After more than five years in the industry, Evie Fordham Solheim (Journalism, '19), a winner of the Intercollegiate Studies Institute’s “Top 20 under 30” award in 2021, returned to Patrick Henry College to speak to students about navigating PR in the corporate world.
From the beginning, Solheim knew she wanted to work in journalism. “My parents said I came out of the womb wanting to be a journalist,” she recalls.
From running a neighborhood newspaper as a child to entering every writing contest available, Solheim loved to write.
"I just always wanted the scoop and to find out what was going on," Solheim remembers.
When she graduated high school, the question was not whether she was going to study journalism, but where. When she heard about Patrick Henry College’s small classes and connections with Christian news organizations, the choice was clear.
Thinking about PHC, Solheim remembers, “I felt like I would learn the most from PHC. I would have Dr. Sillars take a red pen to my articles every week. While a lot of the schools I was considering had huge class sizes and really big programs, I knew I would not be getting that kind of help.”
Despite the appeal of intimate instruction, she worried that a smaller school would lack the network and connections necessary for success in the field.
During her sophomore year, she found the opposite was true. While interning with a local paper, she realized she was the only intern getting paid. Her time at PHC connected her with the Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI), which sponsored her internship.
“I definitely made the right choice,” Solheim recalls thinking.
Today, Solheim continues to stay in touch with classmates from classes above and below her. “Even though we might have a smaller network, it’s just so much more close-knit and supportive," she said.
While still in school, Solheim accepted a job at the Daily Caller News Foundation. In addition to making lifelong friends there, Solheim felt she had the opportunity to stretch her journalistic legs as a reporter. At the Daily Caller, she reported on the latest political news.
After a year with the Caller, Solheim went on to work for FoxBusiness.com in 2019. By the time she left in 2021, she'd transitioned to writing chiefly for FoxNews.com and had written multiple lead homepage stories
Later, in 2021, she transferred to a boutique PR firm that published and highlighted conservative authors and activists. She continued to work there until the birth of her daughter Margot in 2022.
While working for the boutique PR firm, Solheim won ISI’s “Top 20 under 30” award when she distinguished herself as an ISI alumnus.
In addition to being excited to see how the major has progressed, Solheim wanted to give her talk because she knows the importance of networking within the industry.
“I wanted to come talk to the journalism students and help give them a glimpse into this world and provide a link for them to some of the publications I love,” Solheim said.
Solheim’s talk focused on her experience in the Journalism industry. She explained what it looks like to be and how to deal with a PR representative.
In addition, Solheim advised young journalists to write about something they are interested in, or else she said, “You’re not going to have any passion or bring new ideas to the table.”
Though she has been and continues to be published in major publications, Solheim says her priorities have shifted. “My nine-to-five is my kids,” Solheim explained. “The great thing is, the world comes to me for my writing.”
Today, she lives with her husband and two children, two-year-old Margot and six-month-old Sawyer. In her spare time, Solheim runs The Girl’s Guide, a blog focused on providing advice on all subjects that affect women. In addition, she is a regular contributor to The American Conservative and has been published by Newsweek, The European Conservative, and the Federalist, among others.
Patrick Henry College exists to glorify God by challenging the status quo in higher education, lifting high both faith and reason within a rigorous academic environment; thereby preserving for posterity the ideals behind the "noble experiment in ordered liberty" that is the foundation of America.