San Antonio natives, Alanna D'Antonio and Natalie Saldaña, are the ladies behind the boutique firm Belle and Bold Public Relations. These 20-something PR owners, have been featured as Women in PR's Publicist of the Day and since starting their firm in 2013 they have quite the growing clientele.
In this interview, the B+B PR duo talk Women in PR, career goals and even Adele!
- Brea: How did you two meet?
Alanna: We first met when I was a freshman in high school and Natalie was a junior. We were originally partnered up as freshman/junior “buddies” based on a school-wide personality test. We both went to a small private Catholic school that wanted the freshman students to have a junior “buddy” so you have someone you can reach out to for help etc.
Natalie: We kept in touch over Facebook with the annual “Happy Birthday” post. It wasn't until last Spring that I reached out to Alanna when I had started doing freelance PR and saw she was as well. We met up for coffee, caught up on what’s been going on over the past few years and decided to collaborate on a client Alanna had.
- B: What do you like most about PR?
Alanna: When we first meet with a client and they list all of their dreams for their business and knowing we are going to help them come to fruition. We both grew up in this industry and it’s a rewarding feeling when you can turn your passion into your business.
Natalie: We truly do it for the client and feel that public relations is one of the best outlets a business can utilize. There is nothing better than word of mouth!
- B: What inspired you to start your firm, Belle and Bold PR?
Alanna:
It happened on accident from our clients we were freelancing on
referring us to more and more clients. It was a ripple effect and we
decided to take a leap of faith and capitalized on the momentum we had
going. We call ourselves “accidental” entrepreneurs because we both had
Follow my blog with Bloglovin Been gone for a minute, but I'm back with... a few updates on the blog. Lol (I hope you got the Lil Kim reference) Between
packing/driving/ to and from Atlanta, job hunting and making the move
for this blog I've been pretty MIA and I apologize.
- As you can see I've moved from Tumblr to Blogger!
Its taken me about a week to tweak different things within the layout and design and I've even learned a few tips about HTML/CSS!! I really wish I had known how customizable Blogger was in my blog "planning" process, but I know now and that's all that matters. (Blog post coming soon)
- Because I've moved to Blogger, I have a new Bloglovin link so follow away, my pretties. (Link at the beginning of post)
- All She Wrote picks
back up tomorrow for Feature Friday with the Belle and Bold PR duo!!!
Thanks for being patient ya'll! #Youdabesttt
Am I the only one who waits until the last minute to write in the subject line for an email? Even when I know what the email is about, I stress about finding the perfect way to write a subject line that sounds interesting enough that the recipient will open the email. Since graduating, I’ve contacted many professionals via email for internships/jobs, advice, informational interviews, etc. and I’ll be the first to tell you that the subject line life is rough.
Thanks to the world wide web I’ve found the tips below to be pretty helpful.
Subject line should say why you’re sending the email. (Cenedella)
“Over-achieving Operating Executive – John Smith” is much more effective than “Responding to job post”.
This may sound obvious, but please, do not send e-mails to the HR department at, say, Amazon with the subject line, or document name, “Application for Amazon job”. They know you’re applying to Amazon, and this makes it easy for your email to get lost or ignored.
Putting your name in your subject line will help the hiring manager, who’s already strapped for time, stay organized. And providing a theme – with just a tiny bit of self-promotion, will remind them why it’s important to read your email.
Keep it short. (Business Insider)
A typical inbox reveals about 60 characters of an email’s subject line, while a mobile phone shows just 25 to 30 characters. With such limited space, eliminate any unnecessary words like “hello” and “thanks,” and get right to the point in about six to eight words.
Avoid CAPITAL letters (AWAI)
Wherever you use them, writing in all caps is usually considered shouting. Plus, they make the text harder to read.
Avoid misleading the recipient (PRDaily)
Want to lose the trust of your recipients immediately and permanently? Lie to them. Your subject line should always match the content of the email. If you’re misleading in your subject line, your recipients will feel duped, killing any chances of them responding to your offer or pitch. Be clear and honest.
