David Fox spoke at the first Media Masters of the semester, hosted by the Communications Department at Lipscomb.
Fox is one of the managing partners for one of the largest and oldest still-operating firms, MP&F, located in Nashville. MP&F is a strategic communications firm that focuses on public relations. Fox joined the MP&F team in 1990 and has been growing his career there ever since.
With his career stretching into many different fields, Fox has worked with clients in areas such as automotive, health care, hospitality, government and urban affairs. Media relations and strategic planning are his areas of expertise. Fox has published three nonfiction books along with several magazine articles as a freelance writer for four years.
“The world of journalism, and communications, has in my lifetime changed extremely and dramatically,” Fox said.
Fox told the students how the newspaper used to be the one source to get your daily news back in the 70’s, compared to the more current times, where we can find out anything we want to know with just a click of a button.
Gabriel Poe, a strategic communications major attended the event and said she was extremely pleased with what Fox had to say and felt privileged to have had the opportunity to hear him speak.
“I loved his presentation,” Poe said. “He had humble beginnings and was very transparent about his journey. He was an incredibly eloquent speaker and acknowledged past challenges, business struggles and life lessons with grace and ownership.”
Even though Fox currently works for a public relations firm, he said his past in journalism helped prepare him for his life in the public relations.
“Journalism is the best preparation because it is the discipline that teaches you to write for deadlines and to get to the essence of the story you have to tell, as quickly as possible.”