By The Pollack Group
Updated Nov. 24, 2020
The 2020/21 Noemi Pollack Scholarship, earmarked for a scholar of the USC Annenberg Center for Public Relations (Annenberg) was awarded to ZaZu Lippert. This marks another honor to ZaZu’s list of accomplishments. The rising Junior is majoring in public relations at Annenberg, with minors in Digital Studies Honors, a multimedia arts program in the USC School of Cinematic Arts, and Music Production in the Thornton School of Music.
ZaZu currently works at the USC Center for Public Relations, producing the #PRFuture podcast and social media content. Her passion for podcasting stems from her first podcast, “Every January First,” which won First Place in the 2018 CSPA Gold Circle Awards for Digital Media in the Podcast category. This led her to Annenberg, and as soon as she stepped into USC Annenberg’s Media Center in her freshmen year, she was naturally drawn to volunteering at Annenberg Radio News. For the past year, she’s grown into a producer role, learning from the mentors and faculty not only about radio production, but about storytelling and multimedia creation.
“I’m incredibly honored to be a recipient of The Noemi Pollack Scholarship. Noemi’s vision for the agency – one that focuses on compassionate and authentic connections – is at the core of who I am,” said Lippert. “I believe that establishing meaningful relationships is an integral part in crafting engaging and creative messages for clients that can speak to a variety of audiences, while also making a positive change in the world around us.”
This is the second year, The Pollack Group (TPG) named a recipient of the Noemi Pollack Scholarship at The USC Annenberg Center for Public Relations in honor of Noemi Pollack, the CEO and founder of TPG. It was established to mark the agency’s 35th anniversary in March 2020. Lippert adds, “Being an aspiring PR professional and having an artistic background, I was inspired by Noemi’s story not only to lead with compassion and foster emotional connection, but her involvement in the arts through music. I really connected with her on a personal and emotional level and saw everything that I hope to do in the future through her story.”
Annenberg’s public relations program has given ZaZu the opportunity to combine everything she loves in one major. The Noemi Pollack Scholarship will help support her passion and desire to communicate authentically, connect with people emotionally, and explore digital storytelling methods. Working at the Center for PublicRelations through the scholarship, ZaZu has been able to creative content production while learning about and contributing to valuable industry research projects.
“I’m thrilled to present ZaZu with this scholarship and firmly believe she’s learning the foundation of what it means to connect with people in a meaningful and authentic way,” said Pollack. “As ZaZu continues her path at USC and after graduation, it’s clear she will implement her learnings to make a positive impact within the communications and marketing industries.”
After graduation, ZaZu intends to pursue a career in public relations by working at an entertainment corporation or agency that represents lifestyle brands. She plans to continue to utilize Annenberg’s network and resources to learn more about different careers in public relations. She also wants to create campaigns that touch people and make them think more critically about the world around them and the need for the brand or product being represented. Eventually, she would love to run her own business or nonprofit organization focused on arts education programs and supporting young artists.
ZaZu also shared more details below about her a podcast, #PRFuture, that she helped launch at Annenberg during the COVID-19 pandemic. Watch her portion below:
