I began interning while attending FIDM in Los Angeles. At the time, FIDM offered no communications curriculum, so once I realized I was interested in public relations, I hit the pavement, sought out an internship and landed at People’s Revolution.

During the first few months, it became clear I was in the right place as I was fascinated with the new world I had entered. It really ignited a drive within me that I had never experienced before. In that position, I met with high-profile stylists, helped dress celebrities and arranged pulls for editorial shoots. That role taught me the importance of being accountable, building relationships around trust and how to embrace my outgoing personality in a business setting.

Always hungry for more, I was intrigued by the creative side of the business and wanted to explore coming up with ideas and pitching clients for media placement, and was bumped up to a public relations assistant. I learned so many things, but probably the biggest was the ability to become a chameleon and be able to switch gears on a dime depending on the situation. 

Next, I followed a gravitational pull up to San Francisco where the culture was a bit more aligned with my personality than LA. While it was definitely the right move personally, it was hard from a career perspective since there weren’t a ton of fashion opportunities in the Bay Area at that time. I had a lot of odd jobs during my first few years, including becoming Associate Producer for the first two San Francisco Fashion Weeks. Then came time when I had to make a career choice and started working in the tech industry in order to sustain living in the Bay Area. While I wasn’t sold on it at first, I soon found myself enthralled with the innovation and excitement in the industry.

After four years at MSR Communications working on creative media campaigns, I knew the time had expired on my strictly tech career diet. I needed to switch gears and my heart was always in the fashion and lifestyle industry. After looking at my options and definitely not wanting to move out of San Francisco, I started entertaining the thought of doing my own thing. It became a reality while driving with a friend—she told me about a PR consultant that her mom had hired who wasn’t meeting expectations. When she told me how much she was paying her, my mouth hit the floor. I said, wait, I could do a killer job for her for like half that. Once that mental shift happened, it was all over. I became really excited, started plotting out my plan, creating my website and planting seeds with potential clients.

Honestly, it wasn’t that difficult for me. I thrive as an entrepreneur—way more than I ever did in a corporate setting. I was so empowered by the excitement of taking what I had learned and doing this amazing work all on my own. I was supremely hyped; I would blast to Beyoncé (her album 4 had just come out and “I Was Here” was my get it girl anthem) and I started calling myself a boss—ha! From the moment I quit my job, I wanted nothing short of success. Like many creative folks, I flourish in a free environment and didn’t really know that until I experienced it. Once the taste of this new life was on my lips, one without borders where the only limits were set within my mind, I was intoxicated. That’s not to say that I haven’t hit some bumps along the way—I have. But I’ve learned so much from every stumble.

When I first started my company I was out almost every night at fashion events, scoping things out and getting to know the people in the scene. I was thrilled that I found such a welcoming and inclusive style community in San Francisco. Now that I’ve gotten to know most of the local players in the industry, I go to less events at night and do more one-on-one coffee networking dates with reporters, bloggers, other publicists (to trade secrets, duh!), entrepreneurs and anyone else in my field. I’m always down to get together and exchange ideas and see how we can help each other.

The core of my business is centered on my ability to get behind a company, wholeheartedly. So the first requirement when deciding if it’s a fit is making sure I’m genuinely passionate about what they are doing. Secondly, I believe that the most valuable business relationships are developed on mutual respect and trust and I've been lucky enough to find clients who 'get' me and respect how I operate. Once I figured out that I didn’t have to fit into any particular box, I could just be my true self in all situations; I experienced this professional freedom that had been stifled in the past. 

My biggest client success story is definitely my work with leading mobile fashion marketplace, Poshmark. We started working together a little over two years ago, launching their iPhone app into the market. Using my combined skills in both the fashion and technology industries, I worked with the company to execute a multifaceted PR strategy to elevate them from unknown app to major fashion player. Two years and hundreds of media placements later, they have millions of members who use the app, over 300,000 sellers and have helped women buy and sell over a million items from each other’s closets.

Another more localized example is Photobooth, a tintype studio in the Mission. The owners Michael and Vince were doing something super new and innovative and I wanted to be part of it. When they were planning their grand opening, I had just started my company and I came in to give local media a sneak peek of the space, a free tintype session and then threw a huge bash to let the city know they were there. Afterwards, social media was flooded with these weird, stark tintypes as profile pictures and everyone in the city wanted one. Let’s just say it was a very successful launch. Not only for them, but also for my company. I still get new business requests from people who want me to recreate that success for them.

In this industry, it is important to have a good mix of focus, organization, attention to detail and time management skills, coupled with creative ideas and great writing. I moonlight as a writer for fashion and lifestyle blog Refinery29 to keep those creative ideas flowing and my writing on point.

When I was at MSR Communications, I would tell my interns that if you can do tech PR, you could do any PR. It’s super tough! You really have to know your stuff when talking to tech reporters. I learned more about strategy, competitive analysis and how to anticipate business trends in that environment than I ever would have in the fashion world alone.

Oh man, there is really no average day in PR since, at any time, a media opportunity will come up and completely take over your day. That’s why not having a set schedule is ideal in our industry. But usually I’m at my desk or a café reading, researching, pitching or writing from 9:00 a.m. until about 2:00 p.m., and then I’ll attend any in-person meetings or photo shoots for articles I’m working on. Or I could be in NYC on a press tour with a client. Or I’m in Vegas throwing a conference. You just never know! 

Stop overthinking everything and get into action. The funny thing about PR is that you can apply it to anything. Even your career! Begin talking about what you want to do and start branding yourself immediately. With Twitter, Instagram and blogs, you can really use yourself to showcase your understanding of your niche, writing and relationship building skills. It’s essential to become obsessed with the news. Read everything you can get your hands on! Find those people who have the type of career you want and ask them if you can buy them a cup of coffee and find out how they got there.

I’m such a media junkie; I love the feeling of waking up to a piece of amazing client coverage. It’s like Christmas morning. That will never change. 

As for what's next, I’m constantly breaking my own personal career goals and within that comes a lot of growth, being able to push myself further to do things I’ve never done before. It can be hard and scary and prevents a lot of people from pushing past their perceived limitations but I try to remember that it’s all part of the process and welcome the struggle.