Tyra showed me the layouts for the new Piedmont Cartersville signs which I also thought was interesting to see the advertising side of marketing. Mrs. Tyra then showed me how she types up a CEO report for her CEO, which includes interesting facts or stories that sets Piedmont Cartersville apart from all of the other hospitals. I also got to listen in on two different media phone calls. One was for a local radio station on how to properly wear a mask, in which she then called a nurse who might be interested to talk on the radio show. This shows the communications aspect of her job and how she connects point A, the radio station, to point B, the nurse who could potentially talk about mask protocols, to eventually, point C, the public. She also called an elementary school teacher at Cartersville Elementary School regarding their fundraiser for Advocates for Children, Kids Helping Kids, in partnership with Piedmont. They talked about the details of the fundraiser and how they should format the donation envelope in an appealing way so that people would donate more to their cause. After these phone calls, I had the honor to attend the Annual Chamber of Commerce Awards Luncheon with Mrs. Tyra. I got to sit with a distinguished table of professionals from Piedmont Cartersville including both the CEO and the CFO, which was an amazing experience. I got to have a beneficial conversation with the CFO, Mr. Benny McDonald, regarding my future plans. After this luncheon, we rushed back for a few online meetings. One meeting in particular included individuals from Piedmont's Brand Growth Team, in which they were reviewing a PowerPoint regarding why the public should choose Piedmont as their hospital. It was interesting to see the way they viewed the PowerPoint in a much more detailed manor than the way I was viewing it. I was already comfortable with the viewing of the PowerPoint and the use of a word document, but the ordering of business cards and the Piedmont Portals were tools that I was not familiar with. At the end of my job shadow day, Mrs. Tyra brought me into the hospital and showed me the Catheter Lab, Nurse Administration, and some other behind the scenes hospital environments which were intriguing.

My job shadow experience with Mrs. Tyra was extremely knowledgeable and beneficial. From this job shadow, I learned that I would prefer to be in a marketing or communications career that involves leading others in the same department, rather than being in a one-man department. I also learned that there is a lot more computer, behind the desk work than I thought. It is not exactly what I was expecting, but that is not a bad thing. I was expecting more of a hands-on, social environment. However, the expectation that it would be a multi-tasking career that keeps you busy is correct. This career does jump back and forth from task to task which appeals to me. I would even prefer a little more of a fast-paced environment than what I shadowed. I also learned a variety of useful tricks regarding Microsoft Platforms like Word and PowerPoint, as well as beneficial tips from professional standpoints regarding my future education. I think that I would like to work in a similar career field regarding marketing and communications, but perhaps not for a hospital. I still have a passion for healthcare, and I may entertain the idea of an inside saleswoman for a hospital, but in the marketing realm, I need something more fast-paced. Perhaps a marketing firm where there are multiple different businesses, services, or products to market for would appeal to me more rather than just marketing for one company. Mrs. Tyra was a lovely person to job shadow, and I absolutely love what she does and what she stands for at Piedmont Cartersville. I would definitely recommend Mrs. Tyra and Piedmont Cartersville to another student for a job shadow. I loved my time with her at this location and all the beneficial, knowledgeable, and eye-opening opportunities I got to experience.