Seasoned communicators share advice with newbies

What all young communicators should know about their career

Relax—you’ll have enough money to pay your rent.

That’s the advice that corporate communicator Caryn Alagno, 29, wishes she could’ve told her 21-year-old self when she was climbing the communicator ladder in Washington D.C. Now, seven years later, she’s not only paying her rent, but showing young communicators how to be successful in their careers.

Alagno is currently the vice president of corporate issues for Edelman Public Relations. Previously, she was the policy advisor to the National Republican Congressional Committee Communications Division; communications director for Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite, R-Fla.; and assistant press secretary to Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla.

“Walking around the halls of the U.S. Senate at age 21, you wonder if you have anything relevant to add to the discussion,” Alagno says.

But Alagno didn’t let her age stop her career. Here’s how she—and MyRagan members—advise their contemporaries: