Most people don’t like reading, but a single book can inspire a lifetime career choice.

That’s what happened to Tabitha Walsh, who graduated from Caney Creek High School in 2003.

Walsh attended Texas State University in San Marcos where she earned a degree on Public Relations. She has chaired and worked for healthcare, municipalities and large scale organizations.

She said she never realized what public relations was until one day she picked up a career book from the library and got inspired.

“When I began reading the section of public relation,” Walsh said. “I liked the concept of promoting good will about a company through their relationship with public, It’s less about glamorous advertisement and more about strong, relevant conversations.”

Public relations is an industry designed to market and promote the good side of companies and lead crisis management.

“My favorite example of public relations is a campaign from the ‘father of public relations,’ Edward Bernays,” Walsh said. “In 1928, the American Tobacco Company was selling plenty of cigarettes to men, but they wanted to double their market share, and that meant convincing women to smoke as well.”

Teachers of Caney Creek challenged her to fully understand her position on complicated ideas, issues and circumstances.

“This better equipped me to trust my personal intuition and instincts in situations outside of school,” Walsh said. “This confidence provided me with solid footing. When I attended college and I began my career, I knew other people in the room would always be smarter than me. But, trusting my gut allowed me to be more confident in sharing me ideas.”

An English teacher changed the course of her life with exposure to thoughtful books and films. The class read two books that impacted the class – “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” and “Hero with a Thousand Faces”. They also watched “Cool Hand Luke.”

“It taught me about how rules and authority can be game in themselves,” Walsh said. “My favorite line is ‘Sometimes nothing can be a real cool hand.’ That often reminds me when I’m presenting to a large group or people I feel know more than me.”

Walsh lettered in theater, which helped her in her public relations career and went on to participate at the college level. She joined social organizations like the baseball booster club.

“Being able to confidently articulate thoughts in front boards or large crowd is mandatory for PR professional,” Walsh said. “Step out of your comfort zone and speak during class presentation, take speech and debate, audition for a play.

“Even if you don’t get cast in the play, sometimes the audition process is where you test yourself the most.”