Tag: Member Stories

Meet May Robinson, Director of Marketing of Mission Partners

Background

May has more than a decade of experience in public relations, marketing, and event planning within both agencies and in-house for small businesses and large corporations. She is currently the Director of Marketing for Mission Partners, a woman-owned, women-led B Corporation that provides social impact strategic communications for purpose-driven organizations, including nonprofits, associations, boards and social enterprises. She leads their internal marketing strategy and works closely on the growth of leadership development events and programs to encourage people in their community to live and work through an equity lens.

Role at Mission Partners 

May is excited about her current role at Mission Partners because it’s an opportunity to merge her marketing, strategic planning, and leadership skills with causes she is passionate about. She loves working toward racial equity and encouraging clients to view their communications through an equity lens. The biggest challenge is finding the time to execute on everything the organization would like to accomplish. As PR professionals, a challenge could be “turning off” work and finding the appropriate work-life balance. As a mom of twins, May simultaneously works on growing her career and her organization.

Why WWPR

May joined WWPR because she felt the need to join a community of like-minded professionals after returning to the D.C. area after 13 years.  She wanted to continue to stay abreast of local and national PR and communications trends, seek professional development opportunities all while meeting new friends since she was “new again” to the area. She’s attended dozens of networking events throughout her career, but she found WWPR members to be immediately welcoming. She has already cultivated some genuine connections with people after attending just one event and has been referred to other useful community resources through a member. She’s excited to become more involved in WWPR in the year ahead.

Trends in PR

May keeps a pulse on trends through Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), WWPR professional development events, Social Media Marketing World Conference and LinkedIn articles. She knows there is a lot of intersection between PR, marketing, and advertising, and it’s become important for PR professionals to understand this and utilize digital marketing and social media as major tactics in their strategic planning. May started her career in traditional media relations then went to social media and digital marketing. She has seen the younger generations gain purchasing power and the way they consume messaging is important, therefore it’s important for organizations strategies to incorporate more concise content that is rich with photos and videos.

Community Involvement

May is an adjunct communications professor at her alma mater, Towson University. This role is important to her because as an undergrad, her favorite professors were those that taught from real-world, practical experiences in the field vs. those who only taught theory and from textbooks.

She plans to join Leadership Montgomery and the Black and Brown Coalition for Educational Equity and Excellence. Growing up and currently living in Montgomery County, May also plans to raise her children there.  Leadership Montgomery is an excellent organization that will help her get a deeper understanding of her local community and where she can make a big impact. As a multiracial immigrant mother of two multiracial children, she values educational equity and wants to be part of the conversations the Black and Brown Coalition is having with local legislators and Montgomery County Public Schools on their plans for racial equity.

She is a current member of the Montgomery County Parents of Multiples, so she connects with other moms to schedule playdates with her children. Raising twins has been a unique experience, so connecting with other moms of multiples on their struggles and tips has been helpful.

Favorite Things to Do

Outside of organizations, May enjoys spending time with friends and family, reading, listening to podcasts, hiking, working out, trying new restaurants, traveling, going to the beach, and visiting friends and family in San Diego. For 2020, she is prioritizing self-care, family and non-work activities since she is a known workaholic. Being back in the area and “new again” she sees how much it has changed since she left. She is getting to know the area again through local family-friendly events at the Smithsonian museums, National Harbor, Pike and Rose, and the Rio. She enjoys D.C. brunches with girlfriends and exploring new restaurants. When it gets warmer, she’d love to explore more hikes around Great Falls and Rock Creek Park. Learn more about May on Mission Partner’s website and LinkedIn and be sure to welcome her back to the area.  

