Download Podcast TranscriptToday's guest, Jasmin Jiménez, is a full-time senior publicist for PPG, a global manufacturer of paints, coatings and specialty materials before PPG, Jazmin worked as a publicist for Ancestry, the leading family history and at home DNA company, a Senior Account Executive for  Edelman, the largest PR agency in the world, and she began her career by working at a variety of boutique agencies. Currently, Jasmine is also a Johns Hopkins University graduate student where she is pursuing a Master's of Science degree in organizational leadership. She plans to use her degree to become a Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion officer. In the episode to follow, Jasmine invites us to dive into the world of DE&I and allyship, shares with us how 2020 not only impacted her heart, but her life and future career trajectory, and how to ultimately pitch DE&I stories appropriately and authentically. Highlights:Jasmin launched PPG’s first  Antiracist Campaign. The campaign was ultimately successful because it was authentic.After the death of George Floyd and events of 2020, Jasmin decided to go back to school to pursue a Master’s of Science in organizational leadership at John Hopkins University. She hopes to one day become a Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion officer. Jasmin grew up without seeing people of color in positions of authority, and she wants to contribute to change the status quo, so new generations can have better opportunities.How do you pitch diversity focus stories? Jasmin advises to really think what you want to say, do your research, be authentic, and talk about what you know. For a brand, it is really important to do the work internally before engaging externally.How can you be an ally? For Jasmin, you should start by listening to diverse parties and ask what they need and see how you can contribute to that. Appreciate and value minorities, pay attention to BLM Movement.Who you are in private, is who you are in real life. Jasmin talks about doing the right thing, every day, not just for showing off on social media. To get in touch with Jasmin, follow her on LinkedIn or Instagram.  Interested in learning more about Pitchin’? Follow me on Instagram or book a Free Consultation here.Visit our website

Download Podcast Transcript Today’s Newsworthy Founder is Praise Santos, the founder behind the photography studio ComePlum and fellow lover of puns, pretty things and people. Praise lives in San Francisco, California, where she does silly dances to loosen up female entrepreneurs during their personal brand photoshoots, builds her Google map locations of colors around the city to create eye-catching content for brands such as Lululemon and Adidas, and leads workshops for organizations such as The Golden State Warriors and BEI Hotel. Her photos have been featured in Vogue, Forbes, TechCrunch and the San Francisco Chronicle, and her project Ethical Weddings won a 20 On The Rise award by the 60,000+ member Rising Tide Society. In today’s episode, Praise and I talk about how to be confident and ditch the squirrel hands on camera, how to be your own Instagram husband, a powerful revenue source in PR often overlooked, and much more. Praise teaches me about a new beverage that in her words is a warm hug in your belly, and she walks us through an impromptu live confident exercise.  Highlights:Praise’s photography studio ComePlum specializes in capturing go-getter women who are impacting the world.Photos matter: a good photo generates engagement. In order to achieve a successful photo, Praise wants to get to know the brand or person behind the photoshoot. She then uses her resources and the camera to tell their unique story. Praise recommends taking different types of photos, with different styles and formats. She also suggests creating templates and media kits that you can send every time someone asks for information about your brand. She tells us what photos we should look to capture in our next session.If you can’t hire a photographer (although it is highly recommended), learn to DIY. Praise has an e-book with tips and explanations to help you take a good photo. She answers all the questions clients have asked her throughout the years, including what to do with your hands.As a photographer, Praise works to help her clients feel confident in front of the camera. Having worked with everyday people and supermodels, she knows that everyone feels insecure about something, and that’s normal. She leads us through a few exercises to feel confident in front of the camera.What is your aesthetic? For Praise, to find your aesthetic you have to think about your brand and your values, define your audience and what you want them to feel when they see your pictures. Customer experience is key! Most of her clients have referred her to new ones. Praise discovered that cultivating a positive customer experience is more important than the talent of the photographer. A good client relationship will bring more clients and make the old ones come back to you.  To get in touch with Praise and see her work, follow ComePlum on Instagram, and check her website. If you want to buy her e-book, go to her shop.  Do you want to know your personal brand vibes? Check this quiz. Interested in learning more about Pitchin’? Follow me on Instagram or book a Free Consultation here.Visit our homepage 

