Pitch Perfect: the PR Podcast
Pitch Perfect: the PR Podcast is a show that extends from the popular r/publicrelations subreddit. It features interviews with top PR professionals from various roles, focus areas, and geographies. The podcast aims to provide insights into entering the field, managing a career, and handling the highs and lows of communications work. Topics covered include public affairs, investor relations, tech PR, and internal communications.
Episodes
Ep. 16 - Cynthia McCafferty, President, Hawthorne Strategy Group - Politics to PR, nonprofit work, state of journalism, career management
Cynthia McCafferty is President and CEO of Hawthorne Strategy Group, a Chicago-based PR agency with a wide range of clients and a particular focus on non-profit work for public and para-public agencies. Before joining Hawthorne in 2015, Cynthia spent nearly two decades at FleishmanHillard International Communications in St. Louis, where she served as a senior vice president and senior partner. Cyn
Ep. 15 - Hans Hack, Senior Managing Director, FTI Consulting: Brussels, Public Affairs, Europe
This is the second in a two-parter about public affairs. Hans Hack is a Senior Managing Director and the head of the Brussels office for the public affairs practice at FTI Consulting. Hans' background is in policy making and strategic advocacy and he supports clients facing challenges with governments, regulators and the wider stakeholder environment. Prior to joining FTI Consulting, Hans was
Ep. 14 - Stephen Aaron, Perspective Strategies: Washington, the political divide, getting into public affairs, Atticus Finch and Alabama sharecroppers
Stephen Aaron is the Founder and CEO of Perspective Strategies. He is a public affairs strategist and influence expert with almost twenty years of experience in Washington D.C. transforming the way his clients are understood by elected officials and the general public. With a career that has included stints at top DC public affairs firms, Stephen talked to me about how companies try to get heard i
Ep. 13 - Samantha Flynn, Junipr Public Relations - Starting your own agency, differences between agency and in-house, being young in the business, phone pitching...
Samantha Flynn is president of Junipr Public Relations in Chicago, and has been featured in PR Week, Forbes, The Wrap and Authority Magazine, sharing expertise in best practices in public relations, reputation management, crisis communications, entrepreneurship and the continued advancement of women in the workplace. She and I talked about career progression, including her time as an in-house reso
Ep. 12 - Ron Culp, DePaul University - Ageism, AI, career guidance, academia vs. professionalia, early days of corporate communications, Chicago...
Ron Culp is a Chicago PR legend. Currently the lead of DePaul University's brilliant PR program, he joined DePaul after a long and storied career in politics, corporate communications and agency leadership. Prior to joining DePaul, Ron held senior public relations positions at four Fortune 500 corporations and two major agencies, as partner and managing director of Ketchum’s Midwest offices a
Ep. 11 - Anushka Seth, The British Council - Determination, imposter syndrome, working overseas, the role of comms, learning new things... the list goes on and on
Anushka Seth is the head of communications for the Asia-Pacific region for The British Council, the UK's international organization for cultural relations. Her career has seen her move from her native India to America to pursue education and then career opportunities, moving from the tech to the financial industry and then to crisis communications, then returning to India to work with a top a
Ep. 10 - Dale Curtis, Public Affairs, DC, and Truth and Facts
Dale Curtis is the founder and head of Dale Curtis Communications in Washington D.C, one of the very best boutique communications, public relations and public affairs firms in the city. He's a voice of normalcy and moderation in a city that is, certainly increasingly, anything but. A former journalist and White House communications staffer, we discussed his work, the post-facts world we live
Ep. 9 - Katie Pierini, Mindset Agency - Loving your job, integrated programs, women in PR
Katie Pierini is the founder of Mindset Agency in greater Los Angeles, a boutique agency at the leading edge of understanding how integrated communications is done today. Katie herself is a powerhouse, there's no other word to describe her: from her start in tech PR in Chicago to helping build and run a major agency office in San Diego to launching her own operation, she is an amazing combina
Ep. 8 - Noah Dye, Spoken Voice PR - Overwork and the challenges of the agency model, managing career crises, state of comms, business development
Noah Dye is the principal at Spoken Voice PR, a tech-focused communications boutique, after having been EVP of LEWIS PR, one the top mid-sized agencies worldwide. Noah is a battler, and a competitor, and someone who is relentless about his work, his clients and his career. We spoke about the challenges of the agency model both in terms of what it delivers to clients and what it demands of its peop
Ep. 7 - Jackson Wightman - Proper Propaganda - Tech PR in an age of AI search and optimization
Jackson Wightman is the head of Montreal agency Proper Propaganda, which specializes in consumer tech PR and marketing. A prolific contributor to LinkedIn and author, Jackson is especially informative on the topic of conducting PR campaigns with the specific aim of optimizing search results on AI platforms (GEO). We talked about fragmentation of media and reevaluating which platforms matter, AI an
Ep. 6 - Morgan McLintic, Firebrand Communications - Tech PR, being an entrepreneur, switching countries, today's market
Morgan McLintic is CEO of Firebrand Communications in San Francisco and one of the most experienced technology marketers and PR people, after having run US operations for a global agency before striking out on his own. As a brit who crossed over to working in the United States, he also brings a unique perspective. He and I discussed his career path, what works (and doesn't) in PR today, deali
Ep. 5 - Chris Kettmann, DGA Group - Investor relations
Chris Kettmann is a partner at DGA Group, a global communications and public affairs consultancy, where he helps lead the Investor Relations and Financial Communications practice areas. He and I discussed how to get into IR, what the qualifications are and what the mindset needs to be, some trends in investor communications, and the state of affairs for areas like ESG (environmental, social and go
Ep. 4 - Kelly Capizzi, Lincoln Financial - Communications in the financial industry, managing your career, work-life balance
Kelly Capizzi Herring is Vice President, Corporate Communications at Lincoln Financial. The focus of the interview is about the college experience, and how to go about choosing a path, trying to get the most out of it, and lining yourself up for that first job. We also talked about finding areas of interest in various industries, the specific challeges of tech and financial services, managing inte
Ep. 3 - Paul Nolan, The Hoffman Agency - Tech PR, starting your own agency, neurodivergence and its impact on work
Paul Nolan is the co-Managing Director for the UK of The Hoffman Agency and the Chief Operating Officer for CCGroup, a London-based tech PR agency. Paul takes us through his exerience as an entrepreneur, partnering to buy the agency relatively early in his career and then the work of building and growing it. A big part of our discussion was on the topic of neurodivergence, specifically ADHD, and m
Ep. 2 - Alexandra Priola, FTI Consulting - Internal communications, career management, work-life balance
One question PR people are always asking themselves is, "How do I get out of the grind of media relations and pivot to a role that uses my communications strengths?" Alexandra Priola is an answer to that question: she's a Managing Director in the People and Change practice at FTI Consulting, one of the world's foremost consulting firms, and a global leader in employee communica
Ep. 1 - Harlan Teller... Legend
Harlan Teller is a legend in the PR business. Harlan led the corporate communications function at Burson Marsteller for America, for Hill & Knowlton worldwide, for Financial Dynamics (then FTI), and then was an Executive Director at APCO. Switching to the education sector, he's been C-level in comms and marketing for Northern Illinois University, Northern Arizona University, and now Centr
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