I regularly get asked these same two questions:
1) ‘What is PR and why do I need it?’
2) ‘Why did you choose PR and the crazy busy, deadline-driven-schedule that goes along with it?’
Answer:
1) Read THIS ARTICLE and I’ll elaborate upon PR basics more in the near future…
2) I L-O-V-E it! Cliche, yes, but . . .
I do love being busy. I am a combination of all the “buzz words/phrases” you are not supposed to claim on your resume: great at multi-tasking, great at thinking big picture while remaining detail-oriented, a leader, a serial networker and a very social ‘people person’. So, being entrepreneurial and a really hard worker, I decided to leave my career job in the nonprofit world where I was directing communications, PR, and events with a team of four and two donor-based volunteer committees and I backwards-ly (soon to be a real word – ask our DB team!) launched Delicious Buzz Communications Agency. Backwards because launching a business was not part of my ‘master plan’ in 2009. Also backwards because I launched the Agency without originally having any sort of business plan in place.
I guess this means that I am a snippet of proof that dedication, passion, and a lot of a good thing can only grow and get better! And that it has. The Agency has grown and so has our client list! To what/whom do I owe thanks for my surviving in a down economy, as a young woman in business, without any outside funding but a small investment of my own? My supportive family and friends? My Public Relations degree from Western Michigan University (WMU)? My ability to pull all nighters and long hours because of over-indulgence in my ‘drug’ of choice (aka coffee)?
Nope. I owe it to ‘The Beginning’. And, in the beginning, it all started with the story, “A Night’s Tale”, by Reporter, Brantley Bardin, in the March 2004 Issue of InStyle Magazine (see story below). This 10 page story (half being photos) explained the equal mix of event coordination/production skills with PR/communication skills that were necessary to create “the most lavish Governor’s Ball in the Oscar history”.
For the first time I felt that I could excel in a career that held my passions and interests constant. (This line of work is tough and requires passion to fuel the crazy moments.) It was the first time I knew I needed to leave Michigan, my hometown of twenty-some years, to do PR and produce events more innovative and of larger scale than I had dreamt possible. And, it was the start of deeming Cheryl Cecchetto, Owner of Sequoia Productions (the event production company that holds the Governor’s Ball account among many other coveted accounts), as a role-model.
I realize now, this was all really the launch of a dream to create Buzz through events and PR. After finding and reading my seven page application essay that led to my acceptance into the PR Program at WMU, I also realize that I’ve already met my 2004 dream, “…to devote my career life to a profession in the field of public relations and event coordination…” face to face. I feel blessed to have accomplished this, even if on a much different size scale than Cecchetto does.
Everything is baby steps and anything is possible! So dream big and don’t stop unless you’re taking a break to dream up a new dream because you’ve already accomplished the last one. And as I say in my University’s PR entrance essay, “I hope that through my words I have succeeded in displaying my passion for public relations and event production and well, who knows, possibly I knocked your black silk socks off!”
Tiffany Melone, Founder/Creative Director of Delicious Buzz Communications Agency
