One late evening in 2015, propped up in bed, I decided to apply for Season 8 of MasterChef Australia. From a young age I knew I had a passion for cooking, spending so much time as a child with my grandmother in the kitchen I learnt the fundamental skills of cooking. When I applied, I did not think I’d make it onto TV.
A few months later and countless interviews, cook offs and questionnaires I was there on the screens of Australia alongside the MasterChef judges – Matt, Gary, and George.
Post MasterChef I knew it was important to stay in the public’s eye, or as some would say, staying “relevant”. I launched a series of pop-up dessert degustation’s, where I cooked four courses of dessert over three weeks to 100 guests each Sunday. I hired a venue which I knew nothing about and being young and carefree I didn’t ask the questions I should have. I had no savings, and probably no idea how to run a restaurant.
After agreeing to use the venue each week I’d overcome new hurdles. The first week the venue reminded me they had no cutlery or serving ware as they were a tapas bar.
I managed to use my emerging social media skills to build relationships with 18 brands as sponsors for my events in return for social coverage. At this stage I had no idea what social coverage or a “collab” was, I just knew if I didn’t ask, I wouldn’t get.
I knew I wanted my events to be remembered, so when creating my menu with Sydney based graphic designer Paul Kwong, I wanted to incorporate an interactive element. I gave guests a pipette filled with raspberry coulis to decorate their plates and encouraged guests to share their masterpiece on social media using the hashtag #Nicolettespopup which now has 135 posts tagging it on Instagram.
From my MasterChef experience I began being invited to countless restaurant and product launches and invited to “collab” and “partner” with brands online or through cooking demonstrations.
When I’d get these invite emails, I’d read ‘PR Account Coordinator’ or ‘PR Account Manager’ in people’s email signatures. After beginning a Marketing degree, I had no idea what PR even was, so I began learning and investigating more and more about the profession.
I loved being on the receiving end of invites and brand collaborations. I would learn the process myself from when the agency would first reach out to me, right through to sending across photography for approval. Once I began to study PR, I learnt there are many more steps that occur before the invite, and I found it so intriguing to learn both the receiving end as well as the proposal side of an invite.
I would sit and research different agencies, investigating the services they offered, as well as the clients they worked with. I soon discovered that there are so many broad aspects of Public Relations, from event to crisis and influencer management, as well as content creation.
Five years later, three internships and two courses at RMIT studying Public Relations, I am now finally here at Wrights in my dream job as an Account Executive.
I’m grateful to find a career where I can learn and work on different projects everyday. I’ve always wanted to be in a position where I’m not always sitting at a desk. Working with clients, such as Victoria Racing Club, gives me the opportunity to work from multiple locations throughout my role. I cannot wait to see where my career in PR takes me.
