We are lucky to call Raleigh the home of Clairemont Communications. We know how great our City of Oaks is, and we continue to receive national recognition including yesterday’s U.S. News and World Report’s ranking of the 100 most populous metro areas. The Triangle was ranked number 7.
Want to know what we love about living and working here? Check out our In Our Community posts.
Tonight Clairemont client, Chef Teddy Diggs of Il Palio, will take diners at the James Beard House on an Italian Olive Oil Road Trip. We are honored to work with Chef Teddy and for Clairemont’s Cherith Andes to be in attendance at tonight’s dinner.
Wish you could be there, too? Watch Chef Teddy live on the James Beard kitchen cam! Interested in other work Clairemont does in the restaurant industry? Read our Restaurant PR posts.
There’s no doubt about it. The world of public relations is full of creative, talented people and Clairemont is excited to highlight the skilled professionals who do amazing work in the Triangle area in a new “PR People” blog series.
We’re kicking off the series with someone who is very involved in the local PR scene – Darcy Bowers. At the beginning of the year, Darcy began her role as president of the North Carolina chapter of Public Relations Society of America (NCPRSA). We recently had the chance to catch up with her to learn more about her life in PR.
Darcy Bowers:
Job Title and Function: Sr. Communications and PR Manager for Transitions LifeCare. Jill of all trades with editing, branding, media relations, social media, website content, team management (not a PR team, but various interdisciplinary teams around our organization) responsibilities.
Most Rewarding thing about working in PR today: Variety – who can be bored?!
Craziest/most challenging thing you’ve done in PR: I was an “actress” in a mortgage video. At the time, I was single and not a homeowner. I played the role of a wife who, with her “husband,” was being sold mortgage insurance for their new home. Talk about reaching!
Advice for new PR pros: Remember the importance of ethics. Find someone to emulate, even if it’s not a PR professional. I have several role models from my early career days I think about to this day when I’m in a quandary about next steps. I’m thankful for their guidance and their willingness to shepherd me along.
Are you interested in being featured in “PR People?” Send us a message on Facebook to share your story!
This month the Clairemont team is celebrating seven years in business. In honor of this milestone, we’re doing a Throwback Thursday to our first anniversary and re-sharing a guest column that appeared in the Triangle Business Journal: What I Learned My First Year as a Business Owner.
Are you a business owner who has tips for an organization of any age? Are you considering starting your own business and have questions? Please post your comments and questions to the Clairemont Facebook page.
The North Carolina Chapter of Public Relations Society of America (NCPRSA) has selected Tracy Lathan, APR, as the 2016 recipient of the Michael L. Herman Award for Excellence in Mentoring.
Lathan is an account strategist with Clairemont Communications, an award-winning, full-service public relations and marketing communications firm, and has been practicing public relations in the Triangle for more than fifteen years. In 2009, she received the Accreditation in Public Relations designation from the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), the profession’s only national post-graduate certification program in the field of public relations. For the past five years, Lathan has served as accreditation chair on the NCPRSA board of directors to mentor nearly a dozen other PR professionals in the Triangle to achieve this important designation.
Additionally, Lathan mentors team members at Clairemont on day-to-day account management best practices and leads regular client service lunch-and-learn sessions for the agency. She has been directly involved in developing the strategy and executing public relations programs that have earned Clairemont numerous awards for excellence in PR by NCPRSA and Raleigh Public Relations Society (RPRS). It is because of these things, as well as her previous leadership roles with RPRS, NCSU Alumni Association and the Raleigh Chamber, that NCPRSA recognized Lathan for her mentorship.
“It is a true honor to receive this award since Mike Herman was my first employer and mentor,” said Tracy Lathan, account strategist, Clairemont Communications. “Mike had a tremendous impact on so many PR professionals during his career, and I am grateful for the opportunity to share what he taught us with the next generation of practitioners.”
The Michael L. Herman Award for Excellence in Mentoring is presented to an individual who best exemplifies the ideal image of a mentor through hands-on instruction and support. It is given in memory of the late Mike Herman, APR, whose years of work and dedication to the public relations field made a lasting impression on the profession. He was inducted into the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) College of Fellows in 1998 and received PRSA’s highest individual award, the Gold Anvil for lifetime career achievement, in 2009.
Herman was a beloved mentor to both students and professionals, having served as an adjunct professor at N.C. State University, chair of the PRSA Counselors Academy and ethics chair of NCPRSA. He influenced PR professionals on a global scale, serving on the International Public Relations Association’s (IPRA) Governing Council and as keynote lecturer at the Russian Public Relations Association in Moscow and at the International Conference of Latin American Public Relations Professionals. He was also a role model in his community as an active member of his church, a Master Mason and a member of the Amran Shrine.
