Pallavi Damani Kumar is a full-time professor in American University’s School of Communication and the Division Director for the Public Communication. Ever since I graduated as an undergraduate from American University’s School of Communication, I wanted to teach in the program. I felt like AU helped me discover my true passion in public relations and strategic communication, and teaching was a way of giving back. Eight years after graduation, after working in New York and Philadelphia, I was headed back to DC, and my first goal was to fulfill a long-held dream of mine to teach in the Public Communication division.

A 245-room micro-hotel is being planned in Chinatown at 6th and H Streets, Washington Business Journal reports. … the city’s developers have been much slower to jump on micro-hotels (also called pod or capsule hotels). The basic idea is that most travelers don’t spend that much time in their hotel …

Please? Popville says it is an April Fool’s prank – read their reasoning.

The Radio and Television Correspondents’ Dinner resulted in many excellent jokes, as well as this amazing video. Members of Congress read mean Tweets about themselves.

We’re all on Facebook. Even if you “hate Facebook” and “are never on Facebook” you have to admit, you take likes on your posts into account just like everybody else. We’ve made a few observations on what it’s like to update your status in this well-connected town we call home. …

Famous Friday Round Up   ROUNDUP PRESENTED BY FLYWHEEL SPORTS On March 31, Flywheel Sports, the indoor cycling brand rapidly expanding across the United States and abroad, is opening its first DC studio in the Dupont neighborhood. Occupying the former Visions Cinema space at 1927 Florida Avenue, NW, this will be Flywheel’s largest locale to date, …

Dannia Hakki is a DC-based PR guru and co-owner of the entertainment, hospitality, design and fashion PR agency Moki Media. I first met lobbyist and hospitality entrepreneur, Vinoda Basnayake, in 2009. I had just moved back to my hometown of Washington, D.C. after cutting my teeth in NYC at a high profile boutique lifestyle PR agency. I had some great experience as a publicist in NYC, but at just 25 years old, I had just taken an entrepreneurial leap to start my own PR agency, MoKi Media. DC was a new market for me, and I needed clients. I remember walking into Vinoda’s downtown rooftop lounge, Eden, and feeling like I was back in NYC. I had experience with nightlife accounts. I knew what to do, and how to do it. I needed to meet the owner of this place and introduce myself. The connection was instant. He went to Gonzaga High School. I went to Georgetown Day School & The Field School. He went to Georgetown. I went to George Washington University. He was a political lobbyist by day – with a JD/MBA from Wharton Business School – and nightlife entrepreneur by night. I was definitely going to be his publicist.

When you work on the Hill, certain tasks can take over the time you spend at the job. We polled our press secretary and former press secretary friends to ask how their time is or was spent at work. This week, we have how a Capitol Hill press secretary’s day can sometimes be divided.

The news is serious business. All day, influencers, lawmakers and everyday citizens follow DC reporters on Twitter to get the latest on what’s happening not only in DC but nationally. We have to be honest – sometimes we just follow them for the jokes.

Meet Brandon Byrd. He started a vintage mobile eatery paying homage to the Rock & Roll era, serving turtle pecan sundaes, rootbeer floats, doughnut sandwiches, and other amazing treats to District Citizens out of a restored 1952 step van. Named one of the best food trucks in DC, Goodies is now also a stand at National Harbor. We caught up with him about work and life in DC.

by Nicole Tieman DC is full of endless distractions. Just looking out your window can provide hours of entertainment; my view of K Street features a steady stream of business people walking briskly to important appointments and lunch meetings; tourists who I assume wandered too far from the National Mall …

Check out Sam Stein’s interview with President Obama for Huffington Post. Great quote from the reel: When asked how much sleep he gets a night, President Barack Obama said, “probably not enough.” “I will say that when people leave the administration and I see them six months later, they have …

BYT put together a great list of cool things to do in the spring, something I definitely needed. During nice days this weekend, I struggled to bring up ideas for things to do outside. Ended up taking a walk, but will be better armed for next time with things like: …

Sad news for a DC institution – Chef Ike’s Mambo Room is closing. “What a great run we’ve had! We would like to thank the [residents] of Adam’s Morgan and the DC Metro area, and those across the country who have supported Chief Ike’s throughout the years,” the restaurant wrote …

DCist advises, “don’t worry about it.” If your water just started smelling a bit like a swimming pool, it isn’t another mystery contaminant. Along with the start of spring comes the annual cleaning of the water pipes in D.C., as well as Arlington County and the northeastern part of Fairfax …