Q&A Chelsea Lowe

By Kathrin Merritt

UGA student, Chelsea Lowe, shares the highs and lows of choosing a major and all that has led her to the field she is in now. Presented with so many career options, college students often have trouble deciding which major is the best fit for them. In some cases students find their specialization early on in life, but for others the road is a little more complicated.

Lowe grew up being a Bulldog fan and with a passion to help children. After seeing how children in her younger sister’s class struggled in public school, Lowe decided that teaching middle school would be a great way to help empower and encourage young students in the classroom and beyond. While Lowe still maintains a passion for today’s youth, she decided that education was not where she could best influence society.

Lowe realized that by combining a major in public relations and a music business certificate she could help support celebrities and the messages they can embed into modern culture. According to Lowe, one of the best examples of musicians using their platforms to better those around them is Harry Styles, who champions the phrase “Treat People With Kindness.” Lowe also appreciates how Styles speaks out on social topics he feels passionate about, such as women’s rights, and believes that celebrities and influencers should educate themselves to speak up about the current issues they feel passionately about. From household names such as Colin Kaepernick to Taylor Swift, Lowe views these large and successful platforms as a duty and privilege that stars should use to garner awareness for matters they view as important for society. Lowe firmly stands up for the things she believes in and through changing majors, she has been able rearrange her path to influencing the minds of today and tomorrow.

Kathrin Merritt

What made you want to go into PR?

Chelsey Lowe: Well, I didn’t start off in public relations I was going into the education field, and didn’t teach middle schoolers. Oh my gosh. Yeah. So I just, I took a few education courses and I decided that it wasn’t for me. So, I started looking into different majors that they had. I started looking into like what other majors at UGA were and I wanted to do something that I knew that I could be passionate about because I didn’t want to just like working nine to five job every day. Really love music and I love going to concerts and I love social media, and I did some research into public relations and I was like wow this is something that I think I could really enjoy. So, I decided to migrate it and actually didn’t get into the Public Relations at first rounds of journalism and I was really upset because I was like, I don’t know what I’m going to do with this. It’s not what I want to do. Luckily I was at the top of the waitlist for public relations and didn’t accept their major when I got in.

1. Do [celebrities] have a duty to like speak on global issues like as a part of their platform.

→ That’s a really good question. It makes me somewhat conflicted. As a person who is very vocal about the things they believe in. I think that in some part if you have a huge platform you do have a responsibility to speak up on issues that matter. But at the same time there are people that face backlash for speaking out things that matter like if you look at Colin Kaepernick, you know, he did the silent protest at the NFL and basically lost his whole career like she, like, like when he went to sign them to their teams. And, but if you don’t because if you look on the opposite end of the spectrum, if you look at like Taylor Swift for a very long time she didn’t speak out about politics because everyone advisor. No, they just want a pretty girl on stage they don’t need you preaching your people and even though she has spoken up about things that do matter to her people are like, well, you’re only doing this now, because you’re trying to make yourself look better. Even if it is something that she really believes in I, I think that if you have a big platform you should speak out.

1. What made you initially like to go into education?

→ Um, I’ve always been really good with kids, and growing up I did a lot of theater camps with kids. And it’s shaping the minds of the world, something that I think is really cool. Injustices that have gone on in an education system like, especially watching with my younger sisters be part of the generation of kids that is they can’t system classroom like let’s automatically put them on ADHD medication. And after taking a few psychology classes I learned you know that not every student learns the same. And I really wanted to be like, I guess, change the way that kids are taught, but it also just kind of hurt me because I knew that wouldn’t be able to make such a huge difference. One of the factors that made me change my major.

1. On that note, How do you feel about kids like talent in the music industry like even, you know, just even just minors like that are just in their teens like how do you feel like that impact is not a good thing.

→ It’s kind of an iffy topic because I know when I was younger, I was like, Oh my gosh, I want to be on Disney Channel I want to be a singer. And it was so passionate about and really wanted to happen, but I also know the opposite end of the spectrum, there are kids that are talented but their parents basically forced them to do it so they can make lots of money. So, I feel like if it’s actually the kid that’s in it that wants to do it that’s passionate about it I feel like it’s an awesome thing. But you also see all these kids they get very washed up very easily and half like the child star syndrome, and their lives are kind of ruined.

1. Who is your favorite musical artist and why?

→ Harry Styles, I think that he really preaches like kindness to people, and just he’s a really humble artist, and there’s a quote that he said recently that said something about like, no one can tell you you are successful, if you are happy with your with what you’re doing with your life. So like even if you’re not at the top of your field if you love what you’re doing. You’re still successful and I thought that was something that’s really great because I’ve always compared myself to other people so I was like, Wow, that’s really, it’s a really cool thing that he does like he’s really empowering towards women he supports women and I think that’s really cool.