How one of the most powerful PR firms in NYC came out of a conversation in an elevator
It sounds like the plot of a movie: A recent college grad from the south buys a round-trip ticket to New York City. She gives herself 30 days to find a job, an apartment, a life. If she doesn’t find it, she’s going home.
In 1991 Alison Brod, founder and CEO of one of New York City’s foremost boutique public relations firms, lived that script. After finding the courage to introduce herself to a woman at a major fashion PR agency, she nailed the dream job that put her on a path to a dream career.
Now her firm represents brands like L’Oreal, Mercedes, New York Fashion Week, Piperlime and Godiva.
In a recent Open Door interview with finance career site, OneWire, Brod insisted, “If you find something that you like to do and you work really, really hard, and you take every opportunity, you go to every event and you don’t leave without meeting somebody new, things will just come to you, and your path will be guided.”
To Brod, all careers (not just PR) are a game. They’re a combination of skills, taking advantage of opportunity and chance. She started her firm when she overheard a man talking about a product launch in an elevator. Instead of taking the work to the company she was working for at the time, she took on the client—Burberry’s perfume line—herself. That client then helped her start her own firm.
To get those chances, though, you have to go out, you have to be aware, and you have to let people know that you can give them what they want.
If they know you can deliver, they’ll deliver for you.
“It’s about accumulating people that can connect you to the other people,” Brod said.
Watch the full video below, and click here to subscribe to OneWire’s video series.
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By: Linette Lopez
