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Komal Kapoor (Dr. K)

@chroniclesbykk

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Mom first. Personal a/c. Dog Mom. Faculty, Pepperdine. Entrepreneur.
@speakerpost | @greenseashells_mag

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Some of us have places to haunt. Happy Halloween! #halloween2026 by @chroniclesbykk

My Tuesday and Thursday mornings include a half-hour Zoom with my internship students. We talk about how things are going, what they’re learning, and whatever needs working through.

This morning, one student stayed on after the meeting. She had a surprise: two friends who had also been in my classes were there with her. They were out for a morning walk near Malibu and had waited until we finished so all three could say hello.

I first taught them when they were beginning university. Now they’re getting ready to finish, and I get to see the thoughtful, talented young women they’ve become. That they would take a few minutes out of their morning to stay connected brought a big smile to my face. Clearly.

I enjoyed my corporate years, but they didn’t come with mornings quite like this. It’s one of the reasons I teach—and a very good way to start the day. by @chroniclesbykk

I sometimes think that if I hadn’t gone into teaching, I might have put all my energy into running a PR agency. Then we start a new client project in class, and I realize that part of me is still very much at work.

Yesterday, my Pepperdine PR 380 students met Chelsea from the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, our newest classroom client. I first reached out last year, when the timing didn’t work. This year, it did—and I’m delighted we kept the conversation going.

We’d already spent time researching the Aquarium’s communications before the meeting. Talking with Chelsea gave students the chance to ask questions, test their assumptions, and consider which stories they could help tell. Over the next month, they’ll develop a portfolio of articles around those ideas.

I’ve worked with real clients in the classroom for years, partly because my own industry experience makes it difficult to leave everything at the hypothetical stage. I love when we have a real person on the other end of a brief. Students have to listen, manage expectations, spot opportunities, and work out whether their clever idea actually serves the client. Occasionally, a favorite idea has to be retired. That’s an education, too.

These projects also depend on people willing to make time for students. Chelsea and the Aquarium team are taking on questions, conversations, and work alongside their own responsibilities. I’m grateful for that investment in our next generation of PR professionals—and curious to see what this group notices that the rest of us might have missed. @aquariumpacific by @chroniclesbykk

At Fotografiska in Stockholm, someone had worked out exactly where the light should fall. I stepped into it and immediately wanted a photo.

Usually I’m more comfortable asking the questions, making introductions, or telling someone else’s story. Between teaching, SpeakerPost and Green Sea Shells, I get plenty of practice.

Being in the picture myself still takes a little getting used to. Excellent lighting does help. by @chroniclesbykk

Someone said this to me this morning, and I’ve been a little emotional ever since.

I’ve worked hard to build a life and work that mean something to me. To hear that someone sees something in the way I’m doing it—something they aspire to—left me humbled, grateful, and thinking, “Maybe I’ve done something right.”

Such a generous thing to say to someone. I’ll carry it with me. 🤍 by @chroniclesbykk

The last time I saw Ken Tseng, we were at our house for a Cornell alumni get-together. My husband is a Cornell alum, and somewhere between catching up and chatting, Ken told me about an unexpected chapter in his life: farming dragon fruit.

Ken’s background is in biotech, and he has an MBA from Cornell. He also has a dragon fruit farm in Escondido called Fortulé Farms.

As we talked, he shared a challenge: he was putting his energy into growing the fruit but had limited bandwidth to promote the farm. What he didn’t want was to have a beautiful crop next year and not enough people to buy it.

A few conversations later, Ken came to my Pepperdine classroom—not just as a guest speaker, but as our client.

This semester, my students are working in four agencies to develop public relations proposals and create deliverables for Fortulé Farms. They’ll be thinking about how to reach both businesses and consumers, and how to tell the story of the farm.

Over the last ten years of teaching at Pepperdine, I’ve tried to bring real-world experiences into the classroom through @speakerpost and projects like this one. There’s an energy that comes from working with a real client, asking real questions, and knowing your ideas might actually be used.

I’m excited to see what these four agencies create—and grateful to Ken for giving my students the opportunity to take on the challenge. 💚

#ChroniclesByKK #Pepperdine #PublicRelations #ExperientialLearning #fortulefarms by @chroniclesbykk

This week, my students learned how to write Public Service Announcements (PSAs) and then presented their work. Sound effects, clever ideas, a little drama… they really brought their scripts to life!

Beyond the assignments, what I love most is getting to work with this next generation of communicators. They’re creative, curious, enthusiastic, and genuinely good at what they do. Watching their confidence grow, seeing their ideas take shape, and knowing they’ll soon be the ones shaping this industry is pretty special.

The future of PR is in good hands. And I get a front-row seat! ❤️ by @chroniclesbykk

Some friendships have a very long map. Ours stretches back to India, when some of us first knew each other in our 20s, and then across countries, cities, the East Coast, the West Coast, and a whole lot of life in between.

In many ways, we’ve taken the immigrant journey together—school, careers, families, new cities, new chapters—meeting again and again along the way and collecting memories as we went.

And now, somehow, we’re entering the chapter where one by one, we’re turning 50.

So we made a plan: as each of us hits 50, that person gets to choose something for all of us to do together.

Puneet went first. And Puneet chose a 10K. 😂

For some in our group, 10K is just another Saturday morning. For others, this required training. There were injuries to work around, life getting in the way, and even Puneet wasn’t entirely sure his body was going to cooperate. Then race day arrived, the course was harder than expected, the sun came out, it got HOT…and everyone just kept going.

That might be my favorite part of the whole thing. Everyone was such a sport. Everyone showed up. Everyone found their own way through those 6.2 miles. And everyone finished.

I was so proud of us.

Not because running a 10K is some extraordinary feat, but because this was OUR thing. Friends flew in, people trained when they’re not runners, worked around injuries and busy lives, and we all said yes to doing something together simply because one of us turned 50 and decided this was what he wanted us to do.

So here are a few glimpses of Puneet’s 50th birthday run, our first challenge, and a group of old friends discovering that apparently this is what we do for birthdays now. 😂

One 50th down. A whole lot of us still to go. ❤️ by @chroniclesbykk

@ellie.cobo had a birthday, so of course we had to celebrate. 🎂

I’m really loving teaching this PR class. It’s a small group, which means I actually get to know my students—their writing, how they think, where they’re struggling, and where a little push can make them better communicators.

I spent almost a decade in the corporate world before I started teaching, and since then I’ve added entrepreneurship, freelance work, academia, SpeakerPost and Green Sea Shells to the mix. I love that I get to bring all of those experiences into the classroom and teach things I know they’ll actually use.

At this point in my life, having the opportunity to give some of that back feels especially meaningful. I must have done something right to find myself here. ❤️

And yes, teaching feeds my soul. #publicrelations #professorlife @peppcomdiv by @chroniclesbykk

This is the annual waves of flags display. Pepperdine pays tribute to lives lost on 9/11. Since 2008, every year. by @chroniclesbykk

Students from last semester came back to give my new class the real scoop — what to expect, how much work it takes, and their advice for doing well.

Love when students pass it forward. ❤️ by @chroniclesbykk