I started my career in PR and marketing in London’s designer fashion industry, and I loved it. Then my first son was born, and a few months later we moved to New York for my husband’s job. My second son came a couple of years after that. Being home with my boys was the best thing — but I dreaded the question "what do you do?" I’d honestly never thought I could go back to work; every environment I’d known was too demanding to leave room for family life. When both boys were in school, I started helping a small local business with social media and marketing, and that was my stepping stone. I decided to try it on my own, focusing on small businesses — and I found the gap.

What makes it different: I don’t sell open-ended retainers or generic "PR services." Everything is a short, sharp, fixed-price campaign built around a moment that matters — a launch, an announcement, a new collection, gift guide season. And every campaign is organic pitching to real editors.

My first clients came from people who’d seen my work up close — the small local business I helped when I was getting back into work, and then the founders they introduced me to. I no longer had my connections from London or a recent portfolio to point to, so every early client was taking a leap of faith on me, and I earned the next one by delivering for the last one.

Today it’s still mostly the same: referrals, relationships, and testimonials. Some of my best partnerships have come from a fellow founder making an introduction because she believed in what I do. I also find brands through LinkedIn and Kickstarter and reach out directly. But I don’t believe a business like mine can be built primarily on social media. Trust is the product, and trust grows person to person.

The decision was to productize. Early on I was selling "PR services" the way agencies do — open-ended, vague, retainer-shaped — and it wasn’t working for the businesses I wanted to serve. So I rebuilt everything into short, named campaigns with clear prices and deadlines: a Holiday Gift Guide Sprint, a Launch Push. That one decision changed the whole shape of the business — it’s how I market, how I sell, and how I deliver.

The mistake was underpricing myself. When I was re-entering the workforce after years at home, part of me felt like I was starting over rather than bringing years of experience, and I said yes to work that drained me at rates that didn’t respect what I brought.

Two shifts. First, AI has flooded editors’ inboxes with generic pitches — which, honestly, has made a genuinely personal, targeted pitch stand out more. Second, the media landscape keeps shrinking and speeding up: smaller newsrooms, commerce editors running gift guides with affiliate links, and media contacts who move jobs. Every campaign needs a freshly verified media list, a real moment, and a sample when it counts. My customers have changed too — they expect transparency. They’ve been burned by vague retainers and want to know exactly what they’re buying, what it costs, and when it happens. That’s why everything I offer has a clear price and timeline. Overall, my business got more personal and more specific.

Do first: build it around your life, not despite it. I spent years assuming work had to look the way it looked in my twenties — all-consuming, family-second — and the business I have now exists because I finally asked what I needed instead. And start before you feel ready; the readiness comes from doing, not from waiting.

Ignore: "fake it till you make it." It does real damage, especially to women starting businesses. My whole practice is built on the opposite — being honest about being small, solo, and specialized. Clients don’t hire me despite that; they hire me because of it. Pretending to be a big agency would have meant competing on their terms. Owning what I actually am let me create my own.