Download Podcast TranscriptRuksana Hussain is an award-winning journalist with 20 years of experience working with local, national and international print and digital media for consumer and trade markets. As a magazine editor, features generalist, and contributing writer for outlets such as Apartment Therapy, Luxury Travel Magazine, California Apparel News, Dining Out, Delta Skylines, Edible Business Insider, Traveler and Tourist - which is her own publication - and many more, Ruksana covers diverse beats and topics spanning from lifestyle to travel cuisine to culture, business, wellness, technology, and much more.  Highlights:Ruksana walks us through the life of a freelance journalist: she writes for many different platforms, local and international; As a freelance journalist, you can also offer small businesses different services such as copy editing, email marketing  and proofreading.Let’s write an advertorial: Ruksana analyzes the difference between writing for a marketing campaign and writing for editorial. Nowadays, there’s a thin line between the two. It depends on who your client is, your audience, the outlet, and overall message.Besides publishing bylines, she is also a ghostwriter. But what does this mean exactly? Ruksana discusses the ethics of this work.For anyone interested in being a freelance writer, Ruksana recommends using facebook groups, looking for opportunities everywhere, putting yourself out there, and introducing yourself and what you are capable of. Ruksana is open to being pitched, but please, do your research! Check if she is the best writer for your project If you have a specific outlet in mind, let her know upfront.Outbound Links: To get in touch with Ruksana, follow her on LinkedIn, and check her websiteInbound links: Interested in learning more about Pitchin’? Follow me on Instagram or book a Free Consultation here.Visit our website 

Download Podcast TranscriptToday’s guest is working to take the training wheels off talk. Michaële Antoine, Founder of Curios, is a master facilitator, educator, and consultant focused on equipping individuals, teams, and the community with the practical skillset to have conversations that matter. In the  episode to follow, Michaële and Lexie dive into the topic of brave dialogues - specifically, how and when to participate - when to facilitate - and how to navigate a world more frequently succumbing to “cancel culture”.Highlights:What is Curios? Michaële decided to help organizations and individuals engage in difficult conversations surrounding topics that might be considered hard, taboo or controversial. Let’s have a brave dialogue. Michaële explains what a brave dialogue is, and that to engage in a brave dialogue, you must lean into your vulnerability. It’s about having conversations even if you are afraid of the outcome, and being willing to listen and take accountability when you are mistaken. Michaële doesn’t find cancel culture effective, because if people are afraid to speak, they won’t engage in difficult conversations and brave dialogues. Michaële believes that sometimes you have to be uncomfortable in order to grow. For her, if you are going to stay silent, let it be for the right reasons, not because you are afraid to speak out, or afraid of the repercussions.What does it mean to be a facilitator? The facilitator is responsible for the group and tries to guide the group towards the goal of a given session. You must know what triggers you and be comfortable in admitting when you are wrong or don’t know something.Michaële has a boundary set around someone who is not willing to listen. You can’t force people to listen to you, but you can choose if you are going to engage in those conversations and how.Should an institution participate in controversial topics? For Michaëlle, it’s not about if one should or shouldn’t, it’s about what the institution is doing on the inside. To get in touch with Michaële, visit her website and follow Curios on Instagram. Interested in learning more about Pitchin’? Follow me on Instagram or book a Free Consultation here.Visit our website

Download Podcast TranscriptTrying to start your own business is hard, but is even harder if you are a woman! Our guest today is Julia Steele, the Head of Marketing and Communications at IFundWomen, the go-to funding marketplace for women-owned businesses and the people who want to support them with access to capital, coaching, and connections. Julia shares with us some golden tips to pitch your ideas, whether that be to the press or to new potential investors.Highlights:After more than three years in her previous job, Julia needed a break: she wanted a job more aligned with her personal mission. She was interested in finding  a job where she could do something to progress women’s equality and pay in the workplace. She then found exactly what she was looking for at IFundWomen.Although there are some formulas to fundraising, Julia knows there is sometimes unavoidable systemic bias in the investment world. IFundWomen is a funding marketplace, with workshops and coaching services to help women take their projects to the next level. Julia invites us all to join their open community, where women support and advise each other.You need to have a Marketing and PR plan. Julia shares some tips: start small with your local community before trying to get to the big media, always know exactly who you should reach out to, why it might be interesting for them, have a good pitch and story, and provide social proof and data. Also, as she learned, have confidence in yourself and what you are doing. Finding investors is not that different than making a PR Plan: you must do research, find who could be interested, and tap your network. Use social media to your favor, look for events and competitions where you can go and pitch your idea, and ask questions. You need to get over your introversion!To get in touch with Julia, follow her on LinkedIn. To learn more about IFundWomen, visit their website, and if you are looking to partner with IFundWomen, take the quiz.If you want to know the apps that Julia mentioned during the show, check Streak and Calendly.Interested in learning more about Pitchin’? Follow me on Instagram or book a Free Consultation here.Visit our website

