Ms. InterPReted

The past few years have been tumultuous in the journalism industry. From shrinking newsrooms, fragmentation, audience mistrust, COVID and other global crisis. Muckrack conducted its annual survey of more than 1,000 journalists to assess the state of journalism in 2022. Greg Gallant is the co-founder and CEO of Muckrack and speaks on the company's annual report. Greg talks about his career as an en...

Melanie White, executive vice president of Virgin Experience Gifts, shares insights from the experiential gifting field about where the market is headed and how Virgin experience gifts is leading the way in the U.S. market. Among her remarks: Melanie left her successful career in the fashion industry to find her "why" and search for something more meaningful. She talks about how providing curated...

Allison Lester -- director of media relations for Fletcher Marketing PR -- shares insights on transitioning from the pressures and challenges of years working in a media newsroom environment to the front lines of PR strategy and media relations execution for a PR firm. Among her remarks: How deadline-driven environments of the newsroom differ from deadlines / workload in PR Ways in which lifestyle...

Business development for any company (or fund-raising and audience engagement in the non-profit sector) can be driven extensively through sharing the heart, soul and mind of the brand. Podcasting has emerged as one of the top conduits for sharing brand voice in the competitive marketplace of ideas, through owned-media platforms that brands can directly curate and control. Chris Hill shares with Ke...

In this episode, Kelly and Mary Beth discuss their PR Industry Predictions for 2022, including: How the PR agency business model's pandemic-driven shifts have impacted the industry Why the U.S. PR industry is on a particularly troublesome ethics track -- much of it self-inflicted and further exacerbated by apathy ... particularly in light of disappointing choices and lack of truth / transparency b...

When crises strike, having a plan is essential -- and most strategists know that rule-of-thumb.  But what about a crisis that unfolds in real-time, right before one's eyes (and the eyes of hundreds, thousands or even millions of stakeholders), when seconds count and the cameras are on? Kelly and Mary Beth discuss some recent events and several new pieces of industry data that PR pros and client te...

On this special Holiday Season episode of #MsInterPReted , Kelly and Mary Beth share special moments from past episodes of the podcast with: Marshall Ramsey -- on how some dark moments in his life (from personal loss to being cut to part-time and losing his benefits at his former employer in the wake of his cancer battle) resulted in his " It's the Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me " attitude, t...

In this episode, Woolf McClane's Chad Hatmaker shares: What he's seen employers and management teams do right (or wrong) since the pandemic hit on the employee relations front Specific aspects of emerging employment law that were brought to bear significantly in the past 20 months and that should be tracked going forward, in order for companies to remain compliant yet competitive How employee / fr...

In this conversation, Travis Parman shares his insights about: How people sometimes "fall into public relations" from different fields ... and how he has evolved his ideas about what constitutes PR expertise as a former self-confessed "public relations purist";  Why his favorite Abraham Lincoln quote that he learned in high school helped chart his academic and career course toward public relations...

In this episode during PRSA's #EthicsMonth , Mary Beth West interviews close colleague Susan Hart -- a past president of the PRSA Nashville Chapter , a past PRSA Nashville Chapter Hercules Award honoree , and a now-former / resigned PRSA College of Fellows member .  Susan voluntarily discontinued her 35-year membership in PRSA in 2018, in disgust with PRSA's National leadership cultural shift , af...

Recorded on #WorldPRDay (#WPRD), Kelly and Mary Beth welcome one of the PR industry's most prominent and prolific thought leaders, Gini Dietrich of Spin Sucks , an entire learning platform that Gini founded and her team manages, in service to the industry, including consulting work for fellow agency owners and entrepreneurs. Gini opens up about her passion points for the industry, on both the posi...

On this #SocialMediaDay2021 episode, Chris McCarty of Knoxville-based law firm Lewis Thomason delves into the larger issues at hand for companies/organizations and individuals alike in managing the good, the bad and the law, when it comes to leveraging the power of social media in productive and legally compliant ways . Kelly and Mary Beth set the stage by providing a flashback to a November 2020...

AlexAnndra Ontra of Shufflrr discusses the art of the presentation: How to lead with storytelling and more conversational approaches Why presentations are getting more play in the marketing mix Ways in which presentations must keep ever-evolving “in a continual loop” and not remain static over time How it is that some 70% of marketing assets are not used (a data point from 3M) – representing an in...

