Pitch Perfect: the PR Podcast

Ep. 14 - Stephen Aaron, Perspective Strategies: Washington, the political divide, getting into public affairs, Atticus Finch and Alabama sharecroppers

Stephen Aaron is the Founder and CEO of Perspective Strategies. He is a public affairs strategist and influence expert with almost twenty years of experience in Washington D.C. transforming the way his clients are understood by elected officials and the general public. With a career that has included stints at top DC public affairs firms, Stephen talked to me about how companies try to get heard in Washington, the real vs. the perceived influence of money in politics, and how to launch and manage your career in communications if politics is something that excites you. We converged on our sadness about the political divide, and on our shared belief in the importance of personal contact vs. e-mail (or worse, social media).

Ep. 13 - Samantha Flynn, Junipr Public Relations - Starting your own agency, differences between agency and in-house, being young in the business, phone pitching...

Samantha Flynn is president of Junipr Public Relations in Chicago, and has been featured in PR Week, Forbes, The Wrap and Authority Magazine, sharing expertise in best practices in public relations, reputation management, crisis communications, entrepreneurship and the continued advancement of women in the workplace. She and I talked about career progression, including her time as an in-house resource and the differences between in-house and agency work. We also talked a fair bit about what young people can do to stand out and survive in this very tough business. For someone so young Sarah is a little bit old school in her approach, and she and I bonded on that: some things in PR have changed, but some very crucial things have not. She's the author of the recently-released The EntrePReneur Advantage: Turning Chaos into Clarity, so check it out.

Ep. 12 - Ron Culp, DePaul University - Ageism, AI, career guidance, academia vs. professionalia, early days of corporate communications, Chicago...

Ron Culp is a Chicago PR legend. Currently the lead of DePaul University's brilliant PR program, he joined DePaul after a long and storied career in politics, corporate communications and agency leadership. Prior to joining DePaul, Ron held senior public relations positions at four Fortune 500 corporations and two major agencies, as partner and managing director of Ketchum’s Midwest offices and head of the agency’s North American Corporate Practice, and also as founder and managing director of the Chicago office of financial comms powerhouse Sard Verbinnen and Company (now FGS Global). Earlier in his corporate career, he held senior communications positions at Sears, Sara Lee Corporation, Pitney Bowes, and Eli Lilly. We discussed the state of the business, his brilliant career, how students get taught PR, ageism, and a bunch of other topics. Ron is a legend.

Ep. 11 - Anushka Seth, The British Council - Determination, imposter syndrome, working overseas, the role of comms, learning new things... the list goes on and on

Anushka Seth is the head of communications for the Asia-Pacific region for The British Council, the UK's international organization for cultural relations. Her career has seen her move from her native India to America to pursue education and then career opportunities, moving from the tech to the financial industry and then to crisis communications, then returning to India to work with a top agency and then go in-house. As impressive as her career trajectory and her capabilities is her incredible humanity, questioning herself, working tirelessly to improve herself, and embracing the uncertainty that is such a hallmark of the public relations business... and such a challenge for many of us working in it. Listening to this podcast episode will make you a much better practitioner and perhaps a better person.

Ep. 10 - Dale Curtis, Public Affairs, DC, and Truth and Facts

Dale Curtis is the founder and head of Dale Curtis Communications in Washington D.C, one of the very best boutique communications, public relations and public affairs firms in the city. He's a voice of normalcy and moderation in a city that is, certainly increasingly, anything but. A former journalist and White House communications staffer, we discussed his work, the post-facts world we live in, how he got his start in the business, and a variety of other topics. Apologies for the canine interlude at the end, my dog Jackson - a political name if there is one! - can't resist a doorbell.