Punnya has a robust record of strategic communications, editorial reporting, and academic research. Her work across the data and nonprofit journalism sectors has equipped her with both a strong sense of brand identity and a personal reporting voice. Her university-based projects (included below) allowed her to develop a versatility in tone that spans humorously conversational and meticulously academic. The career opportunities below illustrate the breadth of Punnya’s experience in PR Writings, Reporting, and Research.
Skills: PR Writing, Strategic Branding, Database Management, Editorial Reporting, Editorial Interviewing, AP Style, Stylistic Writing, Theoretical Research, Critical Discourse Analysis
Tools: Cision, PR Wire, Muck Rack, HARO (now discontinued), Microsoft Office, Google Suite
PR Writing at Data Axle
Punnya joined Data Axle as a Public Relations and Media Intern in May 2024. She was primarily tasked with executing the company’s PR calendar while increasing media opportunities for senior members of the company. In her two months at the company, she worked on two press releases, wrote dozens of media pitches to top journalists in the data and adtech industries, ghostwrote bylines and articles for Forbes magazine and Authority Magazine, and published blog content on industry hot topics like generative AI and retail media.
Key Tasks Achieved:
- Cleaned, updated, and maintained company journalist database in MuckRack.
- Composed and sent out dozens of pitches to top tech journalists via Connectively and Muck Rack to increase media opportunities.
- Successfully pitched a media opportunity to Authority Magazine and got accepted, leading to an interview opportunity and article spotlight for Tom Zawacki, President of Data Axle Enterprise Solutions. Punnya also ghostwrote the content for the article spotlight.
- Following the interview, the publication had Zawacki on as the first guest for a new podcast launch. The media opportunity that Punnya pitched ended up being the most significant piece of media pickup that the company received for the quarter.
- Ghostwrote two bylines for Tom Zawacki that were featured in Forbes as part of an expert panel on AI, Data, and MarTech.
- Published two thought leadership blogs on Generative AI and Retail media for company website.
Reporting at Next City
As mentioned previously, Punnya joined Next City in July of 2023 as an Editorial Intern. In addition to the social media work that she produced for the page (seen on the ‘Social Posts’ page), she published five articles for the publication on topics ranging from early education to community food-sourcing to restorative monuments. The internship provided her the opportunity to immerse herself in the world of journalism and reporting, as well as the sector of urban reporting — reporting dedicated to following issues and solutions pertaining to cities. You can find Punnya’s reporting work at the link below.
Opinions Columnist at The Heights
Punnya joined The Heights as an Opinions Columnist in the Spring Semester of her freshman year, in 2022. For a little over three years, she wrote 17 articles for the publication on topics ranging from mental health, to personal development, to life as a college student. Her role as Columnist allowed her to cultivate a personal writing voice that appealed to a wide demographic of college students, and it functioned as a way for her to document her growth throughout university. Her article, Heroic Savior or Clueless Simpleton? The Trials of a Pompous Protagonist won First Place for Best Opinions Column at the Associated Collegiate Press “Clicks and Clips” Contest. Her articles can be accessed below.
Honors Thesis Project on Fragrance Marketing
In her sophomore year of college, Punnya was inducted into the Communication Honors Program — a three-year program awarded to the top sixteen students in the department that prepares them to produce their own thesis projects. Punnya published a Bachelor’s thesis on the use of cultural commodity in fragrance advertising titled, The Scent of Seductive Superiority: Unpacking the Use of Cultural Stereotypes in Fragrance Advertisements and the Promulgation of Colonial Ideology in Olfactory Expressions of Desire. As a passionate fragrance collector and consumer of fragrance media, Punnya was eager to combine her interest with the extensive Critical Discourse Theory that she had learned while pursuing her degree. Her thesis can be accessed at the link below.
Punnya Kalapurakkel 