During his second visit to the “Ms. InterPReted” Podcast, Francis Ingham shares his latest insights about the state of ethics in the public relations industry, amid real-time issues that have impacted Fletcher Senior Strategist Mary Beth West , MPRCA, who now is serving a second term as PRCA Ethics Council Co-Chair . Susan Hart, MPRCA , guest-hosts alongside Fletcher Marketing PR CEO Kelly Fletche...

In this chat with Kelly Fletcher and Mary Beth West, Blount Partnership President / CEO Bryan Daniels, CEcD, discusses: The old versus new model of marketing rural communities successfully Ways in which Blount County, TN has differentiated itself as a top quality-of-life community  Blount County's true partnership -driven approach, with collaboration and cooperation among municipalities, elected o...

1.      Getting the Research Right 2.     Applying the Critical Eye 3.     Capturing What’s Wrong and What’s Right 4.     Committing to Communication 5.     Involving Your Team at Every Level Kelly and Mary Beth explore these five essential elements of undertaking a meaningful and effective strategic planning initiative -- whether for an upcoming fiscal year, for a new R&D effort / product lau...

Leslie Beale of Profusion Strategies advises companies and organizations on internal development and workforce needs. As just one aspect of her work, Leslie help clients build awareness of how they are perceived in the workplace… And she helps build strategies to address their weaknesses and highlight their strengths -- very much in alignment with the strategic work Fletcher Marketing PR delivers...

Mike Ragsdale graduated with a degree in communications from The University of Alabama, and later earned his master’s degree in advertising and public relations. After graduating, Mike enjoyed success as an early pioneer of the internet before working as CMO of a healthcare IT company. He and his wife Angela have four children. Follow the 30A brand on: Website:  https://30a.com/ On Facebook: https...

Nora Briggs has a degree in finance and accounting and an Executive Master’s Degree in Global Strategic Communications. She has previously worked in construction management with both Jacobs and Hilton Worldwide and as Chief Data Officer and Vice President of CoreLogic. Nora has also volunteered for quite a few charitable organizations including The Salvation Army and Habitat for Humanity. Dr. Mari...

FOLLOW FLETCHER MARKETING PR: Discover Fletcher Marketing PR: https://www.fletchermarketingpr.com/   Follow Fletcher Marketing PR on Twitter: @FletcherPR  Follow Kelly Fletcher on Twitter: @KDfletcher  Follow Mary Beth West on Twitter: @marybethwest 

Kelly and Mary Beth wrapped up Season 3 of "Ms. InterPReted" with a retrospective of chats with Q3-4 2020 guests.  FOLLOW FLETCHER MARKETING PR: Discover Fletcher Marketing PR: https://www.fletchermarketingpr.com/   Follow Fletcher Marketing PR on Twitter: @FletcherPR  Follow Kelly Fletcher on Twitter: @KDfletcher  Follow Mary Beth West on Twitter: @marybethwest 

"I was a girly-girl," says Sarah Merrell -- VP of Fletcher Marketing PR -- of her initial trepidation about embracing motorcycling as a hobby, alongside her husband, Jud, an experienced rider. She may have felt intimidation as a new rider at first, but Sarah Merrell now commands a social media following well into the tens of thousands. How did she do it?... and how does she continue growing and ma...

In this episode, the University of Tennessee's Dr. Candace White (Twitter: @trasversa ) shares insights about her latest paper published by Public Relations Review, co-authored by Brandon Boatwright of Clemson University. Candace White / Bio ( source: https://adpr.utk.edu/profile/candace-white )  Candace L. White is a professor of public relations in the School of Advertising and Public Relations....

After a full career of global experience and noted success, followed by 10 years owning her own namesake designer handbag and accessories brand that's grown to a global business, Patricia Nash thought she had it all figured it out... and that nothing could phase her. Then 2020 came along, and the COVID-19 Pandemic hit. In the wake of industry chaos and an historic upending of the global retail sec...

Follow on social media: Rax Lakhani: LinkedIn -- https://www.linkedin.com/in/raxlakhani/ Twitter -- @RaxLakhani  https://twitter.com/RaxLakhani   PRCA -- @PRCA_UK  https://twitter.com/PRCA_UK    PRCA Diversity Network -- @PRCA_Diversity  https://twitter.com/PRCA_Diversity PRCA Race and Ethnicity Equity Board (REEB) -- @PRCA_REEB  https://twitter.com/PRCA_REEB Fletcher PR: https://www.fletchermarke...