Ok real talk…this is a hard blog for me to write. On my content calendar this was listed as “BIDE Recap Post” but, based off recent events, I’ve had to pivot the content quite a bit.

I’ll start by stating the obvious: Things have changed so drastically in the past month that it’s hard to know where to start. In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, social distancing ensued, events were cancelled, business temporarily shuttered and we’ve been ordered to “shelter in place” for the foreseeable future. It’s been a lot to process for me personally but also as an entrepreneur and business owner, I’ve been forced to face some pretty harsh realities I never even imagined a few weeks ago.

For the past four years, I’ve been participating in Cycle for Survival. For those of you who don’t know, it’s an annual fundraiser owned and operated by Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and the leading a nationwide movement to beat rare cancers. Since its inception in 2007, Cycle for has raised more than $208 million and counting.

Did you know? An Estimated 40 million people around the world are being trafficked, and sex trafficking is one of the world’s fastest growing criminal industries. This criminal industry generates $150 billion in illegal profit every year. Currently, human trafficking cases are being reported in every state in the US.

January is Human Trafficking Awareness Month and, in honor of that, I wanted to take the time to share the behind the scenes story of an amazing brand that’s dedicating their entire business to helping this fight…

This year just flew by…Last year at this time I had just started my business, got myself an official LLC, and was deep into branding and website design. I had one client (a HUGE shout out to Matt and Sarah for believing in me before I even had anything to show for myself), was binging every entrepreneur podcast I could find and planning for the whirlwind of a year ahead. Considering this exciting milestone, I thought I’d take the time to reflect and provide some key learnings…

For those of you who don’t know, BIDE Market is Chicago’s first luxury sustainable shopping experience. With hand-selected vendors across a variety of sectors, BIDE showcases the best of sustainability from Chicago and beyond. The entire market is vegan, cruelty-free, eco-friendly, and zero waste, while still serving up Chicago's finest sustainability guidance, clothing, accessories, beauty products, children’s items and homewares.

It’s that time of year again…the season of gifting is upon us and with that, comes a whole slew of gift guides in the PR world. I’m taking a different approach this holiday season and making an effort to gift more consciously this time around.

This time of year, I get pretty sentimental…so, at the risk of being super cliché, I thought I would do a little blog post to highlight what I’m most thankful for this holiday season.

As we approach the end of the year, the conversation for us PR people inevitably turns to trends for the year ahead. From a PR perspective, it always presents a great time for thought leadership and content around what the next year will bring and how the conversation will shift. I’ve had these conversations with my clients in their various fields which got me thinking…what will be the trends in PR in 2020?

I have some very exciting news to share that I’ve been holding out on for quite some time but, now that we’re officially up and running I can share the news… I have a new client in the ever-growing MBPR family: Equilibria!

Last week, we celebrated the official grand opening of the Lena Rose Day Spa. Located in Lincoln Square, the new location nearly doubles the size of the first location, including two treatment rooms, a dedicated classroom for workshops and events, a relaxation area complete with a cozy café and an expanded retail experience. The Lena Rose Day Spa offers the current menu of services in addition to new body treatments including energy work, body scrubs, body wraps and much more.

This past week I hopped on a plane for a very quick 24-hour trip to NYC to see some of my breast friends (pun intended).

October is Breast Cancer Awareness month. Like any survivor, I have mixed feelings about what the media has turned this month into. Instead of focusing on research and action needed, a lot of brands capitalize on the opportunity to boost sales and leverage a tie with Breast Cancer, launch special “pink” products and turn the meaning of the month into nothing more than a PR tactic. Similar to greenwashing, “pinkwashing” makes it extremely difficult to identify the organizations that are really committed to the cause and helping in the fight against breast cancer.

So, this October, I thought I’d take the time to highlight some of my favorite non-profits, in case anyone is looking for a charitable organization to get behind:

The other day I was asked to coffee to chat career advice with a young woman who was looking to make the jump into entrepreneurship. Since starting this business, the question I seem to get all the time is, “how did you know it was the right time to make the jump?” I’ve given this some serious thought over the past few months…

One of the greatest things that has happened to me in the past few years since my diagnosis has been meeting and becoming a part of the Breastie community. These amazing women continue to amaze me with their strength, passion and positivity despite having been dealt a rough hand. And, after becoming more and more involved with them this past, I’m thrilled to announce some exciting news…I’m officially joining the team as a Breastie Ambassador for Chicago

But just like that, BIDE Market was born. It took countless hours of planning, brainstorming and research, but slowly but surely, the ideas started coming together. The cool thing is, the more we reached out, the more positive reinforcement we received. Everyone was so encouraging, expressed how needed this was and how excited they were to be a part of it. BIDE was becoming real and we knew we were onto something big.

