CAMD student Delaney Lanker ’18 (left)

CAMD student Delaney Lanker ‘18, who is majoring in Journalism and currently on her third co-op as Worldwide Communications Intern at HP Inc., recently earned the Intern of the Year award from PR News. The award, which recognizes Delaney’s passion for public relations as well as her strong work ethic, is given to communicators across the country who routinely go above and beyond the call of duty. She was nominated by her boss, Lacey Haines ’07, who is also a Northeastern School of Journalism alumna. Hardworking and ambitious both in and out of co-op, Delaney also recently finished a two-year position as Captain of Northeastern University’s Division 1 Swim and Dive Team. Needless to say, it has been an exciting semester.

“I am very honored and humbled to have been chosen as Intern of the Year by PR News,” said Delaney. “I’ve been a recognized athlete my whole life and now that my collegiate swimming career has come to an end, it feels great to know that I’m a part of a new team at HP – I couldn’t have done it without them.”

Her co-op experience has been multifaceted, rewarding, and extremely valuable. As most communicators would agree, working in this fast-paced industry often means no two days are the same – and this has certainly been Delaney’s experience at HP Inc., as she effectively juggles multiples tasks at once and wears different hats throughout the day.

“The beautiful thing about PR and Communications is that there is no ‘typical day.’ It is one of the many reasons I love this industry and my job here at HP,” added Delaney. “I work on a number of things including event management, media relations, internal communications requests and product seeding.”

She was originally drawn to this co-op because it was an opportunity to take a job outside of Boston, and explore a new city. Since her swimming career at Northeastern had ended and being from Denver, she was interested in exploring West Coast co-op opportunities. She also wanted to pursue an in-house PR co-op, which she discovered her preference for during her first two co-ops. Delaney is HP’s first-ever co-op, and she jumped at the chance to work for such a large and well-known company.

“Reflecting on the role, I can say that I have really loved the involvement I have had with events during this co-op,” she explained. “My two favorite events/announcements were: first, our partnership with Conde Nast and Vogue Forces of Fashion in NYC, and second, our work with NASA and the launch of HP’s Zero-G printer.”

Prior to HP, Delaney explored the public relation opportunities within Boston as a PR co-op at New Balance Athletic Shoe, where she coordinated with and authored press releases for magazines, online media, and television networks to feature New Balance products. Her second co-op was at 360 Public Relations as an intern for the Healthy Living team, where she worked with clients, such as Ball Corp., Krusteaz, Peapod, and Nasoya. She credits her journalism classes for helping her understand how to pitch and execute press releases to the media.

“My classes have not concentrated in public relations, but I have applied many of the skills I learned in my journalism classes into my co-op experiences,” explained Delaney. “I know how to think like a journalist, which makes it easier for me to pitch and interact with journalists from a PR perspective. With journalists you have to approach pitches with the right angles and reach out to the appropriate writers for different stories.”

When asked if she had any advice to her fellow students, Delaney put it simply: “Stay confident, work hard, and fake it until you make it.”