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Tesia Williams, Director of Communications at the Department of
Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS OIG)

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Tesia received a BA in mass communications from Hampton University in Virginia. As an undergraduate student, she didn’t immediately know her path or major, but ultimately settled on communications because she enjoyed writing and storytelling. While interning at a non-profit and large PR firm and her positive experiences, she realized public relations was the career field for her.  After graduating, Tesia worked in communications for the Department of the Army and started writing news articles for the post newspaper and planning community relations events. Later, she went on to work at the Pentagon and was in the building on 9/11. The very next day, she was back at work responding to media inquiries from outlets around the world. Textbooks didn’t prepare her for how to deal with that level of crisis and response and there wasn’t a lot of time to think or feel. She just kept moving because the mission was so much bigger than them. 

Tesia’s desire to do something greater than herself led to multiple positions throughout the Army– telling the story of warfighters and recounting the contributions of the nation’s top engineers at the US Army Corps of Engineers. She has since transitioned from working with warfighters to health care fraud fighters in her current role as Director of Communications at the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS OIG). She loves what she does because her work touches the lives of nearly every American. Working with smart, outgoing professionals (lawyers, law enforcement officers, auditors, evaluators and executives) brings her joy. These people are dedicated to the mission of the organization, specifically protecting the health and welfare of HHS program beneficiaries. It’s hard not to get behind that mission and the best part is, she gets to do it as a team every day. Identifying new and innovative ways to explain their work and why it matters to the public can be challenging. Reports are often complex and highly technical, but impactful. Creating an interesting product when you have simplified complex information, without changing the meaning can be tough.

Joining WWPR

Tesia joined WWPR to expand her network and be of assistance to women who are just starting out in public relations. She has had a number of mentors, advisors, and cheerleaders throughout her career and believes that now is the time to pay it forward to help others in PR.

Keeping up on PR trends

Tesia reads articles published by PRSA and HBR. However, she obtains most information by reading books on human and social behavior, such as Freakonomics and The Tipping Point. She believes that when you understand the why behind one’s actions or the reason some ideas spread and others flop, you can better shape and target your message/communications products. Also, just visiting online platforms to see what’s trending (e.g. videos, graphics, etc.), helps and she steals ideas shamelessly.

In the government sector, Tesia sees more risk-taking. With so many things vying for their attention, it’s tough to join or be a part of the conversation when products are five or ten years behind the curve. Therefore, she sees a more modern approach to graphics, web design and storytelling and of course they’re not going overboard; her office is still good stewards of the taxpayer’s money. 

Serving the Community

Tesia is on the board of Shepherds Table, which provides meals, clothes and other basic services to the homeless and people in need. This organization is vital to the community and relies on the time, talent and financial support of so many donors and volunteers. She is fortunate to be in a position to assist clients and ensure programs like these endure.

Outside of the office

Tesia is a mother of three girls and a dog, who also happens to be a girl, so her husband is often the odd man out. They love to unwind after a hectic work and school week and have a movie night, dance-offs, and binge watching Nailed It. Sundae Sunday’s has become a tradition in their household and they look forward to making a mess of toppings on their favorite ice cream.

 Words to live by

Tesia was told early on her career to be flexible and have a thick skin. She has never forgotten that bit of advice and it has served her well. 

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Public Relations guru Stephanie is excited to be a WWPR member and
Co-Chair of the Professional Development group 

Background in Public Relations

Stephanie currently works at The Reis Group, a boutique public relations agency that focuses solely on health, healthcare, and social issues. She’s been with the firm for seven years since graduating from college with her degree in communications (after doing a million internships!) The most challenging part of her job is making tough decisions—whether it’s a recommendation to a client or a response to a reporter—and avoiding typos while doing everything as quickly and efficiently as possible! The most exciting part of her day is always different—it could be writing a blog about a patient’s personal health story, pitching reporters on a breaking news story, brainstorming creative ideas for a campaign launch, or securing a keynote presentation for a client’s CEO.

Becoming a WWPR Member

Stephanie joined WWPR several years ago to connect with and learn from other PR professionals. She believes WWPR is a really strong organization and the leadership has always come across as very thoughtful, well-organized, and resourceful.  She joined the professional development committee to get more involved, help out, and meet new people. She believes the saying is true, “you get out of it what you put into it”. The more involved she has become in the organization, the more valuable it has been.

