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Lara Busch, a doctoral student at the Chair of Strategic Communication at the Leipzig University, was named "Young Professional of the Year" in the German communications industry on November 3, 2022. She received the award at the PR Report Awards 2022 gala in the legendary Kosmos on Berlin's Karl-Marx-Allee. Together with her project partner Ingrid Lisica from Hamburg, she had convinced the jury comprised of communication leaders departments from German blue-chip companies and agencies with the development of a strategic purpose campaign. For ten years now, the 30 most talented people in the industry under the age of 30 have been competing for this annual award.

Lara Busch (27) earned her master's degree in communication science and media research at the University of Hohenheim with an empirical thesis on strategic influencer marketing supervised by Professor Sabine Trepte. Since fall 2021, she has been a doctoral student with Professor Ansgar Zerfass at the Institute of Communication and Media Studies at Leipzig University. Her dissertation on the management of polyphonic communication in large companies is funded by a doctoral scholarship from Mercedes Benz AG. Lara Busch is also an independent social media consultant as well as a fashion and lifestyle blogger with more than 50,000 followers on Instagram.

She tells about her work in an interview: "My generation is different from previous generations because we didn't just grow up with social media, we live social media. We may only be at the beginning of our careers, and certainly lack some professional experience: however, in some areas we are so well educated by growing up that we know what we are talking about. Nonetheless, we have a realistic assessment of what we can and cannot do. Completely overrated to me is the concept of an 8-to-5 work schedule and the idea that remote work is just a crisis solution. Fortunately, such a concept isn't around much anymore, and I'm glad my employer allows for flexible work schedules. A current role model in communication for me is ... – except Mercedes Benz, of course ;) – Deutsche Bahn. With openness, the right understanding of the target groups and the right amount of humor, the company manages to hit the Zeitgeist and become more popular, especially among younger stakeholders."