In a case of seriously fortunate timing, I was called in for a job interview the afternoon of my graduation—I barely had time to hang out with my family at lunch! This was at what would be my first agency, Brandman. They were hiring an Account Coordinator, an entry-level PR position. I thought I came across as very charismatic and competent in my interview (I spent a great deal of time connecting over Guitar Hero with the interviewer), but since I had virtually no PR experience at that point, it was all up in the air. The next day, I returned home to Miami to live with my parents, Graduate-style. I had the typical anxieties about my next move, and I really wanted to be back in New York—it had become home to me in all its chaos and culture. I was a black sheep in Miami and felt so out of place among its beaches and nightclubs. That, and humidity is a longtime foe.

A week later, I got a call from Brandman’s Vice President telling me that I got the job. At first I was ecstatic, and then that immediately gave way to anxiety. This time, I’d be in New York as a professional. The wide-eyed student days were over. It was important for me to read as much about the PR industry before my start date, but I had a feeling that I’d learn the work by actually doing it. There also was that whole apartment situation that needed to be sorted out. Moving in New York is a process, but I was able to find an amazing apartment on the Upper West Side with a college friend of mine who was working for Mayor Bloomberg’s communications department. Just remembering the stress and uncertainty of that time is enough to make me want to nap for a month.

Originally, I wanted to be an entertainment journalist and write about film and music, so I would pack all of my college courses into two days and use the rest of the week to intern at magazines. Landing the internship at Rolling Stone was the apex of my life at that point. I really did feel like the kid in Almost Famous. My fondest memory was meeting Woody Harrelson. He convinced me to be vegan and that lasted for about a week—albeit the most bright-eyed, clear-skinned week of my life.

The most practical lesson I learned at Rolling Stone is that the media industry is always in flux, so it’s important to own your beat, but also be adaptive to emerging trends in journalism—or at the very least be curious about new ways to tell a story. During my tenure in 2008, Rolling Stone’s focus was still on print editorial (one of the coolest things I did was help research a Britney Spears cover story), but digital strategy was on the horizon. In my PR life, this perspective powers me to find new ways of telling a client’s narrative.

My favorite class at Columbia was an Alfred Hitchcock survey taught by the late Andrew Sarris, the iconic film critic who pioneered the concept that directors are the “authors” of their films. That thought inspired me to make projects as client-specific as possible. Even when doing the most basic PR task (like writing a press release) I made sure the voice of a client came through loud and clear in everything. It's what Hitch would've wanted!

Even if you specialized in PR in school, having a broad range of interests makes you stand out. A lot of people do PR in such a standardized, superficial and ultimately ineffective way. Why be another drone? Clients hire our team as consultants, so it’s really important to bring fresh ideas to the table and work as an extension of their brand. My way of staying inspired is by doing as many things outside of my industry as I can—like taking a graphic design class or stage-managing a show. In the end, you’ll find that all of these experiences are capacity-building exercises. I don’t believe in work/life balance, but I do believe in work/life integration. 

SKDKnickerbocker marks the most challenging stage of my career so far, and the one that is the most rewarding. Accepting this role was akin to jumping off a cliff into the unknown. Historically, SKDKnickerbocker is a political strategy and public affairs firm and my background was primarily lifestyle: travel, hospitality, real estate and design. I was worried that my expertise in opening hotels and leading press trips to far-flung places wouldn’t measure up to working on political campaigns and with social causes as many of my colleagues have done, but I am happy to be wrong.

Several months in, what I love most about working at SKDKnickerbocker are its team dynamics. Everyone has to be a leader at some point on any given project, and your colleagues really look to you for your particular skill set. The team has been terrific about valuing my insight. In turn I’ve learned tremendously from them about being nimble and strategic. The appeal of our firm is that we run accounts much like political campaigns, complete with rapid response and crisis management. Our job can be very news-oriented, so it’s important to think on your feet and be ready to pivot at any given moment on a PR strategy.

Not to mention, we're one of the first top PR firms in the country to introduce our own Millennial Strategy practice (led by my very talented colleague, Audrey Gelman—a Millennial herself) that designs communication campaigns zeroing in on this increasingly influential demographic. That just exemplifies how multigenerational and forward-thinking our company culture is.

When I made the jump from strictly lifestyle PR to SKDKnickerbocker (where I work with an eclectic mix of corporate, public affairs and tech clients, as well as execute media strategy for awesome organizations like Rock the Vote) it was equal parts terrifying and exciting. In many ways, this is my dream career moment because I experience the fun sides of PR—meeting with incredible journalists, going to premieres and galas—while simultaneously moving the needle for clients in ways I would have never imagined. It goes beyond placing a story in the newspaper or planning an event. Rather, it’s about really helping clients fine-tune their brand’s story with the utmost integrity and creativity.

If I’m really on my game, I’m up by 5:30 a.m. to work out at my gym, the exceptionally magical Mark Fisher Fitness in Hell’s Kitchen. Some call it “Broadway’s cult gym” since so many Tony winners and entertainment pros are members. I love it because any day that begins with your trainer wearing a glittery cape and having you do sit-ups inspired by Evita is destined to be epic—and this is a frequent occurrence.

