Pitch! Press

Shannon Estrada and Pam Roberts are friends who put their PR savvy together and formed Pitch! Press, a “strategic editorial” PR company that helps companies in the fashion industry get media coverage on a regular basis.

Their clients benefit from their years of combined experience, and Shannon and Pam have a good time in the process.

Shannon graciously offers up some advice about what went into getting Pitch! off of the ground and working with a business partner, and we think you’ll learn a lot from what she shares!

TheCareerCreator.com: What is your “job”? Please tell us a bit about your company and what you sell or what service you provide?

Shannon Estrada: Pam Roberts and myself are publicists in the fashion industry.  We represent designers and brands in the accessory, apparel, beauty and children’s categories.

We created Pitch! because there was a need for an agency that focused their efforts exclusively on securing editorial in the lifestyle, beauty and fashion publications, weeklies, dailies and blogs at an AFFORDABLE monthly rate.  We are not a full service public relations firm, but a strategic, editorial one.  Editorial hits not only increase our clients’ retail sales but wholesale as well.

TheCareerCreator.com: How long have you been in business?

Shannon Estrada: Pitch! has been pitching for five fabulous years.

TheCareerCreator.com: You had a natural interest in ??? that is now the basis of your job?

Shannon Estrada: Pam and I both have public relations backgrounds.  Pam has had a lengthy and hugely successful career in broadcast, as well as running the Fashion Mart here in Los Angeles.  I came from a fashion marketing, branding and public relations background and was sole proprietor of a full service fashion public relations agency prior to launching Pitch!.

For me, editorial: working directly with the editors to get them the product they need, has always been the most fun and most rewarding part of the job.  So, when Pam and I discussed this void in the market for an agency that just, well, pitches, I jumped at the chance to be a part of something new, something needed and something that I love to do.

TheCareerCreator.com: Tell us a little about how you got started…give us a bit of your Once upon a time… What was the turning point where you decided to turn your interest or hobby into a career?

Shannon Estrada: Tenacity has always been a part of my genetic makeup.  Pam’s too.  It has never occurred to us, something ‘couldn’t’ be done.  I moved to Los Angeles 15 years ago with a dream of making movies.  I had always wanted to be in film production but after 2 short years became disenchanted with the industry.

I decided fashion was my true calling (which my entire family responded with a “Duh!”) and jumped from one fast paced industry to another.  I worked on staff at several key Los Angeles fashion companies before the fashion editors themselves urged me to go out on my own and start my first agency.

I have loved being an entrepreneur and Pam has as well.  We work stress-filled, long hours, are committed not only to our business, but to our clients, our contacts and to one another.  She is a terrific business partner to say the least.  Pitch! Press could not exist without her!

TheCareerCreator.com: What were some of the materials or technology you needed to get started on a very basic level?

Shannon Estrada: One of the beauties of Pitch! is that there were no start-up costs.  That is incredibly rare.  We were selling a service where people retained us for our media contacts.

Editors work consistently with publicists they know and like and publicists that make their jobs easier.  So from the start, we had the essence of our business in place.

We made a landing page for our website (www.pitchpress.com), created our name and logo in-house and designated pink as our branded color because it is memorable and recognizable.

TheCareerCreator.com: The best part about creating your own job?

Shannon Estrada: Being your own boss is wonderful.  Both Pam and I have a work-aholic-work-ethic, so as much as we love it, we are tired, needless to say, at the end of our long days.

But it is rewarding, rewarding to work with clients that love and appreciate you and work with editors that love and appreciate you.  We truly care about each of our clients, their businesses and futures as well as our editors.

Some of these fabulous women I have known for 12 years.  We’ve gone from being single to being married to having children.  There really is a bond with so many of the people I work with.  And that is priceless.

TheCareerCreator.com: What’s the toughest hurdle you’ve encountered in creating your own job…and how you overcame it?

Shannon Estrada: The biggest challenge the first couple of years was to learn how to best work together as business partners.  We were a team from day-one, but we work and communicate very differently.  So there were definitely tense times in the beginning.

BUT, we are both very open to constructive criticism and to learning and evolving a business, and as individuals.  I have learned so much from Pam.  So much.  And she from me.  We are a team.  And most importantly we are life long friends.

TheCareerCreator.com: Any words of wisdom or encouragement to anyone wanting to create their own job?

Shannon Estrada: Do what you love.  We as a society have created a rat-race in how we live and work.  If you are going to spend 8 to 10 hours a day at a job, make sure you LOVE it.

TheCareerCreator.com: Any favorite resources you recommend to other entrepreneurs?

Shannon Estrada: In this day and age, it is a necessity to have a professional, branded website.  Everyone Googles everything; it is imperative to have a positive and memorable first impression so invest in your site and evolve it with consistent updates, product, verbiage etc.

More About This Company:
Founders: Shannon Cavanagh-Estrada, Pam Roberts
Company Name: Pitch! Press
Products or service offered: A press service for fashion industry clients seeking ongoing editorial at an affordable monthly rate.
Website: www.pitchpress.com
Additional Contact Information: Editorial Offices: 310.791.0033.
More About Shannon & Pam: Guest Blogger at PRcouture.com and BusyBeeLifestyle.com

Thanks, Shannon for sharing your road to creating your own job with our readers! In addition to being hard workers who are committed to excellence for their clients, they also understand that creating your own job can be lots of fun and a way to build long lasting friendships!

~TheCareerCreator.com

Ellen Christine; Photo by Suzanne DeChillo/The New York Times

Ellen Christine Colon-Lugo is a modern day milliner who hand crafts exquisite hats in her beautiful New York boutique.

