I LOVE Bruce Springsteen. As a born + raised Jersey girl, I grew up with my mom dancing to “Hungry Heart” in our kitchen after dinner. Fourth of July was not the 4th without playing Bruce’s greatest hits on repeat. I’ve lost track of how many Bruce shows I’ve been to.

It’s easy for people to lump the field of public relations into a singular idea. The notion about a PR agency is that they just get good press for their clients (and step in when something goes awry). But there are so many more layers to what we do, and when it comes to working with non-profits, the work gets even more exciting and nuanced than for-profit clients.

As a publicist, I often get asked the question, “What is public relations?” I explain that PR can mean many different things to many different people and entities. The brand of PR I practice is commonly referred to as media relations — the act of pitching a client to a journalist and then securing a placement in the media.

If anything, the pandemic has taught those in the public relations industry that we can fully do our jobs remotely. Client communication switched from in-person to Zoom, and staff meetings were handled the same. In some ways, productivity went up – without clear separation of work/home/work-life balance, many of us found ourselves putting in longer days.