In our latest edition of ‘Meet the Board Mondays,’ a series to help you get to know your 2019 Board of Directors, we bring you PRSA-SF Bay Area Director of Social/Events, Ellen Kiehl. In her day job, she's Communications Lead at Affirm.

Give us a P-R-S-A!

P: PERSON  

Tell us a little about yourself.

I’ve been involved with PRSA for a number of years and joined the board last June. A St. Louis native, I moved to San Francisco nearly five years ago after graduating from Texas Christian University where I studied strategic communications and minored …

As part of PRSA’s mission to advance the PR profession and the professional, we bring you our next Meet the Media Q+A profile. In this Q+A, we speak with Marisa Kendall, Housing Reporter at The Mercury News to learn more about the work she does on a daily basis and to learn more about her hobbies and interests.

How did you end up in journalism?

In our latest edition of ‘Meet the Board Mondays,’ a series to help you get to know your 2019 Board of Directors, we bring you PRSA-SF Bay Area Director of Communications, Brooks Wallace. In her day job, she's West Coast Lead at Hollywood Agency.

P: PERSON  

Tell us a little about yourself.

Hi, I’m Brooks Wallace, a new board member this year. A Boston native, I moved to SF two years ago to build out our agency’s west coast office and to enjoy a California lifestyle! I should explain that despite our agency's name, we don't …

Path to APR: Q&A with Catherine Brozena

To celebrate APR Month this April, we're bringing you testimonials from APRs themselves. Meet Catherine Brozena, Owner and Creative Director of ColorThisWorld Communications, who shared her path to earning an APR with us. 

Why you decided to seek accreditation?

While I spent many years working in a public relations and communications capacity, much of my understanding of these fields has been gained through experiential learning. I did not come into this work with a formal education in public relations, communications, journalism, or related fields. Until recently, I created communications plans and …

In our latest edition of ‘Meet the Board Mondays’, a series to help you get to know your 2019 Board of Directors, we bring you PRSA-SF Bay Area Director of Programs, Cherise Adkins. In her day job, she's a Media Supervisor at Edelman.

P: PERSON 

Tell us a little about yourself.

I consider myself bi-coastal. I was born and raised in San Jose, California, but have spent most of my adult life on the East Coast, including Washington, D.C., Baltimore and Philadelphia – so my personality is a mix of West Coast charm and East Coast edge! Public relations …

March is Women’s History Month and to celebrate, the PRSA San Francisco Bay Area chapter this year recognizes a local woman in PR who has more than 20 years of experience in public relations, internal communications, marketing, and journalism, has worked for two of the biggest technology companies in the world - Google and Facebook, has been a PRSA member since 2004, and has previously served as PRSA San Francisco Bay Area Chapter President. We are proud to announce that the 2019 PRSA San Francisco Bay Area Chapter PR Woman of the Year award goes to Netta Conyers-Haynes, Head of …

As part of PRSA’s mission to advance the PR profession and the professional, we bring you the Meet the Media Q+A series. In this Q+A, we speak with Owen Thomas, Business Editor at the San Francisco Chronicle to learn more about the work he does on a daily basis and to find out about his hobbies and interests. Owen is also a member of the NLGJA Northern California Chapter.

Tell us the story about how you got into journalism?

I gave the long version to Pacific Standard five years or so ago. The short version is that I …

Bay Area Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) organizations are doing amazing work to support underrepresented groups in our community, and next Wednesday, March 27th, we’re giving professionals the chance to meet and mingle with over ten of the leading D&I non-profits in the area. The Diversity & Inclusion Speed Networking mixer we’re co-hosting with our friends at the American Marketing Association SF Chapter will be a fun and informative evening, and we spoke with one of the event organizers, Brad Dressler of the AMA, to find out what awaits attendees:

What is the biggest drive for professionals to attend …

Much work still needs to be done in the PR industry to make it more diverse and inclusive.  

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the ethnic makeup of the PR industry in the U.S. is 87.9% white, 8.3% African American, 2.6% Asian American, and 5.7% Hispanic American. However, in 2045, it’s estimated that whites will comprise 49.7 percent of the population in contrast to 24.6 percent for Hispanics, 13.1 percent for blacks, 7.9 percent for Asians, and 3.8 percent for multiracial populations (PRSA Foundation brief).

The lack of diversity and inclusivity is further reinforced by research conducted …

I have spent the first couple of months in 2019 speaking with my clients about their biggest hopes, dreams, fears, and desires. This includes senior marketing & communications leaders from some of the largest brands in the world, as well as the staff and agencies who support them every day. 

Overwhelmingly, I heard that a lack of credible metrics which prove the value of PR was keeping them up at night. In particular, chief marketers are increasingly unsure about the quality of the content that their teams are producing and how it is really driving engagement.

Earned media is hard …