Download Episode TranscriptToday’s guest is Thatiana Diaz, Senior Editor for Refinery29's first Latinx cross-platform channel, “Somos.” Refinery29 is a leading media and entertainment company focused on women, with a global audience footprint of 249 million across all platforms. In addition to serving as the Senior Editor of Somos, Thatiana is a Beauty Contributor at Refinery29 where she produces deeply reported beauty pieces and exclusive celebrity features. She joined Refinery29 from People en Español, where she launched Chica, the first brand targeting Latina millennials with video and social media extensions. She is also the former Miss New York USA 2015 and finalist at Miss Dominican Republic Universe.Highlights:Thatiana talks about her job as a Senior Editor for Refinery29's first Latinx cross-platform channel, “Somos.” She started as a Beauty Contributor at Refinery29 after previously working with People en Español. As she grew up, Thatiana realized no one in the editorial world looked like her or had a similar background. That inspired her to make a change in today’s world. She is committed to amplifying and celebrating the voices of the Latinx community.A daughter of immigrants with no connections, Thatiana explains how she landed her first job in media at Seventeen Magazine.She gives out some key tips to pitch her: what should people do or avoid. She loves it when people are considerate and get straight to the point (and please, stop with the mailers!).Thatiana considers it essential for journalists to adapt to today’s times, and ask themselves how they can provide a service to the readers, who are conscious consumers. To learn more about Thatiana, follow her on Instagram, Twitter or visit Somos.Interested in learning more about Pitchin’? Follow me on Instagram or book a Free Consultation here.

Download Podcast TranscriptOur guest today is Mar Yvette, an LA-based lifestyle writer and editor who has worked with some of the world’s most recognized media companies including E! News, ABC, Citysearch, Huffington Post, Playboy Magazine, and Good Day LA. She's the founder and editor-in-chief of Homegirl Talk, an online platform that connects and promotes women from all walks of life, particularly women of color. In this episode she tells us about her journey and gives us some real-talk on writing, knowing your audience, and how to break into the media world.Highlights:Mar tells us about her full time editing and writing career, and how she got started as a freelancer in the early 2000s. She started as a music journalist, writing CD reviews for zines; this was the beginning of her portfolio which propelled her to later have  access to interviewing bigger and more important bands. Mar served as an editor for a variety of magazines. She later landed her own segment on the Good Day L.A. morning show which she grew up watching: she considers it a dream come true. Mar talks about how she was in charge of different tasks: field reporting, production, and standing in front of the camera and how these different roles allowed her to explore her many different talents.Mar talks about what inspired her to launch Homegirl Talk: she wanted to create a safe space for girls and women to be authentic, to talk about their real feelings. As a third generation Mexican-American, she envisioned a platform where she could connect women of all backgrounds and colors, and where the content would celebrate women's successes. Mar invites anyone wanting to start their writing career to start by pitching Homegirl Talk for a byline.Mar tells us how she met so many funny people over the years and how important it is to find happy moments in life, and just have fun! We need to find happy moments and enjoy them.To learn more about Mar, follow her on Instagram, visit her website or check out the Homegirl Talk Instagram and website.Interested in learning more about Pitchin’? Follow me on Instagram or book a  Discovery Call here.

Today’s guest is Theresa Christine, freelance travel writer, podcast host, and photographer. With bylines in outlets such as Lonely Planet, Forbes, LaPalme Magazine, Huffington Post, Insider and many others, Theresa writes about topics spanning from global women’s issues, to interesting locals, couples’ travel, design, festivals like Burning Man, entrepreneur and small business profiles, and more. In short, Theresa helps national travel publications tell the lesser-known, unexpected, and touching stories of a given location.Highlights:Theresa explains how she initially found her way into freelance writing: she started out blogging about travelling as a hobby and then slowly but surely it became her full time jobIn order to be a freelance writer, it’s not necessary to have a journalism background: as long as you have great writing skills and know how to pitch and catch an editor’s attention, you’re good to go!Thanks to her incredible work,Theresa has landed incredible placements such as Lonely Planet, Forbes, and many others and she reveals how she managed to get those,When pitching an editor, it’s key to rely on the previous content they published, to make sure that what you’re talking about is truly aligned with what they are looking forTheresa gets pitched everyday, and she reveals her personal preferences when being pitched that are extremely applicable to anybody who wants to pitch someone in the best way possible. Aside from freelance writing, Theresa also is the host of “The Wild and Curious Podcast”, an intersectional feminism travel and culture podcast, which allows people to experience the culture of a place through the eyes of different women. To learn more about Theresa, reach her at her website, follow her on Instagram or check out “The Wild and Curious Podcast”Interested in learning more about Pitchin’? Follow me on Instagram or book a  Discovery Call here.

