Never Forgotten

Never Forgotten

By: Shayla Boone

Kari Watkins is the executive Director of the Oklahoma City National Memorial. The Oklahoma City National Memorial is a museum/memorial that was created to honor those who were affected by the act of violence that was committed on April 19,1995, by Timothy McVeigh. For those that do not remember or may not have heard of this event, Timothy McVeigh created a bomb and targeted the Alfred P. Murrah federal building. As a result of his act of violence there were hundreds of Oklahomans that were killed, injured, and affected by this act of terrorism.

The Mission Statement of the memorial is "We come here to remember those who were killed, those who survived and those changed forever. May all who leave here know the impact of violence. May this memorial offer comfort, strength, peace, hope and serenity."

It is Kari Watkins job to make sure that this mission statement and message is upheld as well as delivered everyday.

Watkins received her degree in Journalism from the University of Oklahoma. While obtaining her degree she worked with news station KFOR to gain hands on experience and knowledge in the field. Upon graduating from the University of Oklahoma she continued to work at KFOR in their news production department.

From there she decide to go into corporate public relations by joining the ranks of the Sonic Corporation. She worked for Sonic during the years of 1989-1994. She decided after working in corporate PR for awhile that she wanted to take a break and focus on getting her MBA at Oklahoma City University.

Watkins began her career at the Oklahoma City National Memorial in 1996. She stated that a friend of hers told her about big things that were happened regarding the creation of the memorial. Even though Watkins had taken a break from the corporate world of work to focus on her MBA she couldn’t resist seeing what the big things were!; She has worked there ever since.

Watkins states ‘In my life as a PR professional no two days are alike. The most difficult part of my job is sometimes seeing the big picture; making sure that all rocks have been looked under and the unexpected assessed in every situation.’

Watkins stated in the PR world that media relations are key to holding successful events and also spreading an organizations message. Also she stated that to be successful making a personal connection can make all the difference. ‘In today’s time younger generations are used to just sending emails to contact people. The problem with that is in this business and the world there are generational gaps, so there are people that don’t use their computer for social communication and a phone call is more effective. Also it just adds a personal touch to the person that you are trying to reach to show them you want them to attend an event and you thought specifically about them.’

The advice that Watkins gives for someone wanting to pursue a career in Public Relations is that ‘There are no 40 hour work weeks! When people need you, you have to respond.’

· Oklahoma City National Memorial website referenced for memorial facts.

www.oklahomacitynationalmemorial.org