By:
Brenna Clairr O'Tierney
M.A. in Strategic Public Relations
Rachel Saffitz wishes that she could turn back the clock and do the MSPR program all over again. Why? It not only helped her land her first job post-graduation, but it also led Saffitz to her passion in the communications sector – healthcare, behavioral change, social marketing, and public health education.
Saffitz wants the work that she does to make a genuine difference. That’s why she is committed to using communication strategies that help people to live healthier, happier, and more productive lives. After graduating from the MSPR program in 2010, she worked at The Rogers Group (now Rogers Finn Partners) on public education and health campaigns with an emphasis on digital strategies for state and local government. Her clients included the First 5 California Children & Families Commission, the L.A. County Department of Public Health's obesity-prevention initiative, and the L.A. County Department of Public Health's Tobacco Control & Prevention Program.
Now she works at Makovsky, a mid-sized integrated communications agency in New York City that specializes in health, technology, and financial services. In her role as a senior account executive on the health team, Saffitz drives communication strategies for a diverse client roster that ranges from household-name “big pharma” to niche companies specializing in rare diseases.
Saffitz helps her clients in four core areas: patient advocacy, industry thought-leadership and executive positioning, brand/product communication, and corporate communication. In the past year, she helped to reintroduce domestic operations of an international pharmaceutical company in the U.S. market, secure top-level speaking engagements for a prominent chief medical officer, and develop oncology advocacy strategies for a major pharmaceutical company. On any given day, she is writing executive blogs, developing media materials, executing social media strategies, coordinating speaking engagements, providing advocacy insights to clients, and working to secure new business for the team.
She is currently planning for a spring 2013 pharmaceutical product launch, which includes the coordination of a media tour with a celebrity spokesperson, website and social media content, multi-city events, preparing a myriad of product and corporate communication materials, and issues management planning.
Saffitz loves that her work helps build a bridge for better access to health and care.
“As someone who works in the business of health and is also a ‘health consumer,’ I see a lot of opportunities and an equal number of challenges. The resources exist for living better – be it medicine, disease prevention information, and even nutritious food or exercise instruction. The biggest problem is access to and awareness of those resources,” said Saffitz. “I see my job as using communication to empower and connect people with tools that will help them achieve a healthier, happier life.”
Saffitz credits the MSPR program for giving her the skills to think like an executive from the start.
“The Annenberg faculty pushed me to go beyond the current moment and become a more forward thinker who knows how to foster key relationships for the long term – for clients, for my agency, and for myself.”
Saffitz says that the program’s emphasis on strategy – particularly when it comes to organizational reputation – has benefited her immensely throughout her career thus far.
“The program taught me to always ask, ‘What’s our voice? How will we engage and respond? What will this mean for my client in this moment and down the road?’” said Saffitz. “Knowing how to address different needs for diverse audiences in a way that benefits both my client and their stakeholders is not easy, but I know how to navigate the space due to my training at Annenberg.”
Her job presents her with several challenges since she works in such a heavily regulated industry environment. Despite this challenge, Saffitz enjoys working in an agency setting where every day brings something different.
“Agency life is always in flux – in a good way. There are new clients, new talent, and new learning opportunities to stay current on in our industry,” she said.
Her advice for current Annenberg PR students? Identify a mentor.
“Find someone that you can connect with and bounce ideas off of long after you graduate,” said Saffitz. “The learning definitely doesn’t stop when you leave the classroom.”
Saffitz may have spent the majority of her career addressing health challenges that don’t always have an easy answer, but that doesn’t seem to faze her at all. In fact, it does the opposite – it inspires her to put the strategic tools that she learned at Annenberg to good use, dig a little deeper, and play an important role in sparking positive change.
