A freelance PR Professional

By: Sophie Peters

Background

“I am a 51 years old, married and a mother of three teens. I spent the first twenty years of my career in pharmaceutical sales, then stayed home to be with the kids. Over the first 6 years, I started businesses, wrote and published a book, designed a line of children’s clothes and met with entrepreneurs on a regular basis counseling them on getting their business up and running. I also held numerous leadership/volunteer positions with the school and organizations. These experiences ultimately lead me to the career I currently have.”

Educational background

Attended: St. Olaf College (1982-1984), Minnesota State University, Mankato (1984-1986)

Degree: Majored in P.E. and corporate fitness.

“Nothing that I majored in had ultimately anything that ended up doing.”

Segway into the world of PR

“I hired someone to place me in media when I wrote a book and thought I could do that and decided to move into the world of media and marketing and from there was able to gain experience and build my own practice.”

How would you define Public Relations?

“Public relations to me is working with the company to make sure that company is perceived in a positive light and that company gets maximum visibility leading to business growth.”

Do you consider yourself to be a PR professional?

“Yes. I consider myself to be more of a hybrid PR professional. I also do marketing, advertising and business development. PR is only one thing I do for companies but it all goes together and PR is a part of what I do to promote that company.”

What is your job title? What does your job entail?

“My job includes Account development and management, marketing, advertising, media placement and coordination of photoshoots.”

Where do you fit in the organizational structure?

“I work hand in hand with the owner and I report to the owner of the company on any job.”

Companies you work with…

Adri collection: luxe fur accessories for the home and body. Works on media placement, marketing and advertising and also has a hand in photoshoot production

Plush pumpkin: Original velvet pumpkins meant for seasonal decoration.

Beautifeye: a skin revitalization and laser clinic marketing, coordinate photoshoots, work with magazines, pitch them to magazines

Companies you work with…

Marcomm Inc.:a company that provides temporary marketing professionals and business development to other companies. Kristen works with Marcomm to promote their services.

PureAlchemy Design: a commercial interior design company Kristen works with the marketing and media placement of PureAlchemy Design.

Adri Collection

Plush Pumpkin

Beautifeye

How long have you been practicing PR?

“I’ve been doing PR for about five to six years and my previous experience was in sales, which I was in for twenty years. I started a children’s clothing company and I also wrote a book. Coming into contact with entrepreneurs is what gave me my start in the world of PR.”

Prior job experience: Pharmaceutical industry before moving on to PR. Senior Professional Science Liaison with Agouron Pharmaceuticals. Went on to start a line of ready to wear children’s clothing for Tirza Baby.

Typical day in the life…

“A lot of computer work. Whether that is pitching to a magazine, television station, creating marketing materials or doing research and targeting a certain market. Also follow up calls. Maybe four times a week I’ll have in person meetings. Also, I’ve started going to networking events. I will attend about 2 industry events a month for networking purposes.”

What have been some of your favorite jobs or clients?

“One of my favorite clients is Adri Collection because it’s in the fashion industry and so everything is exciting with that. We go to New York a couple times a year and do trunk shows and are able to meet other designers and manufacturers. My favorite clients are design and fashion based.”

What would you like to do in the future?

“Manage growth of my own company. I see myself moving more towards business development. I love media placement but there are facets of PR I’m not good at. One of my weaknesses with PR would be my journalistic capabilities and in PR you need to be a strong writer because you have to do write ups for your clients or press releases.”

Personal experience…

Hired Kristen to help my exposure as a singer in the Twin Cities, she was able to get an article written up about me in a local magazine.

Kristen was able to also assist me in getting hired for modeling jobs around the Minneapolis one of my jobs being with her client Adri Collection.

Examples of Work Kristen is involved in the creation of all marketing and digital materials and photoshoot processes with Adri Collection

Something you wish you had known before you started in communications

“I think one of the biggest things you learn when you go into PR is that there is no direct result from PR, you can’t predict what will exactly happen. The client needs to have faith in the system. But, the PR professional should be producing results. Also, I came from a salaried position so it was very hard for me to transition into billable hours.”

Advice for starting in Public Relations

“I would say take whatever job you can to get in. Learn everything you possibly can about every facet of the company and never burn a bridge. Networking is one of the most important things you can do for yourself and for your career. It allows you to move from one job to another easily.”