Member Spotlight

MEET PRSA AUSTIN CHAPTER MEMBER: Matthew Young 

CURRENT LIVELIHOOD: I’m currently an Account Executive at Cohn & Wolfe. Specifically, I work with SONIC Drive-In, Choice Hotels and CLEAResult, an Austin-based provider of energy efficiency programs and services. My responsibilities focus heavily on media and influencer relations, from coordinating interviews, drafting briefing documents, press releases and media lists, to staffing broadcast interviews for major networks and managing digital brand ambassador campaigns.

CHILDHOOD AMBITION: My dad serves in the Air Force, so growing up I always wanted to become a jet pilot.

DRAW TO THE COMMUNICATIONS FIELD: I began my collegiate career as a mechanical engineer but quickly discovered that it lacked the human interaction element that I desired. After taking my first introductory class to advertising and public relations, I was hooked and knew it was the career for me. 

ALMA MATER: The University of Texas. Hook ’em.

HOMETOWN: I was an Air Force brat growing up. I spent most of my childhood in a small farming town in Virginia, where I was born in 1990, but also lived in North Carolina for a couple years. I have spent the last 11 years in Texas, primarily split between DFW and Austin.

MOST MEMORABLE EXPERIENCE AS A COMMUNICATIONS PROFESSIONAL: My first solo business trip. I secured a group of freelancers to attend a press trip in the Bahamas for a week to showcase a recently remodeled Choice Hotels property with the Steve Harvey Radio Show. Working to manage the client, while accommodating the needs and desires of the journalists and The Steve Harvey Radio Show team taught me many valuable lessons that I still use today.

RECOMMENDED READS: It’s hard to pick just one. I try to glance through the main top-tier daily newspapers and digital publications at least once a day to browse for any news relevant to my clients or colleagues’ clients. New York Times, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, Mashable, Huffington Post and our local daily, the Austin American-Statesman, just to name a few.  

FAVORITE THINGS ABOUT AUSTIN AND FAVORITE AUSTIN RESTAURANTS: The abundance of live music is by far one of my favorite things about Austin. ACL is one of my favorite weekends of the year, along with SXSW. I also enjoy the free music series offered by various venues in the summer, including Blues on the Green. I enjoy visiting Rainey Street and West Sixth with friends for drinks after work. I would have to say Uchi and Perla’s are my favorite restaurants in Austin, with John Mueller Meat Co., Chuy’s and Abel’s on the Lake ranking pretty highly as well.