Written by Caroline Fisher, PR Assistant Account Coordinator

At Sage Communications, we’re committed to professional development. This commitment to ensuring our talented employees are engaged and never stop learning is manifested through our Sage U program, an all-learn, all-teach model focused on knowledge sharing.

In our latest Sage U Fireside Chat Q&A Series, Kerry Lynn Bohen, Vice President at Brotman Winter Fried, a division of Sage, discusses how she entered the public relations industry, her many experiences and advice to budding marketing professionals.

Key highlights from the session include:

Question 1: What inspired you to get into this industry, and how did you end up getting into PR and marketing?

Kerry: It was a complete mistake. I worked part time when I was a student at George Washington for the athletic department and assisted with the radio broadcast for basketball games. Through this job, I was told to call Charlie Brotman because he was looking to hire somebody full time. I met with Charlie and a week later he hired me, I did not even know what PR was when I went there. His specialty was sports, so it was a really high testosterone environment and there were not a lot of females around.

I really grew to love PR. I loved writing. I loved pitching, and we worked on a lot of very cool events. This is how I found my way to the industry; it is not a traditional route but I got there and ended up staying.

Question 2: What is the best piece of advice that you've ever received, and what advice would you give to other PR marketing professionals right now?

Kerry: It's a little simplistic but, “relax.” We had a health and wellness client in South Carolina and I was down there at his facility. I was completely freaking out about a project we were doing for Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, and the client said, “You just need to take deep breaths and think about it. Who is going to live or die? This is the circus.”

The other piece of advice is to listen. A lot of times you want to jump in and say something, but if I don't know anything about a new client’s business when first meeting with them, it is good to just sit back, listen, and take it in before trying to respond. You have so many opportunities to learn from people around you.

Question 3: What are some crazy experiences you've had that you can look back on?

Kerry: At the top of my list would be being in the line of fire of a drive-by shooting at a boxing event in Washington, D.C. I will say, I moved faster than I’ve ever moved in my entire life. I left my purse, my bag, all my media materials, everything was behind police line. Afterwards, I had to talk them into letting me get my stuff. It was a crazy night. A brawl broke out in the ring with the fighters, managers, the referee --all these people. One of my colleagues was decked by a media person, so that's probably one of the craziest.

One other thing, if you search the “Worst Wrestling PPVs of all time,” I was the publicist for it. It was in 1999, the Bay St Louis, Mississippi Heroes of Wrestling and one of the guys had been recently off the wagon, but was clean and sober. However, prior to his match he was no longer clean and sober, and got lewd on live TV. It was a really horrible experience at the time, but it’s funny now.

Question 4: On the opposite spectrum, what are some of the best experiences you've had during your career?

Kerry: Again, I have so many really amazing experiences, and not just for me but for my family. They have got to experience things they never would have if I wasn’t in this job, doing the things I was doing. I’ve had the opportunity to work World Cup Soccer, Olympics, the World Figure Skating Championships, but closest to my heart is one I did in 1990. We worked with the Marlboro Country Music (MCM) Tour and the sponsor wanted to do a season-ending fundraiser so they asked publicists to submit ideas. My father had a career in the Army, and had done several tours in Vietnam, so my idea was to do a benefit for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. They picked our idea and decided to do a concert with Bob Hope, the Judds, Alabama, and Eddie Adams, a prize-winning photographer. It would be the night before Veterans Day.

I was put in charge of contacting the 24 families and inviting them to DC and was their primary contact. We brought all 24 families and the concert was unbelievable. The families and I were going to go on Good Morning America to talk about our event at the Memorial, but there was a completely unpredicted blizzard in Washington on Veterans Day. However, it was still the most beautiful ceremony at the Wall and a lot of the families kept in touch with me for years.

Question 4: What do you think is the biggest difference you've seen now, versus when you first entered the industry?

Kerry: The most obvious is technology and content. When we did news releases, we typed them up and we mailed them out or faxed them. Press releases were also a lot longer back then (we didn’t have the option of adding links for additional information!). As for TV, we did a lot of sports and worked with the sports anchors. The sports anchors were celebrities in town, Charlie knew them all, I knew them all, and we had relationships with them because there was not a lot of changeover. Relationships were key, and I think they're less key these days. There's so much changeover in media now, and obviously some of the top tier targets we want are digital.

Question 5: Is there anything that people might be surprised to know about you?

Kerry: My degree is in Classical Archaeology and Anthropology with a specialization in classical Greece in the Near East. Also, I had an article published in Seventeen magazine, when I was in high school, for which I was paid $500. It was a big deal and made me a little minor celebrity in Fairfax, Virginia.

Sage Communications is committed to the professional development of every member of the Sage Team. We strive to learn through our team’s skills by having them share their experiences with one another.