Her clients are a wide range of people and, recently, she designed Kentucky Derby hats for the Real Housewives of New York’s Bethenny Frankel.
Though she comes from a crafting family, Ellen Christine has always been serious about design, and took a well-informed educational path to creating her own job as a milliner.
She approaches life and business with a “no fear” attitude, and that’s part of what has made her so successful as an entrepreneur.
Read on to learn more…

TheCareerCreator.com: What is your “job”? Please tell us a bit about your company and what you sell or what service you provide?
Ellen Christine: Ellen Christine Millinery makes hats for people in all walks of life: cancer patients, movie stars, celebrities, naked heads everywhere, male or female.  We restore antique millinery, and try to fix hats people love and want to maintain.

TheCareerCreator.com: How long have you been in business?
Ellen Christine: I’ve been working in one way or another since I was 12 and my first boyfriend formed a band and needed wardrobe. Until 1995 I was to the trade exclusively, with some custom clientele. The shop in Chelsea opened in 1995 as a retail and wholesale venue.

TheCareerCreator.com: You had a natural interest in ??? that is now the basis of your job?
Ellen Christine: My Girl Scout troop needed one more badge to beat out our buddies, and all of our mothers/grandmothers sewed.  Quite naturally, we got the sewing badge with our projects, and my fate was sealed.  My girlfriend Joanne and I had always been doing some type of entrepreneurial activity: we made and sold potholders one year.

We were always crafting at home, too. My Mother was an artist, and crocheted miniature objects.  My grandmother was a knitting whiz.  We cooked, we decorated, we painted.  My background was inculcated and cultivated, and indeed, encouraged, even though the business of the family was medical (doctors, nurses).

TheCareerCreator.com: Tell us a little about how you got started…give us a bit of your Once upon a time. What was the turning point where you decided to turn your interest or hobby into a career?
Ellen Christine: See # 3 for some of the background.  And I resent the word “hobby”.  This is my life, not a career, not a past time.  I’ve never had a notion that it was other than what I do.  When nature takes it’s course, and you have the good sense to listen to your talent, it’s a given.

My Mom had tutors for me since I was 6 years old.  Friends taught me to draw, paint. Private riding lessons, to which I went dressed in full Sally Starr (do your research) regalia, never just the usual jodphurs, helmet, etc. When we had a project at school, my Mom was the one who helped the whole class track down the ingredients, and assemble the tepees, or whatever.  My life was a full-on, hands-on do-it-yourself because it’s fun and rewarding, not because it was a hobby.  Get my drift?

TheCareerCreator.com: What were some of the materials or technology you needed to get started on a very basic level?
Ellen Christine: I chose to go to design school (School of Fashion Design on Newbury Street in Boston) after my BA, and had an epiphany one morning, when I realized that I was involved in costume because I loved backstage, and the creative process, and so decided to come to NYC for my MA/Ph.D (I’m ABT from NYU) in costume history.

Design school filled in the blanks that I hadn’t learned at my grandmother’s knee (she made all of my clothing), and my earlier training as a tailor (I worked as an apprentice tailor in a shop in Ardmore, Pa for the experience) helped me solidify my knowledge.  Experience, and doing is the only real way to put it all into action.

When I was in PR getting my BA I had a shop (hippies all had shops), and made all of the clothing in the shop.
The most important knowledge was taught to me by one costume designer I worked with while I was in Boston, Francesco Di Russo: he told me that I had no fear, and I always remembered that.  He was talking about cutting into fabric, but I’ve applied it as a life lesson ever since.

TheCareerCreator.com: The best part about creating your own job?
Ellen Christine: Seeing the smile on the customers face when they put it on.

TheCareerCreator.com: What’s the toughest hurdle you’ve encountered in creating your own job…and how you overcame it?
Ellen Christine: Paperwork, and hiring an accountant who will work with me.

TheCareerCreator.com: Any words of wisdom or encouragement to anyone wanting to create their own job?
Have no fear.  Of course, in today’s economy, having a little nest egg would help get it all going.

TheCareerCreator.com: Any favorite resources you recommend to other entrepreneurs? (Products, supplies, tech tools, etc?)
Ellen Christine: Join the Milliners Guild (www.millinersguild.org) and all will be revealed.

More About This Company:
Founder: Ellen Christine
Company Name:
Ellen Christine Millinery
255 W. 18th St.
NYC 10011
212-242-2457
Products or service offered: Hats for all and sundry
Website: www.ellenchristine.com
Additional ways to learn more about Ellen Christine Millinery: Find us on FB, MySpace, YouTube, Wunderbloc, and my blog.
Awards received by Ellen Christine Millinery:
Best Boutique in Chelsea-Citysearch
Hatty Award Winner 2008

Thanks again, Ellen Christine for taking the time to answer our questions!
We hope this interview will help encourage our readers who love crafting to explore the idea of starting their own craft business.
Visit Ellen Christine’s website and take a look around her shop…after seeing her creations, you’ll be ready to bring back the days of the Easter Parade!

TheCareerCreator.com

Photo Credit: Etienne Cazin

You’re always up for a good makeover and you love dressing up.

Not only do you know what people should wear…you also know what they shouldn’t be wearing.

You have an uncanny sense of trend prediction-you know what’s coming in and going out long before it hits your local mall.

You’re the resident makeup enthusiast among your friends and they come to you for ideas when they need a new look.

Create Your Own Job: 365+ Ways to Make More Money Now will show you how to make some extra cash to fund your next shopping spree.