Pitch Perfect: Emily R. Pellerin, Communications Consultant.

Emily R. Pellerin, Communications Consultant.

Brooklyn.

LinkedIn & Website

Frampton Co, Colony, Female Design Council, Le Whit, Volker Haug Studio.

Doing your own PR can be a daunting task. You can disarm PR by simply leaning into what you’re most passionate and confident about in your practice and focusing all of your communications on this point. 

Through the Hello Human community, I got a lead that a New York Times reporter was working on a super specific interior design story. I was lucky that my client was quick to the draw with producing some new creative assets, and that their work spoke for itself visually: we secured the hero photo and an interview for the story, and forged a new relationship with an influential reporter. It was massively rewarding!

Haste can result in poor judgement. I once drafted a pitch email to a writer I had an existing relationship with, but held off on sending it till I got something clarified from the client. Weeks later I returned to the draft and hit send. This was around the time of a national election, and socially/politically, the whole country was tense. A crucial lesson that I learned was that because my pitch had been drafted in a slightly different moment in time, the tone of the email was completely off. The writer very quickly let me know how inappropriate it sounded, and was clear about their disappointment in me. I hold that criticism close. Not only did it reflect how haste can result in poor judgment, but it also reminded me that neither my nor my clients’ work exists in the veneer of any sort of design-world bubble. It was a really crucial lesson.

“Professional relationships” are still relationships. Treat them with just as much people-centeredness as you would any other! Be respectful of people’s time, ask questions about their needs, and think holistically about their work, making sure you get to know their output before diving in with an introduction.

My researcher brain votes print – there’s nothing like the tactility of the pages, the impact of something bound, something cataloged and on-the-shelf. My publicist brain has to go with digital, though. The impact (despite existing in a very noisy space) is higher in terms of how many people get to engage with what you’re putting out there. 

Through a client, I learned about this handbook Proposals for the Feminine Economy. It introduced me to a brilliant new mindset on the capitalist superstructure that our industry, and thus our work, operates within, and how we can shift ways-of-doing-business more steadfastly into the same lane as our values. (For those who identify as female or otherwise!)