Tara Romanella Patrick is the Director of External Relations and Academic Communications at Clemson University. As part of the University Relations Leadership Team, she is responsible for working across campus to strategically identify and develop opportunities for earned, owned and paid media.

In 2009, Patrick began her communications career in Los Angeles at Fifteen Minutes, founded by PR veteran Howard Bragman. As a publicist in the brands division, she worked on national media campaigns for a variety of brand personalities and lifestyle clients, including Iron Chef Cat Cora, Gaea, Cuties Clementines, W Hollywood Residence, the NutriBullet and New York Times best-selling author, Stephan Mansfield.

Upon returning to her home state of North Carolina in 2013, she joined the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. Serving as  the media relations specialist in the Office of University Relations, she focused on media outreach and social media, while also supporting crisis communication.

In 2015, the opportunity arose for her to work alongside BRAX’s CEO and Vice President to develop and launch a new company, Bloom. As the Brand Director, Patrick handled all aspects of public relations and communications, which included product announcements, partnerships, social media and email marketing.

The launch and establishment of the company signaled an opportunity for a new challenge, and she decided to return to higher education, landing at Clemson University as a communications strategist in 2017. Since then, her responsibilities have continued to expand within University Relations.