Dr. Maria Elles Scott, Assistant Professor at Emerson College teaches Public Relations and Sports Communication courses in both the undergraduate and graduate programs. Dr. Scott comes with more than 10 years of teaching experience and more than 20 years of experience as a journalist and Public Relations professional. As an academic, Dr. Scott started her full-time teaching career in 2009 at the University of Miami where she began applying her real-world experience to the classroom. Dr. Scott has taught more than 250 students how to create a full Public Relations Campaign for clients that include: PGA Tour, NHL Florida Panthers Foundation, Red Bull, Hard Rock Energy Drink, Irie Foundation, Miami Open, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Jason Taylor Foundation and so many more. Additionally, Dr. Scott taught Advanced Public Relations Messaging where students created a full media kit for a client, a graduate graphics design course and the Public Relations Experience Program. In her professional career, Dr. Scott started at 20 years old as a sports journalist with the Tampa Tribune before she moved to the Philadelphia area and the Journal Register Company. Dr. Scott transitioned into Public Relations working for the Tampa Bay Super Bowl XXXV Task Force before moving to the ESPN where she was the publicity and community relations specialist for all ESPN event properties such as the X Games, Winter X Games, ESPY Awards...etc. Dr. Scott moved from Los Angeles to South Florida where she managed Public Relations for the Miami Open (formerly Sony Ericsson Open or NASDAQ-100) and then moved to the South Florida Super Bowl XLI Host Committee. In 2007, Dr. Scott opened her own consulting firm while teaching fulltime. Scott has assisted with events and publicity for: Michael Irvin's PlayMaker Charities and Foundations, Battle of the Beauties, Sports Employment Inc., Dwight Stephenson Foundation and the National Salute to America's Heroes presented by Hyundai. In 2017, Scott transitioned and opened a small business with a partner forming Elles Wesgate, Inc. In her professional career, Dr. Scott created two campaigns in conjunction with the NFL as part of the Super Bowl Host Committee in 2001 and 2007. She developed the plan to deploy a community-wide "pride" program to recruit volunteers for the Super Bowl in Tampa (2001) and South Florida (2007). While at ESPN, she worked with the central marketing department to create a grass-roots campaigns in Philadelphia and Los Angeles to engage the target audience in the X Games. Since joining the Emerson College family, Dr. Scott has worked with Emerson Launch and Voice @ Emerson as well as her students to create and launch Voicelets on the Amazon Alexa platform as a voice component to the curriculum. Additionally, in Fall 2018 she became the Emerson College Chapter Public Relations Student Society of America Chapter Faculty Advisory. In Spring 2019, she also added on serving as the Emerson Dance Company Faculty Advisor.
