After serving as the face of Pennsylvania, Juliann Sheldon of Plum is now enjoying being the voice of traffic safety.
A former Miss Pennsylvania, Ms. Sheldon is the safety press officer for the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation’s District 11 office in Collier. The office covers Allegheny, Beaver and Lawrence counties.
She recently celebrated her one-year anniversary at PennDOT and has made numerous appearances at news conferences and has been interviewed on the radio about snow removal and other state highway issues.
Being a spokesperson is nothing new for Ms. Sheldon who was named Miss Pennsylvania in 2011. During what she called “the greatest first job of her life,” she traveled approximately every 48 hours speaking to over 45,000 individuals in schools, community groups, and mental health organizations on her personal platform of mental health awareness and the Miss America platform of the Children’s Miracle Network.
Though she said it was a lot of responsibility and hard work, it provided her with the opportunity to begin her public speaking career and prepared her to take the next step into the professional world as a spokesperson for PennDOT.
“You don’t really know what it feels like to stand in front of a crowd and talk freely until you do,” she said. “It was kind of like being thrown to the sharks, but it definitely provided me with experience to take on this role and confidently speak on another topic entirely.”
Upon completing her commitment as Miss Pennsylvania, Ms. Sheldon returned to Point Park University and completed her degree in public relations and advertising in 2013. After doing customer relations work and assisting in qualitative research for the market research firm Campos in Downtown, she took on her current role at PennDOT, which she said was exactly what she wanted in a career.
“It gave me the opportunity to make a difference, which is something that really means a lot to me, and it allowed me to apply my public relations skills,” she said. “It was everything I was looking for all wrapped up in one.”
Her main goal as safety press officer is to reach out to the community and reduce the number of accidents by promoting various state traffic safety initiatives that focus on teen drivers, driving under the influence, and pedestrian and bicycle safety.
With a high number of pedestrian and impaired driver accidents in the Pittsburgh area, Ms. Sheldon said PennDOT hopes to see those numbers decrease through educational outreach via media events and speaking engagements at schools.
As Miss Pennsylvania, she traveled to many of the same schools speaking on the issue of mental health and said her good relationships with these schools have given her the confidence to now talk about traffic safety.
It’s an issue that she said has been important to her since high school when she learned during a driving class that traffic accidents are the number one killer of teens.
“That definitely stuck with me,” she said. “I wish I would have had someone like myself or any of my safety partners come and really show what can happen as a result of distracted driving or driving under the influence. I think it would have made a greater impact in my life.”
Distracted driving is a huge issue among teens, she said, that not only involves cell phone use but eating while driving and being distracted by other passengers.
While she said reaching out to high school students can be a challenge, many have been receptive to hearing safety messages from their peers and from her because she was in their shoes not too long ago.
Though she had some knowledge about accidents and driver behavior prior to her position, Ms. Sheldon said every day is a learning experience and she continually educates herself on traffic safety.
In recognition of her efforts, she was awarded the 2014 PennDOT Press Secretary Award for Best Public Event for staging a bicycle safety event with the Allegheny County Health Department, Carlow University and the University of Pittsburgh during which students registered their bicycles with campus police departments and bike safety information was presented.
Shannon M. Nass, freelance writer: suburbanliving@post-gazette.com.
First Published: February 12, 2015, 5:00 a.m.