Each morning when I wake up, read an interesting article and want to share it with my social community I begin to hyperventilate (not actually … yet … but I think its coming). The countless options I currently have to participate in the social world are beginning to create an anxiety problem. Should I Tweet or Facebook or Buzz … and enter paper bag. It made me wonder – with a new social networking site popping up each month and workloads increased thanks to the rough economy, will brands and their key executives take a step back from social media in fear they will not be able to communicate effectively? Maybe not just yet but we are on that path. Continue reading
Category Archives: Kristen Massaro
So I Made a Mistake: The Art of Eating Crow & Connecting with Your Personal PR Network
I hate that one of my first official blog posts on this site has to do with the fact that I am admitting defeat. Less than a month ago I wrote on the proper way to bid farewell a job, boss, and fellow colleagues before making my way to a new position, in a new firm where I wanted nothing more than to be the success I previously was.
There is a great statement: life doesn’t always turn out the way you plan. Less than a month after making my move to my new agency I decided the culture and environment was not for me, and I made the decision to call it quits. That’s right, call it quits–with no job, no future opportunities and a nice hefty mortgage to pay. Continue reading
Parting is Such Sweet Sorrow…
Did I really just Google “resignation” letters?! Four years, six months and 19 days after stepping foot in the doors of STC Associates I was making the choice to accept an opportunity at a new agency. At the same time I would be saying goodbye to the place I’ve called home for nearly a fifth of my life … and continue to work there as a technical employee until my “notice” was complete. Continue reading
“It’s like Vidal Sassoon said: if you don’t look good, I don’t look good.”
A ways back when I was a wee little PR minion at my first agency I scored a TIME Magazine exclusive for a client early on in my tenure. My boss was pleased, the client was ecstatic and I thought I might just have the knack to make public relations a career.
One afternoon the CEO of the agency was making his way through the halls and stopped outside my boss’s office, which was a mere 30 feet from mine, and congratulated her on the great media success for our client recently featured in TIME. Naturally, my ears perked up, and I expected to hear my boss take the compliment and move on with the day. Instead my boss, the great Anne (whom I’m coming to reference far too often on this blog!) told the CEO – “hey the person you should congratulate is Kristen, she has gotten some big hits for them lately.” Up until this point I was sure the CEO did not know I existed. He turned around, told me keep up the good work and moved along. Continue reading
Dear Oprah (Part 8)…
Dear Oprah,
Today I’m not thinking like a PR flack, who was never able to get a single product past Adam Glassman’s assistant (thanks by the way for helping me grow that hard PR shell rejection after rejection), I’m thinking like the 4 year old girl who sat down one September day with my mom and there you were – ready to change my world!
Now I must ask – when you made this announcement did you think of me … I mean the rest of us? What will I use as a reference for book club? Who will introduce me to a new doctor who will scare the bejesus out of me each Tuesday leaving me convinced I have a tape worm and a brain tumor? Where will Tom Cruise show off the crazy? When will I know if I’m having an “ah-ha” moment? And most importantly WHO will tell me what my favorite things are going to be this season?!?!
I always thought I would have my children continue the obsession your show … once I tricked a man into marrying me of course (you never did a show on that!) … and now you’ve gone and given me a deadline.
Still distraught,
Kristen
Carving Out a Place for “ME” in the Midst of a Recession
Remember in 5th grade when your teacher told you there were NO stupid ideas? While I thought Ms. Goldfeder was trying to make the kid feel better we all laughed (read: ME!), I had NO idea that statement would turn out to be the best advice I could apply to the business world.
It’s no big secret that the US is in one of the worst recessions of our lifetime. And while every other person I knew became victims of cut-backs, my job seemed to be bulletproof. Our agency worked hard and the clients were happy, all was right in “Wonderland.” Of course with the state of the economy, the nagging thought was always in the back of my mind – if the client cut back I would be on the chopping block. Continue reading
Mentoring PR’s Generation-Next Can Produce Superstars!
In my six plus years in the PR “world” a number of friends have shared their Devil Wears Prada like horror stories about the competitive nature of this industry among their colleagues and managers. For these friends, sharing media contacts is taboo, asking questions of your boss/team lead to make sure you understand an assignment is blasphemy and supporting the success of your team mates is unheard of. With that kind of thought process who would want to build their career in this field? Continue reading