This past week, I had the opportunity to attend the Yellow Conference along with MISSIO Hair. For those that don’t know, Yellow conference is a conference for women working hard to make the world a better place. The event brings entrepreneurs, business owners and creatives all in one place for two days of inspirational speakers, workshops etc.

Last week we secured a really cool opportunity for ESP Presents to speak at Coffee Talk, hosted by Presence Agency. For those of you who don’t know, Coffee Talk is a weekly series hosted by various entrepreneurs in Chicago. Topics vary and are selected by the individual speaking, but always discuss more in depth issues pertaining to the entrepreneurial experience overall in hopes to inspire and help others in their journey.

Last month I posted the news about welcoming Lena Rose to the MBPR family and we’ve been off to quite a busy start! I alluded to the fact that I’ve have exciting updates from the brand and I’m thrilled to announce Lena Rose is expanding in Chicago!

This was the title of an event I went to a few weeks ago hosted by Ignite. The event was a Q&A with the one, the only Jonny Imerman. While he needs no introduction, I’ll go ahead and provide a little background here for anyone who is unfamiliar (or who didn’t read my earlier PR profile on him 😊)

I’m thrilled to announce the newest client in the MBPR growing family: Lena Rose Beauty!

For those who don’t know, Lena Rose is the first green beauty boutique and spa in Chicago, focusing on vegan, non-toxic, “farm-to-facial” services and products that are 100% safe for your body.

Ever since I started this little business of mine, I’ve had a lot of questions from people asking me what I actually do. And, while I believe my elevator pitch is on point, there are still a lot of misconceptions around publicists, in particular ones that do the kind of work I do. So, if you’ll humor me, I thought I’d dedicate some time here to go through some things to know before committing to hiring a publicist on behalf of your brand:

It’s been a few months since we officially opened Exchange312, so I thought I’d take some time to share a little about the events we’ve been hosting lately.

Ok, I’m pretty excited to share some pretty big client news that I’ve been hinting at for a while now…

A few months ago, when Parisa and I first met for coffee, she told me about her dreams of creating her very own artisan market. As she explained to me, she had been a part of a lot of markets for Town & Anchor and, although it was always been something she enjoyed, the waste, the unnecessary plastic, and the lack of curation for brands sharing the same values and mission, left her wondering if there was a better way.

I’ve shared a bit on here about Ignite’s community that I’m a part of and this week, I wanted to delve a little deeper into some of the themes and topics we’ve been getting into…

This past weekend I had the opportunity to attend Camp Breastie – the first-ever gathering of more than 500 survivors, previvors, carevivors and thrivers. To put into words what this weekend meant or how it impacted me is close to impossible but here goes….

While I frequently post about the amazing client events and happenings we have going on over here in MBPR land, I realized I haven’t just done a quick update on some of the latest clients I’ve brought on board in the past few months! So, without further ado, here’s some of the latest news…

Last Wednesday, I had the opportunity to attend an event with Renetta McCann, the Chief Inclusion Experience Officer of Publicis Groupe, for a “Candid Conversation” experience as part of the Ignite Community (more on that below). Recognized as one of the leading innovators and most influential executives in the advertising, marketing, and media industries, Renetta shared a refreshingly honest look at what we can all do to learn, change, and grow on our personal and professional journey.

One of my favorite things about working in PR is when I find an opportunity that is such a perfect alignment for my clients. The recent Darling Dinner in Nashville was one of those experiences and I had the pleasure of attending on behalf of MISSIO Hair.

I remember my first meeting with the team at ESP Presents…our half hour meeting quickly turned into a 2 hour conversation and tour of what would eventually become Exchange. Now, let me be clear, it was essentially a pile of rocks but, as Matt and Sarah toured me around the space, their energy and excitement filled the huge empty room and I could see their vision for what this space would become.

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to attend the 3rd annual Hoosier Ball hosted by the Lyon Family Foundation to benefit The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and to celebrate the legacy of founder Robert H. Lyon.