Last week, the Publicity Club of New York* held one of its media luncheons for New York’s PR community. Some 100 pros turned out to hear from five journalists on the “Workplace” beat.
One of the panelists Penelope Trunk subwayed in from Brooklyn (the best way to travel in the Apple). She was joined on the dais by reporters/columnists/editors from TIME Magazine, Newsday, Working Mother and the New York Post. The club intends to post everyone’s opening remarks on its website in the next week or so.
I wasn’t all that familiar with Penelope’s work, but her bio gives you a sense of how prolific she is: “Penelope Trunk writes about careers. Her column in the Boston Globe is “Climb,” and her “Brazen Careerist” column is syndicated and has run in more than 100 publications including USA Today and the Wall St. Journal online. Trunk’s forthcoming book is You Don’t Need a Ladder to Get to the Top: New Rules for Success (Warner).”
(Another one of the panelists, TIME Magazine’s Lisa Takeuchi Cullen, brought along an advance copy of her new book Remember Me: A Lively Tour of the New (and Improved) American Way of Death, about which Publisher’s Weekly wrote: “Journalist Cullen explores the innumerable ways in which funerals are being personalized, publicized, economized, commercialized, trivialized and, perhaps, humanized.”) Geesh. I’m still working on my career!
Anyway, Penelope’s starting to take her own blog more seriously, and in fact, posted an item on her star turn on the PCNY panel. Overall, the five panelists were unusually receptive to the overtures from PR people, but naturally wary of blatant commerciality. (Other than Ad Age or Brand Week, which journalistic enterprise isn’t?). All required unusual, offbeat, colorful personality-driven workplace trends and anecdotes for their columns and news holes. Surveys are OK, but people-driven (versus client-driven) leads tend to prevail.
PR Penelope Trunk workplace public relations PCNY
* This blogger serves as president of the Publicity Club of New York.