Laura Jakosky was interested in working for one of the world’s leading public relations and marketing firms. There was one small problem: She had no contacts.
So, she cold-called the company’s human resources office and was offered an internship. That internship led to a job, which led to another job publicizing and promoting cutting-edge robots that could have come from a science-fiction movie.
As the global public relations manager for the iRobot Corp., Jakosky’s roles are plenty, including managing the corporation’s public relations, strategy and execution. For example, she helps the company decide when to launch products. She also works with media and has appeared on national television, like Fox News and CBS, to promote the company’s self-propelled vacuum cleaner, Roomba, and Scooba, which washes floors on its own, and other utilitarian robots.
The robots also take on public service roles and have been used by civil defense, the military and law enforcement. In 2011, when a tsunami heavily damaged a nuclear power plant in Fukushima, Japan, iRobot sent a staff with robots to help the government utilize a way to safely explore the extent of damage, sparing workers radiation risks.
“There’s a lot of fun and enthusiastic people working here,” Jakosky says. “We work really hard – and we work a lot – but it’s always fun. There’s good chemistry among our teams. I think that’s been something that’s been neat for me to be part of.” Jakosky grew up in Agoura Hills, Calif., near Los Angeles, where she excelled in track. She says many athletes from her school attended the University of Arkansas for its track program.
“I was looking at all these different schools, and all these different options,”
Jakosky says. “I really wanted to go to a program where I could develop as an athlete
but also get a really strong education and have all of the opportunities open to me.”
Recruited by Lance Harter, coach of the University of Arkansas women’s track and field teams, Jakosky did research on her own and found Arkansas to be the perfect fit for her. She majored in marketing at the Sam M. Walton College of Business, with much of her education funded by a Bodenhamer Fellowship.
The decision was a sound one, she says. As a student, she had access to business leaders, including those with the world’s largest retailer, Walmart. She found mentors in marketing professors Molly Rapert and Tom Jensen. As an athlete, Jakosky was a member of five Southeast Conference championship teams and was named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District VI honors for track and field/cross country.
After graduating in 2005, Jakosky stayed in Fayetteville to pursue a professional running career before moving to New York. Jakosky says she did a tremendous amount of networking in her search for a New York job but didn’t have any connections to the global communications firm, FleishmanHillard. After calling the company, and arranging a meeting, she proved herself worthy of a permanent position there and began working on external technology accounts, including iRobot, which eventually hired her.
Though she now lives in Boston, her heart continues to be in Fayetteville. She’s co-president of the Boston chapter of the University of Arkansas Alumni Association. “We’re always looking for more people to come watch the Hogs with us,” she says.