Download Podcast TranscriptBeauty comes in all shapes, sizes and shades: this is what today’s guest strongly advocates for and believes! Nimi Fafowora is the founder and owner of The Beem Box: a beauty subscription box for black, Indigenous and people of color. As seen in various media outlets, including Elle, Cosmo, and Cratejoy, Nimi wears many hats as the owner of The Beem Box, overseeing acquisition, supply chain, sales, strategic planning, and of course PR! Nimi started The Beem Box to create a community that admires and acknowledges those who are often left out of the beauty conversation, and to provide well-suited makeup products for deeper and darker skin tones. We talk about inclusive conversations and much more.Highlights:Inside the beauty community, a lot of brands provide and create a wide variety of makeup products but deeper and darker skin tones are often left out.The company that Nimi has created, The Beem Box, makes it easier for ladies of color to find the products that fit their skin perfectly.When it comes to the inception of The Beem Box, Nimi takes us back to a time when she was not happy with her day-to-day routine as an engineer. One night, talking with one of her sisters, she realized there was a need in the beauty market for products for women of color and that’s how her amazing product came to life.Nimi describes how some of her biggest press placements (such as Elle, Cosmopolitan and Cratejoy) have helped The Beem Box gain credibility and brand awareness.One of the biggest things that helped the brand to be recognized is the uniformity of the message that they constantly put out there: from its website to its social media posts, the content is appealing and it also comes with a collective, strong message which simply cannot be ignored.Nimi explains that growing up she felt bombarded with beauty standards that did not quite meet the way that she looked. The Beem Box is trying to make it clear that beauty comes in all shapes, sizes, and shades!When it comes to collaborating with other brands, Nimi is especially interested in those which are aligned with The Beem Box’s beliefs: diversity and inclusion as two crucial aspects inside the beauty world.  To learn more about Nimi and The Beem Box, visit her website, Instagram or Facebook Interested in learning more about Pitchin’? Follow me on Instagram or book a Free Consultation here.

Download Podcast TranscriptTV news is known for showing the negative side of our world; but what if that could be different? Today we have two guests on the show who are fighting to change this. Leah Williams and Kelly Woodman partnered up and created the newly launched show – The Golden Hour, a place for relevant and positive news that can leave you with hope for a better tomorrow. Majoring in media writing & television news, Kelly comes from a nonprofit background while Leah comes from a 14-year background that involves working in PR and for award-winning media companies, as well as running her very own presentation consultant business, landing clients such as NASA, Ann Taylor Loft, Gap, and the UN to name a few. Together, they are a dynamic duo who are here to show the good of the world to everyone!Highlights:Leah and Kelly explain how they met during this pandemic (which means they first met virtually!) and how they came up with The Golden Hour.Kelly got her degree and training in media writing and television news a while ago, but she had decided to devote her time to her two kids and being a stay-at-home mom. However, now she’s excited to jump back into the world of reporting with Leah.After graduating from college, Leah started a presentation consulting business in New York City which led to her working with award-winning ad agencies, but because of the lockdown, Leah realized her true passion is to be a journalist and thus decided to launch this project.So many people, organizations, and companies are doing good in our world––but it goes unnoticed. The goal of the Golden Hour is to shine a light on them and give them the attention they deserve.Both Leah and Kelly believe that everyone has a story that deserves and should be told: it’s all about finding the gold in that story.Leah and Kelly outline the preferences they have for being pitched, from which topics they are mostly interested in to where they’d like to be pitched.To learn more about Leah and Kelly, follow them on Instagram or visit their website. Also, the episodes of The Golden Hour can also be seen on YouTube.Interested in learning more about Pitchin’? Follow me on Instagram or book a Free Consultation here.