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.

Download Podcast TranscriptToday’s guest is Bri Amaranthus, an Emmy-winning producer and reporter who prides herself on forging relationships, telling stories that create connections, and showcasing her friendly and playful personality. Bri actually started her career during undergrad as an intern with NBC Sports NW and quickly worked her way up within the network, serving in a variety of positions from beat reporter to digital media producer to prime time host and more. Then, after a successful seven-year career with NBC Sports Northwest, she decided to explore Dallas, Texas, and now Bri is currently covering the Dallas Cowboys and Mavericks for Sports Illustrated.Highlights:Bri has always loved sports and has always had a competitive soul; although she loved playing softball as a young girl, she realized that was not going to be the career of her life. Instead, she decided to go for journalism because telling stories and interviewing were her true passions.When Bri was a sophomore in college, she started interning for NBC Sports, which gave her a great opportunity to learn a lot. However, she shortly had the chance to go for a part-time job at the same company and she decided to go for it and she got the job!At NBC Sports NW, Bri carried a 7-year experience where she excelled in different roles as a prime time host, beat reporter, social media manager and digital media producer. After all of this, Bri decided to challenge herself: she moved to Dallas, Texas, where she got her current job at Sports Illustrated.Bri’s job has completely changed because of COVID-19: in a normal context, she would be going to all of the games of the teams as well as the practices, doing interviews and taking amazing shots and videos of the game. However, that’s not currently possible, but she still manages to record some interviews via Zoom.Bri explains how she created content for the Cowboys’ website that got the most views ever, and she highlights the importance of realizing that part of a journalist's job is to create content that gets viewed because it’s a business.Stories that focus on powerful emotions or human connection mostly do well because people empathize with those feelings. Bri dives into two of her favorite stories she got to cover and these are the ones she mostly feels proud of. To learn more about Bri, visit her website or follow her on Instagram.Interested in learning more about Pitchin’? Follow me on Instagram or book a  Discovery Call here.

Download Podcast Transcript On today’s episode we’re talking with Sara Alepin, CEO of Photos From the Harty, 2X podcast host, and CEO of District Bliss Events, a community of ambitious creatives and business owners who want to expand their networks quickly, build their businesses with ease, and just find their people. Sara is a master connector and a cross-community promotions queen! Tune in to hear her best organic community growth hacks, tips on all things collaboration, social proof, and how to make accessible content for your business. Highlights:Sara talks about her journey from getting injured as a photography teacher and not being able to go back to her profession to creating District Bliss and then creating her two podcasts.She discusses the concept behind District Bliss: it’s a community of entrepreneurs and creative small business owners who support each other. She talks about the importance of creating strong community relationships in any business which is often overlooked by many entrepreneurs.Sara says that hosting an event is great PR: getting a business in front of a community is key and collaborating with others who are interested in what you do is also important.She tells how testimonials can really help your business: it’s basically another person selling what you do and really great social proof!For Sara, social media and blogging are two organic tools that have really helped her to spread awareness about her businesses.Understanding the concept of “accessibility made easy”: inclusivity should always be taken into consideration when creating content for a webpage or for a podcast, for example.To learn more about Sara, visit her District Bliss webpage and her Photos From the Hearty webpage. Also, you can listen to her podcast called “The Wedding Dish” here. Want to make your business accessible? Visit MabelyQ.com Interested in learning more about Pitchin’? Follow me on Instagram or book a Free Discovery Call Here.

 Download Podcast TranscriptA former CBS reporter, today’s “Guest Trifecta” is Toni Harrison, the founder and CEO of Etched Communication and Managing Partner and President of the Ten35 Agency. Toni has managed award-winning public relations campaigns for a diverse client roster that includes Fortune-ranked organizations, global consumer brands, governmental entities, and community-based nonprofits. As a former journalist, she also has an in-depth understanding of the 24/7 news cycle and unmatched expertise in helping clients navigate crises and high-profile interviews.Highlights: We discuss Toni’s journey from graduating college to going back and forth professionally between journalism and public relations. Spoiler: her passion for PR won!We talk about how Toni decided to start a business of her own: she created Etched Communication, a PR firm, which then became part of Ten35, a comprehensive communications firm. Toni explains why press releases should actually be called news releases. Also, she gives her opinion on whether the news release concept is dead or not. Toni explains the importance of having a content strategy when using news releases: being methodical and strategic is key. Toni talks about the realities of Pay for Plays and why the blurred lines between PR and advertising are a serious disservice to the industry and consumers.Toni gives out her best advice for cultivating relationships with reporters, writers, and peers.Using our voices and communication skills are key factors in order to progress towards a more inclusive world and we can’t deny it. Toni explains more of this topic in this article. To learn more about Toni, check out her LinkedIn or visit her website.Interested in learning more about Pitchin’? Follow me on Instagram or book a Free Mini PR Strategy Call here.

Download Podcast ScriptComing up with an invention that no one has ever heard of before sounds like a one in a million circumstance, but it’s totally possible! Today’s guest is Georgia McKinney, inventor and founder of Flight Fillow––the reinvented travel pillow. Entrepreneurship was never the goal for Georgia; she was simply solving her own frustrations when she came up with the idea for Flight Fillow. In fact, nowadays she works a full-time corporate job during the day and works to change the way people travel on nights and weekends. Georgia has also been able to successfully DIY PR landing press opportunities with outlets such as WGN, Business Insider, MSN, and many more! Highlights: Georgia details how she came up with the idea of creating her own ingenious product called the Flight Fillow based on a necessity she encountered when traveling.Learning as one goes through the path of PR is totally normal, and mistakes turn into lessons learned. Georgia describes some of the most common mistakes she used to make as soon as she started DYI-ing PR.Georgia discusses the importance of organic PR and how it can move the needle of your business. In Georgia’s case, a radio show where she was featured was a game changer for Flight Fillow.Georgia describes how she applied for Shark Tank and how she made it to the third round. Although she did not get into the show, this was a huge achievement for her.Before getting started with DIY PR, it’s important to think about having different pitching templates based on the person or company you are reaching out to. Personalized pitches tend to be quite effective!To learn more about Georgia, check out her Flight Fillow website and follow her on Instagram.Interested in learning more about Pitchin’? Follow me on Instagram or book a Free Mini PR Strategy Call Here.