CEO and Co-Founder Katherine Verducci discusses what’s in store for 1903 PR, what makes a campaign truly effective and advice for younger PR professionals.
- What are you most excited about for 1903 over the next year?
I get excited by pulling off big, crazy ideas for our clients! The things we’ve done so far – perfectly orchestrated funding announcements, securing the cover of Forbes, creating a vertical market presence from nothing, coordinating with governors, winning awards – no one thought we’d be doing these things in our first two years. I can’t wait to see how we raise the bar in the next 12 months.
- If you could give advice to your 25-year-old self, what would it be?
At 25, I was working at Abbott, one of the largest healthcare companies in the world. I thought I had made it. I had a Fortune 100 company name on my resume and was suffering from incredible imposter syndrome. All of my colleagues were from Ivy League schools and had been with the company for years. Meanwhile, I was buying used cardiac textbooks off Amazon to try to keep up in meetings discussing clinical trial data. At 25, I would have to convince myself that starting an agency was even a possibility. My 25 year old self would not have believed any of this.
I would tell myself to take a moment and assess what makes me happy. Figure out what you want and go get it. I would remind myself that you are really good at this and you can take your skill set and apply it in anyway you want. You don’t have to play by the corporate rules. You can make your own.
- How do you describe what you do for a living to your family and friends?
I try not to because nobody understands what PR is and then you add on top of that, I work with enterprise technology companies, I lose everyone in the room. If I feel like someone has a genuine interest, I tell them I work with reporters to tell my clients’ stories in the media. I tell them everything they read, watch or listen to which has a statement from a company, went through a PR person. My area of specific interest are the technology systems that work behind the scenes to make our world better – FinTech, AgTech, EdTech and IoT – but PR is everywhere.
- What’s your personal mantra?
You need to be comfortable with being uncomfortable if you’re going to grow.
- What takes a project or campaign from good to great?
Different voices. Everytime I think I’ve got something as good as it can get, someone with a different point of view comes in and adds something that takes it to the next level. My favorite thing about 1903 is when the entire team is building on an idea and we come up with something completely different than we expected. The collaboration makes the work better.
