Clare Eckert left a high-profile marketing job at NBC Channel 10 to go to work in New Orleans.
INTERVIEW
Clare Eckert
Position: Contract member of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Disaster Response Team for Public Affairs
Background: Until late spring, when she resigned to go work in New Orleans, Eckert was vice president of advertising and promotion at NBC Channel 10. Previously, she had been vice president of marketing and corporate communications at the R.I. Economic Development Corporation for two years, and before that, director of public relations for Rhode Island College, a position she held for 10 years. Eckert started her career as an editorial assistant at The Providence Journal before switching to radio. She also ran her own business, Joy Publications, for five years.
Education: B.A. in philosophy and psychology, 1979, and master of public administration, 1995, University of Rhode Island.
Residence: New Orleans (in Rhode Island, Saunderstown)
Age: 54
Clare Eckert has been in New Orleans for just over two months, and already she sees changes in the streets as the city slowly rebuilds in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Eckert left her high-profile job as vice president of advertising and promotion for NBC Channel 10 in Providence to work on public relations for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in New Orleans. She recently spoke with PBN about her work there.
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PBN: What’s it like down there?
ECKERT: One day moves right into the next day. We’re working all the time. It’s constant motion. The projects that the Corps has going, in order to bring the protection to the next level, are nonstop. These guys are working 24/seven, creating a greater opportunity and the need to deliver information to the public through media or community meetings or city council meetings.
PBN: How did you find this position?
ECKERT: I’m a member of the Public Relations Society of America. I was on the Web site, looking at the site, and I saw it on there. … I submitted a résumé. And that’s how it happened. This happened overnight. I could not believe the speed. And now I know why. One of the critical elements of lessons learned down here, with all of the various elements of government and community groups, is that communications is a key ingredient.
PBN: What was it about the position that made you feel this was something you had to do?
ECKERT: It was a couple of things. I have a deep patriotism for this country. It’s something I grew up with. My dad was in World War II. I have five brothers and three sisters. Two of my brothers are in the Army; one is a general, one is a colonel. So this isn’t a foreign thing to me, to understand how the military operates. … For me, it was something I felt very comfortable being a part of. …
The other was, I have had a lot of wonderful jobs. I’ve had great opportunities in my life. And this to me seemed like a natural opportunity professionally to be challenged. … This was the biggest natural disaster in this country. And when someone called me and said, “Clare, we believe you are one of X number of people with the background and skills that can help within the communications field” – that’s really it.
PBN: What do your duties entail?
ECKERT: I’m doing more response to media, research, putting pieces of communications together. … I deal with the media. It is an unbelievable amount of media. This morning I spoke with a guy from an engineering publication in the U.K. I spoke with BBC Radio in the U.K. And I spoke with a new reporter for the Weather Channel. And I don’t even know what time it is. It’s 8:30 a.m. And those three folks need to make schedules [for interviews on site in New Orleans]. … Now I’m putting together those schedules and making sure we’ve got people who are knowledgeable enough and getting them onto the site.
PBN: What is the most memorable story you’ve heard so far?
ECKERT: People are always talking about where they were, what happened to them when it hit, how they got back. … The lady that works at a car rental place here, I was talking to her and said, “What’s your story?” She and her family had evacuated to Texas and they were there for about a month, maybe two months. She said, “One day I threw my rags in a bag, threw them in my car and said to my son, ‘I’m going home.’ ” “Rags in my bag” – I’ll never ever forget that. What a way to describe what you have in life.
PBN: Are people moving back to New Orleans?
ECKERT: Yes. The determinant factor is going to come in the next month or so, when families decide whether or not the schools will open to the level of which they believe their children will be safe and sound and learning. … The worst-hit of the area, it still looks like a war zone.
PBN: What is the change you’ve seen in the last two months?
ECKERT: I see less debris on the streets. I see more people on the streets. I see more businesses opening up. On a couple of the main drags in the Garden District, the signs say, “Now open,” “Opening July 1,” “Help wanted.” For the people of New Orleans, they want to rebuild. This is their home. There’s no question about it. They talk about it everywhere.
PBN: What are your plans for the future?
ECKERT: I have been asked to stay. I am making that decision as we speak. The maximum I would stay here would be six months.
PBN: What will you do when you come back to Rhode Island?
ECKERT: I don’t know.
PBN: Why is this the opportunity of a lifetime for you?
ECKERT: The greatest challenge for a person in the field of communications, the general world of communications, is to believe that you can make a difference in the lives of others, and I believe that because someone saw something in my background and in me that was worthwhile to come here and be a part of this history-building, that’s what it’s all about.