If an email subject line doesn’t sound remotely appealing, you may end up sending follow up emails for a few weeks or so. I’m sure no one wants to be the annoying emailer, so hopefully these tips will help you get fast responses.
Do you have any tips for writing a subject line? Leave them in the comments below, I’d love to hear your thoughts.
(photo credit: Inbox Marketer)
Little Miss Tiffany Evans is now a grown woman, ya’ll! I swear she was just 12 like, yesterday. Last month the 20-something began installments to her #TiffanyTuesdays series which will include unreleased tracks from the singer. I’m sure she’s giving fans everywhere a new favorite day of the week.
In her latest installment “Give Me Wings”, she sings about a love who “healed her from the inside out” and “brought her back to life”. Could this song be a ode to her husband? Either way its such a beautiful song and Miss Tiffany’s voice is, well, phenomenal. But hasn’t it always been?
If you haven’t already, check out her previous #TiffanyTuesdays tracks “Footprints" and "Thank God U Lied" but in the meantime press play and listen to "Give Me Wings" below!
(photo credit: Rated RnB)
Susset Cabrera is a public relations professional and blogger behind Miami Beats and Sazon, which features local events, charities and more around the Miami area.
Founded by Susset in May 2010, Peacock Public Relations is a full-service public relations, marketing, events and social media company headquartered in South Florida. The company has established a diverse clientele including professionals and institutions from the retail, music, fashion and entertainment industries.
- Brea: You have a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration. What attracted you to Public Relations?
Susset: Right after graduating from the School of Business at the University of Miami, I ran into my advisor from The Miami Hurricane Student Newspaper (I had worked at the newspaper since freshman year in college). This professor asked me what my plans were “now that I had finally graduated” and I told him I wanted to pursue an MBA. But, he suggested I look into a masters degree in public relations since I was always very social throughout my college years. I personally didn’t know much about the field because they didn’t offer PR classes at the business school. However, once he explained the functions of PR to me, I felt like I had been a publicist without even knowing it. During my time at the newspaper, I pitched my friend’s band to the music editor and they ended up running a full page cover story on their new work. It was definitely one of those “aha” moments for me!
- B: PR students often hear that there is no need to pursue a master’s degree in PR. What made you want to attain your degree in that field?
S: Well, I had the opportunity to pursue a graduate degree and I wanted to focus on a specific industry rather than go for an MBA which is pretty general. Once I learned about PR and it resonated with my interests, I decided that I needed to learn as much about the field as possible. My graduate degree has definitely molded me into an expert in my field and I’m proud of the hard work I had to go through to finally obtain my second advanced degree.
- B: Did you experience any post grad hardships and how did you overcome them?
Last weekend, I attended the Power Plug PR Conference hosted by The Garner Circle. It was a two day conference where speakers gave insight to aspiring publicists on making it in the world of PR.
As attendees trickled into the Georgia State University auditorium, eager to hand out freshly printed business cards, the conference kicked off with an introduction from Nicole Garner of The Garner Circle. Like all fun things, time quickly went by as we heard from featured panelist including: Tanika Gray Valbrun of CNN, Anje Collins of Women in PR/The Luxe PR Group, Davida Selby of Edelman, Angela Watts of 10 Squared PR, Janee Bolden of Bossip and more.
There was a lot of great information shared, from do’s and don’ts of what to send to the media as a publicist to tips on digital storytelling. The panelists definitely covered a wide range of topics and I was happy to be in attendance.
Aside from hearing seasoned PR professionals speak, what I loved about the conference was the positive atmosphere from those attending. I also appreciated each and every one of the panelists who gave honest and encouraging messages to us. It was great to be in an environment where everyone wanted each other to be great, especially given the competitiveness within PR.
Like most conferences, we were encouraged to use a hashtag to tweet about the event. Check out a few of my favorite moments from the conference, via Twitter, below.
