The Blog

The spirit of Mercury, a messenger of the gods in Roman mythology, shone on First Experience Communications’ Alison Karam, APR as she was named outstanding public relations practitioner of the year at the 2009 Mercury Awards. The Practitioner of the Year Award has become a tradition for the Public Relations Society of America in Connecticut and Southern New England, and is given to recognize the individual who exemplifies personal and professional involvement, a high level of excellence, and has contributed significantly to the field of public relations.

FEC President and CEO Ira Yellen said, “Everything about Alison is professional and compassionate at the same time. Clients love her because she is a great listener. And great listeners make great teachers.”

The award was presented by Diane Dawson-Brown, president of All the Best People, who praised Alison for her professionalism, pro bono work within the community, and her volunteer leadership efforts. In her introductory remarks, Dawson-Brown, highlighted Alison’s 2008 leadership of FEC’s nationwide media relations effort for TEAM VINAY– “a movement that registered 25,000 new bone marrow donors in the South Asian American community and has already given more than 100 people a new chance for life.”

Alison is an accredited public relations practitioner who served in nearly every capacity on PRSA’s Connecticut Valley Chapter board of directors—including president, 3 years as national assembly delegate, APR coach, and ethics officer. She currently serves as president of the Killingworth Library Association’s board of directors and spent 5-years volunteering with CRIS Radio for the blind and print handicapped, as both broadcaster and producer. In 2000, she co-chaired a PRSA community service project to plan and handle public relations for the launch of the Freedom Schooner Amistad, and continued to handle AMISTAD America’s public relations in the year that followed.

Alison credits working in public relations with achieving her childhood dreams to learn and experience as many new things as possible and to see the world from different perspectives. “My work in public relations has taken me from the deck of the Freedom Schooner Amistad to the floor of the American Stock Exchange,” she said. “I’ve learned about jet engines, pandemic flu, lasers, patents and garbage collection… As for seeing the world from different perspectives, there’s no limit in public relations.”