Introducing PR Life!, the TV show!

I’ve recently found out about a brand new Canadian reality show premiering Saturday, January 5, 2013 – that hilariously enough is called PR Life!

The show documents the lives of 2 of Canada’s youngest PR professionals, Mo and Mariam, who just happen to be brother and sister. The duo own a private PR firm called Can Public Relations and for the first time ever they allowed cameras into their lives for this reality series.

Who knew when the producers were scooping out it’s online presence would stumble across my own personal brand: The PR Life?

They recently contacted me asking if I’d be interested in doing an interview with one of the cast members to feature on my blog. Being the PR professional I am, I knew it would be great to feature something fun on my blog – so here I have for you, a little snapshot about the upcoming reality show PR Life! with one of the show’s stars: Mo.

Amanda: Why is the show called PR Life! and who came up with the idea for the TV show?
Mo: We couldn’t really think of a better name that would best describe our show and our lives then PR Life! and the exclamation mark is there for a reason! The decision to allow cameras into our personal lives was really a mutual decision between my business partner Mariam and I. It’s crazy to say we’ve been doing PR for close to 8 years, and throughout our career we have collaborated with and come across numerous influential television producers, who have always been intrigued with our work as a brother and sister duo operating a private celebrity PR firm. When we signed our latest talent WICKER band for development, we considered an opportunity that came knocking.

Amanda: So I heard you and your sister are business partners, what’s that like?
Mo: Our personalities are completely different and often times it works in our favor because we do balance each other out. But It’s not always easy.. especially because sometimes we do live together when we’re working on special projects. I think working together with someone full time and then living/traveling with them can be somewhat challenging.

Amanda: The season premiere is tomorrow (Saturday Jan 5 2013), what can we expect?
Mo: We are all super excited for the premiere because its a small preview to who we are and the beginning of our journey on PR Life!

Amanda: How did Miss Universe Canada [Samantha Tajik] join the cast?
Mo: Samantha has been a friend for sometime, and she’s done a lot of television and promotional work as Miss Universe Canada. So it was certainly an asset to have her as the bands (WICKER) Artistic Director.

Amanda: Is there something you are not looking forward to with this series?
Mo: Frankly speaking there were a lot of personal moment/conversations that took place during production, I’m still unsure about how I feel about sharing that with millions of Canadians. As for specific scenes, I have only seen bits and pieces so I will be glued to my television every Saturday with my fingers crossed..

Amanda: The name is awfully close to my blog… have you visited my blog before?
Mo: No. But when our production associate told me about this interview, I certainly checked it out and was really intrigued by your posts. I really enjoyed the lifestyle theme!

Amanda: Tell us something about you we’d never find out on the show!
Mo: My favorite snack is frozen gummy bears. try it.

Check out PR Life! Saturday mornings at 9am on TvTropolis.

I will prepare and some day my chance will come…

“I will prepare and some day my chance will come.” – Abraham Lincoln

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I know it’s been awhile since my last career/PR post but fear not – I’ve still been working my tail off meeting like-minded professionals, communicating on behalf of my organization and always looking forward for bigger and greater opportunities. I’ve been working for the City of Vancouver, but more specifically the Vancouver Park Board, for about 16 months now at varying capacities from internal communications, media relations, event planning, strategic organizational planning, social media engagement, and of course, relationship building just to name a few. I’ve been fortunate enough to work with seasoned professionals under stringent and strategic direction, and also been given the opportunity to literally jump in and been given the freedom (errr freedom sounds better than no choice?) to sink or swim. It’s been challenging – not only from a work basis, but on a personal basis to take the situations I’ve encountered and turned them from negatives to opportunities.

I’ve messed up, saved my butt and have professionally grown from my experiences. I’ve also seen great successes and been able to develop meaningful relationships with coworkers, partners and external professional partners all while learning a lot; about myself, about the great potential of individuals within the City of Vancouver and the capacity of greatness that is possible from the building of community. On top of all this paid work (hey, we all need to make money to live right?) I’ve been doing a lot of personal relationship building in the community. Through my use of twitter, I’ve been able to connect with so many amazing individuals who live and breathe their passions and have been able to make huge strides in creating opportunity. These leaders have seen success not because of who they know and financial backers – but because they have been successful in developing relationships and becoming experts that others look to for direction. Whichever way you look at it, there are opportunities all around us and it’s up to professionals like us to make those connections and tell their stories.

Even though I’ve been very fortunate to move to a new city and land a great opportunity, I cannot say it was easy. It took a lot of work and a lot of putting myself out there to create the connections which have gotten me to where I am currently (I’m talking literally, emotionally and professionally) – but throughout all the coffee dates, emails, twitter conversation, blog comments and walking up to random strangers and sticking my right hand out with a big warm smile and saying “Hi, I’m Amanda.” It’s funny how a little confidence and an open and inviting demeanor can make a world of a difference. It’s not about how much you know, or who you know – it’s about applying what you do know and being present. Listen and be mindful of what’s happening in front of you and that will take you far.

** I don’t want the point of this post to get washed over with positive sentiments inspiring you to “follow your dreams, set big goals and go after what you want,” as all of those I truly believe and promote regularly – but not to encourage dreamers to keep dreaming but I hope that with my experiences others will see that big things are possible when you take action and create direction for your own life.

Lastly, I’d like to give a shout out to my family, growing up in the east coast and my education to credit them for my unfailing genuine and  authentic nature. With all that I do, I do it with passion, openness and authenticity. the person you see through this blog, on twitter and in person are the same identical Amanda. I feel that as our mediums of communication change from a more formal written, one-directional conversation to a continuous two-way engaging model searing at our finger tips and ear drums in no more than 5 mediums at a time… you don’t have time to look for ways to come up with false stories. I barely have time to drink enough water a day – when would a person find the time or energy to be anything but genuine? These aspects are a huge part of my character and when it comes down to it, I believe they are a huge part of why I make a good (working on great!) communicator, story teller and soon to be thought leader (give me some time for this one, ok?).

And without further ado, I am happy and excited to announce that I’ve accepted an offer from Peak Communicators to be a new Senior Account Executive to their growing team!

Who/what is Peak? Peak Communicators is the largest independent full-service PR agency in Western Canada with a specialty in media relations, communication strategy, media training and digital media.

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Coming to Vancouver I told myself time and time again that I was not going to settle for a job, but I was going to seek out a job that I felt I could be passionate about. I don’t just want a job, I want the job and  I want to grow a career. I researched, met with and connected with countless professionals across varying PR positions/focuses and cut it down to a few specific organizations in which I truly felt I would be able to do good great work for – because I felt the organization’s values and mandates where similar to my personal ones. To me, that is what a career is about – so after one didn’t work out – I kept on trucking and chose to take a great opportunity that has allowed me to grow professionally more in 16 months than most do in years.

But, in the back of my mind I always thought that while this is teaching me a lot about myself – I still feel like there’s a better, bigger place for me. Through my unfailing connecting and connection making to build personal relationships within the communication industry in Vancouver, I was approached by Peak to find out if there might be an opportunity for me to expand my experiences and be apart of an exciting time of growth with Peak – and I’ve graciously accepted!

In a few short weeks I will be starting with Peak Communicators and although excited, I’m also nervous (what great opportunity doesn’t cause any person to be slightly nervous?) – I’m ready to work hard and do what I do best – get results!

Peak: here I come!

Start by doing what’s necessary; then do what’s possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible. -Saint Francis of Assisi