“My PR Perspective” is a series of blog posts where we ask our chapter members to give us their different perspectives of the PR profession.
Name: Sheryl Vieira
What is your job title?
My job title is Vice President of Marketing and Communications. My starting title nearly 10 years ago with Caldwell Trust Company was Marketing Manager.
In a few sentences, describe what you do.
I strategize our marketing efforts and conduct business development, community outreach and branding for Caldwell Trust Company.
How did you get to this point in your career?
More and more “hats” were assigned to me because of the former hats that I seem to have worn well. I also thought certain hats would fit me and just put them on.
Do you tell people you work in ‘PR?’ Why or why not?
Yes, absolutely I tell people I work in PR! Our information has to be exact at every moment. It’s critical for us to share our latest news, innovations and such in specific detail with the hopes of area journalists and reporters finding it educational, useful and inspirational.
How would you describe an average public relations job?
An average public relations job sounds so nice and smooth doesn’t it? It’s applying best practices and establishing standards of quality that serve the public interest. It’s following a code of ethics and autonomy in practice. It’s quite a bit of research, strategy and well written stories of interest. It’s being a great writer and a great storyteller. It’s being a language art professional. It’s being accredited in the field for those that wish to elevate themselves, their salaries and the ever-growing profession. It’s being a good communicator and timely in responding to the press. It’s being professional, self-reliant, available and accountable.
From my past experience running the local Cystic Fibrosis Foundation chapter in Sarasota, I submitted press releases based on events, corporate sponsors and event chairs secured, volunteer contributions in time, talent and treasure, along with funds raised and large donations received. That was the fun part of my job and I enjoyed it immensely along with getting to know those receiving the press releases and covering their topics of interest.
How is what you do different?
The financial industry is a highly regulated industry so we keep our insights to our clients mainly and not the public. I like that we’re a niche group and that we aren’t everything to everyone. It keeps things manageable in my day-to-day efforts so when everyone is promoting certain holidays or trends, we don’t have to jump on the bandwagon. In addition, we’ve created a particular program called Caldwell Cares that takes into consideration our corporate social responsibility within our marketplace and communities which helps elevate our desire to help our communities and area non-profits to the best of our abilities.
What do you wish more people inside your organization understood about what you do?
So much strategy goes into the work that I do and sometimes I think they think it’s just easy. We also take protecting our clients confidentiality extremely seriously. Because of that, it’s hard for me to get our trust officers on social media platforms to help me cascade messages and happenings or coverage we received from the media. Our security is tight as are our lips in person and online! Makes my online sphere much smaller than it could be in another profession!
What do you wish more people outside your organization understood about what you do?
I do wish they understand the degree of detail in which we serve our clients. There have been times that I know Caldwell Trust could have helped them manage a difficult time in their life through the care and attention in the service we provide. It lightens the load tremendously during hard, trying times of loss and family change due to health or circumstances.
How has CWC-FPRA been a positive part of your professional development?
Interestingly enough, I’ve had my head down grinding away for almost a decade and when I looked up and updated my resume for the 2021 LeadershipFPRA program, I was elated with the progress I’ve made! CWC-FPRA was a big part of my development through the years! FPRA has helped me grow personally and professionally. I commute to Venice and my network is in Sarasota. CWC-FPRA kept me in touch with the members while deepening my relationships with them, the media and my network. I love how CWC-FPRA has pushed me to be more technical in the profession. I’m amazed how well we have handled our local events, our networking sessions and board meetings through this pandemic. My “hat” goes off to every member of FPRA throughout the state. True professionals through and through.