I catch up with pop culture-y podcasts while I commute to our Soho office—The Read is a favorite—and I have breakfast at my desk while I scan the news; Capital New York has fantastic newsletters highlighting notable moves in the media industry and in City Hall. I like to check in with my teams earlier in the day to review client projects in motion. I tend to schedule one editor coffee meeting every day, either to get refreshed on publications I follow or to meet new journalists whose work I admire. The afternoon is usually spent doing media outreach over email, follow-up calls or client meetings. Often, I work on social media strategy for several of our clients and compile reports outlining our results. By evening, I’m either at a client event or some sort of media function. The beauty of PR is that no day is the same—your schedule is like a jazz song, wildly improvisational.

If it’s not a “school night,” I love live theater, a movie or trying out a new-to-me restaurant with friends. I’m pretty insatiable when it comes to culture. I try to go to bed around midnight in order to do everything again the next day. The early bird definitely gets the worm in my industry.

Separating your private and professional spheres can be tricky, especially when social media is involved and you’re a PR person who naturally gravitates towards sharing good news about your clients on your channels. I learned an important lesson in that every client has different needs and some don’t appreciate when you lift the curtain and reveal they have PR help—even when you’re doing something as seemingly innocuous as posting a fantastic article about them on your Twitter profile. Lesson learned: take time to truly think about the way each client functions and when in doubt, ask!

I represent tech companies, but ironically tend to keep my iPhone usage as minimal as possible. I’m more Zen and effective that way. I do have some favorite tools though: Mitro is one of the best password managers out there—I’m always registering for online accounts, writing down passwords and PINs on scraps of paper and then promptly losing them, so this helps keep everything streamlined. Uber has changed the way I commute to and from client meetings and home after late-night events, since I live in Brooklyn. Beyond my Microsoft Outlook calendar, which I’m OCD about keeping updated, my red Moleskine planner keeps me in check since so much of my job is done on-the-go. This isn’t a gadget per se, but I think I live a significant portion of my life at Drybar getting a blowout. It’s not only comforting, but a big factor in keeping me presentable. My hair is naturally wild and leonine.

Skills essential to my job are what you’d expect—tenacity, keen media instincts, boundless stamina—but one thing that is seldom highlighted is authenticity. Publicists often get labeled as the ultimate fakers, but I’ve never worked that way and I don’t think I can. It’s possible to be professional and still be personable with people and honest about what you’re publicizing. Clients and media alike respond well to real human beings, not robots who shill.

“Get 1% better every day”—this is the mantra of my aforementioned enchanted gym, of all places, but it’s equally applicable to the workplace.

It’s important to realize that even when we feel like we’re nailing our job (landing amazing placements, impressing ecstatic clients, building incredible relationships with high-profile people) there is always room for growth. It doesn’t have to be drastic and it doesn’t have to be overnight, but just moving in a positive direction inch by inch adds up to huge results over time. The mountain has no top!

As a Senior Associate, especially at SKDKnickerbocker, you’re in the interesting position of assisting the firm’s principals and Vice Presidents with client projects and business development, but also mentoring junior colleagues and making sure you keep accounts moving forward daily. Client interface is huge, and story development, brainstorming and media outreach are critical aspects of the job—and thankfully, my favorite parts of working in PR.

I’m definitely a proponent for being a specialized expert in an industry or specific media vertical. That knowledge and those contacts help grow the firm in exciting ways, paving the way for new divisions and practices. Remember though, never turn down the opportunity to work on a project outside of your comfort zone. When I began at SKDKnickerbocker, I had little to no experience in the political media arena—but you quickly learn, because it's sink or swim, and you become all the savvier for it.

Nourish yourself with new experiences and what naturally interests you. No matter how dissimilar you feel these passions are to your chosen career, you’ll find that you can channel everything into your profession if you think creatively. Everything adds up to the dynamic professional that is you.

Real world example: I never thought that volunteering at NYC’s smallest museum (Mmuseumm) during weekends would translate into valuable PR contacts, but it really helped me to connect with interesting New Yorkers and reporters at publications such as The New York Times, New York Magazine and Time Out New York. Key takeaway: follow your nose and feed your interests. Don’t settle for being just one thing—you can be a stand-up comic and a doctor. Funny people have terrific bedside manner, I’m pretty sure.

Through my clients, I’m exposed to a different side of New York City every day—from City Hall and outer-borough educational insitutions to the tech and fashion industries. The city is comprised of all of these fascinating components and people doing incredible work. It is my responsibility to help tell their stories. In making creative connections between the medium and the message, I look forward to my synapses firing constantly!

I can’t answer with 100% certainty what is next in my career, but I’d wager to say it will involve a tremendous amount of digital strategy. Leveraging social media in inventive ways is playing an increasingly larger role in brand storytelling and I can’t wait to develop this for more of our clients. Can you be a digital strategist and still have only three apps downloaded on your iPhone? I’ll find out.