Ronald McDonald House Charities has always held a special place in my heart, which is why I chose it as the subject of my research, comparing nonprofit social media use in the U.S. and the U.K. 

My Story

On October 16, 1985, my parents visited Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis for scheduled procedures to monitor a high-risk pregnancy.  Instead, I was delivered by emergency C-section that afternoon.  Born at only 31 weeks, I weighed three and a half pounds.  

I was an “Rh baby”—my mom’s blood is negative, and mine is positive, causing her body to reject me.  Within minutes of birth, I received the first of nine exchange blood transfusions to keep my high bilirubin levels from causing brain damage. 

I'm Celeste Gossmann, and I'm a graduate student at Kent State University in Ohio, studying public relations. I'm open to a lot of career possibilities after I graduate in May, but my particular areas of interest are media relations and nonprofits.

I'm from Marshall, Illinois. No, that's nowhere near Chicago.  Marshall is a small rural town near the Indiana border on I-70. My favorite color is pink. I wear it almost every day, in some form or another.

Why London?

This semester at Kent State is particularly exciting for me as I prepare to visit London to conduct research as part of the Global Advertising and PR class at Kent State.  Throughout the semester, and for two weeks in London, I will be comparing Ronald McDonald House Charities and its use of social media in both the US and the UK.

Social media has made it so accessible for organizations to reach a global audience, and I'm looking forward to learning how such a large nonprofit is harnessing that power.

I have been out of the country before, but only as far as Canada. I'm very excited about my first trip across the pond!

What do I do with the rest of my time?

Video editing is a hobby of mine. I love to do the kind of short, fast-to-produce videos that do so well on social media! You can see some of my work on this website, or you can visit my YouTube channel.

I love crafts, especially crocheting (check out my craft blog), and I'm torn between wanting to crochet on the plane and not wanting to fill valuable souvenir space with yarn!