Keeping up on PR trends

To keep up on the latest PR trends, Stephanie joined Michael Smart’s “Inner Circle” group, a training and coaching program for PR professionals, that focuses heavily on media relations. Listening in on his monthly webinars and reading his weekly emails helps her keep up with trends. He is always exploring new strategies or new ways to approach tried and true tactics. In addition, she attends PR events and award ceremonies, like the Platinum PR Awards Gala in NYC last month, which helps spark ideas for future campaigns.

Trends in Public Relations

Stephanie sees two trends in public relations: data and owned content.  She believes data is increasingly important for news coverage, and it’s expanding beyond customized surveys and published research. Organizations can analyze their internal data to create news nuggets. Secondly, she sees that as publications cut their news staff in half, and earned media coverage is harder to place, it’s important to pay attention to owned content and think creatively about how to break through the noise to engage your target audiences.

Favorite Things to Do

Stephanie loves FOOD and exercise. She chronicles her foodie adventures on Instagram (@DC_licious), and recently ran her first 10-mile race, the Army 10-miler. She also love ClassPass (great variety in workouts!), checking out fun events or new restaurants in the city, and traveling as much as possible (this year was her “year of the bachelorettes”).

New Role with WWPR

Stephanie is excited to dive into her new role as the Co-Chair of Professional Development with WWPR! Their committee is brainstorming events for next year, so feel free to share any ideas or suggestions! Stephanie.Wight@WWPR.org.

Kate Perrin, CEO of PRofessional Solutions, LLC, Past President of WWPR is responsible for chairing the first ever Women of the Year (WOY) awards committee.

How she got started in PR

WWPR has been an integral part of Kate’s professional life. She first majored in print journalism at AU and wrote for an environmental group before completing a Masters in PR. Kate joined WWPR in 1987 when it was a new, fledgling women’s professional group and immediately she found it stimulating, inspiring and fun. It has continued to benefit her at every stage of her career.

How Woman of the Year (WOY) Award Was Started

One of the most valuable career opportunities Kate had was chairing the first PR Woman of the Year luncheon in 1990. WWPR President Adrienne Bush called and said the Board wanted to celebrate 10 years since WWPR’s founding meeting by creating an annual award to recognize women of achievement in the profession and asked her to chair it. Kate had the good fortune to assemble committee members who were creative, hard-working and terrific. They developed the bones of the program that continues to this day: nominations from which three finalists are picked; a fund-raising raffle to support their pro bono client; an elegant luncheon with a keynote speaker; and announcing the winner at the luncheon.

She has been thrilled to see subsequent committees build upon that foundation and make WWPR’s PR Woman of the Year award luncheon a stellar event and a prestigious award. It is her absolute favorite business event and she has never missed one!

Challenges and Trends in PR

Twenty-five years ago, Kate started PRofessional Solutions, LLC, which is still the only public relations temporary staffing agency in the DC area. She loves knowing client assignments and what is happening in the industry all the time. It’s clear that social media and technology keep changing how PR is practiced, news gathered and disseminated, information is accessed and communications functions are staffed. As the lines between marketing, public relations and advertising are blurred, the biggest challenge is finding the best PR temps to match clients’ needs. She stays current through WWPR and PRSA, business networking groups programs and events and reading business news.

Outside the Office

Kate is an active member of the Smithsonian Women’s Committee, the Women’s Advisory Board of the Girl Scout Council of the Nation’s Capital, and the American University Library Council.

Why join WWPR?

“I encourage others to join WWPR all the time. You’ll make connections, learn, develop new skills, expand your network and have the chance to share own abilities. WWPR is a bargain, and the value of membership is immeasurable.”

Favorite things to do in the DMV area?

DC is rich with activities and Kate has been taking yoga for 20 years, has season tickets to the ballet, loves theater, is a museum junkie, and enjoys lots of dining out with friends.