Each one, reach one: An autobiographic account of a Black PR professor’s mentor–mentee relationships with Black graduate students

Abstract

In this study by explicitly positioning race and mentoring at the center of this work, via autobiography, I uncover different discourses and practices in mentor–mentee relationships in public relations (PR) than have been highlighted by other scholars and then extend findings to confront the issues that Black PR faculty and Black PR graduate students encounter in the way that they view and enact mentor–mentee relationships. This study introduces autobiographic analysis to public relations research and inquiry and makes the case for its potential scholarly contributions to the discipline.