We Get Confidential With Fashion PR It Girl Crosby Noricks
We Get Confidential With Fashion PR It Girl Crosby Noricks
If you work in PR, or aspire to be the next Kelly Cutrone, you will have heard of Crosby Noricks. If you haven’t, where have you been hiding?! Crosby Noricks is the founder of PR Couture, one of the most visited sites for students, graduates and workers in the world of Fashion PR. If that wasn’t enough, she’s also the author of the book Ready to Launch: PR Couture Guide to Breaking into Fashion PR and co-teacher at Fashion PR Confidential.
We were lucky enough to catch up with the Fashion PR It girl over a coffee last week. Having already launched a highly recognized website, we were excited to hear about the new chapter of Miss Crosby’s career.
But let’s start at the beginning. Often the tale of how someone ‘got in’ is as important as the work they do daily. As a Communications graduate, Crosby knew fashion was her calling. ‘I had always wanted to work in the fashion industry – but I wasn’t exactly sure how, or which of my skills would be a fit for what type of job’. Whilst studying, Crosby managed the in-house PR and marketing department for a jewelry company, originally hired to write product copy, but quickly began to help the CEO with the media outreach, story development and samples. ‘I found PR to be a satisfying mix of business strategy, relationship building and creativity.’ she tells Your Coffee Break. We couldn’t agree more!
Finding a way to combine her strengths and passions through a job in Fashion PR, the PR guru launched ‘PR Couture’. Realizing the importance of technology on the Fashion PR world, Crosby used this to her advantage. Originally a site on which she would post career tips, advice and job postings, the PR Couture brand has grown from strength to strength and developed into a professional site for aspiring PR girls across the world. ‘I’ve recently had a mental transition away from thinking of PR Couture as a blog. Instead I see it as a brand, one arm of which is writing articles for our community.’ Crosby explains that the most popular posts are often the more basic, explanatory posts, like “So, What does a Fashion Publicist Do,” and “How to Write a Fashion PR Plan.” Although social media can make you feel a lot closer to the professionals you admire today, there is still that distance that leaves students and hopefuls unsure of how to get into the competitive world of Fashion PR. ‘PR Couture’ provides these people with a place to gain knowledge, learn about some of their favourite brands and companies, and also find jobs or internships in the industry.
Writing a book was a natural progression for Crosby. And after five years of writing PR Couture, Crosby released Ready to Launch: PR Couture Guide to Breaking into Fashion PR to accompany her already thriving website. ‘Writing the book allowed me to comprehensively respond to one of the questions I get asked the most: what advice do you have for me about getting started in fashion PR? I also saw the process of writing book as a bit of a personal litmus test.’
However, Crosby’s journey has only just begun. In the interview, this cool girl told Your Coffee Break how she recently left her full-time, director-level job at a digital marketing agency to pursue her role at PR Couture and her exciting new project ‘Fashion PR Confidential’. We were excited to hear more about this new project! “Fashion PR Confidential is a 2-day workshop originally developed by Danika Daly, of Danika Daly PR, who regularly contributors to PR Couture.” Crosby explains. ‘Our goal is to provide an inspiring, immersive experience where we get real about arming our graduates with the necessary knowledge they will need to succeed in entry-level positions. Too often public relations courses focus on corporate communications, and rarely give fashion, beauty or entertainment PR much of a focus. We want to provide our students with the specific skills necessary for fashion PR.’ Focusing on effective planning and goal-setting, the core of any successful campaign, as well as media list development, pitch technique, event production and social media, this intensive course will provide aspiring Fashion PR girls with the information they need to break into the industry. ‘Because we only have 2 days, we wanted to focus on a mix of fundamentals and real-world scenarios, like having our students work in small groups to execute plans and pitches, just as they would in a job setting.’
So if you are an aspiring Fashion PR girl who wants to learn more about the industry and hear the expertise of successful women in the field, visit www.fashionprconfidential.com to find out more about the workshop or sign up for the next Fashion PR Confidential workshop which will be held June 1-2 at Beachwood Studios in Hollywood, CA.
Alongside this, Crosby will be hosting an interactive event to celebrate the launch of Fashion PR Confidential! Join her for a conversation about the new site, the evolution of PR Couture and a chance to ask any questions you may have about Fashion PR, Fashion PR Confidential or your career path. One lucky PR Girl will win an invaluable 30-minute consulting session with Crosby herself!
The chat will take place on May 14, 2013 at 6pm PT right here!
By: Jade Bailey-Dowling & Melanie Richtman