In addition to highlighting client accomplishments, it’s important to give credit to the hardworking members of the Jmac team for consistently driving excellent results, and being open to learning and growth. We held Q&A sessions with four Jmac team members on their background, roles, and passions  — we hope you find them informative and inspiring!

Farah Reid, Project Manager

Tell us a bit about yourself and your background.

I’m originally from Jamaica, moved to Miami, then moved over to Los Angeles where I am a project manager for a healthcare company. I decided that I wanted to start consulting for smaller companies – I like starting new things – so I was introduced to John and his company. And I got really excited and just took off from there. I am currently a project manager at Jmac. I have an MBA, and I just got certified as a scrum master.

What’s your role on the JMAC team?

Starting out, I did a lot of work with Google Workspace. I also started doing bookkeeping for John with invoices. And recently, I did mention to John that because of how much I enjoy working there, I was becoming more interested in PR work. He said I could go ahead and start doing some research and gathering information for press releases!

I’m learning so much, especially because John always gives feedback, whether it’s positive or negative. I love that. I love feedback because I love learning. And when you get feedback, if it’s positive or negative, how you handle that feedback determines how well you’re going to do.

Do you have a favorite project you’ve worked on?

Currently, the research for podcasts is very entertaining for me.  We have to find reporters and events and concerts, and award ceremonies that we want to share with different companies. I didn’t realize how much fun I would have with that!

What excites you most about PR and marketing?

Advertising is so saturated. There’s so much of it, but the fact that you can still find ways to get people’s attention through branding and social media is very exciting. I love the idea of promoting a company that you’re invested in as something that you’re proud of, and bringing positivity to something that you’re working on.

How do you think your role at Jmac will cause you to expand?

Change is always good in my mind, because with change, there’s growth. I love learning new things, I love teaching new things. I like that there might be something that John is not aware of, and I could say, ‘Why don’t we try this?’ It might work, it might not, but it’s a learning experience. This role is opening up new doors for me.

***

Elena Lopez, Associate Account Executive

Tell us a bit about yourself and your background.

My name is Elena Lopez, and I’m the Associate Account Executive at Jmac PR. I started working here three-and-a-half months ago, back in December. I graduated from Cal Poly Pomona this past May. This is my first real introduction to the professional world of PR – my first little taste right after college. I’m very excited to be here, get started and see how I can grow in this industry.

What’s your role on the JMAC team?

Account management and pitching are my main duties. My role involves a lot of client-facing account management, a lot of meetings with clients. I also help run meetings and manage other people as well. My main responsibility, though, is actually pitching. I am in charge of pitching second and third-tier media and maintaining contact back-and-forth.

Do you have a favorite project you’ve worked on?

Overall, my favorite thing to do is definitely the pitching – sending out emails and reaching out to reporters. You get a physical result from it – this article was published, or this client was mentioned. I think it’s always cool to meet new people, too.

What excites you most about PR and marketing?

There’s a lot of opportunity to do things I’ve never done before. One thing that comes to mind is the traveling aspect of PR – actually getting to meet people in-person who we see on a computer everyday.

Now that you’re a few months into your first official job, what have you become passionate about?

One of the things I’ve been trying to work on is leading meetings, speaking and presenting – the more verbal aspect of it. I feel myself getting better and more confident, and I’m really excited about that. As I feel myself getting better, it’s encouraging – so the more I grow and the more confident I get, the more I feel like I’m developing that passion.

***

Libby Collet, Social Media Manager

Tell us a bit about yourself and your background.

I graduated from the College of Charleston in 2018. I majored in political science, but all of my experience with internships and jobs was in the marketing sector. After college, I moved to Spain for two years to become fluent in Spanish. I was about to take a job with a Spanish company and continue working in Madrid, but then COVID happened, so I returned home to figure out the next move in my career.

Then I started LibCo Creative, which is my social media management and content strategy business. I work with small businesses to help create a social media strategy on their platforms. In this day and age, it’s just so important to have a social media presence, since that’s what people are naturally looking at. I work with all different sectors: service providers, nonprofits, travel brands, app developers, and different agencies.

What’s your role on the JMAC team?

I started working with John on his social media strategy in September, and I’ve been creating content to create his brand online, so that when future clients look him up there will be a presence that’s consistent and on-brand.

John and I work well together, and I really enjoy working with him, so we recently decided to increase my role. I now help current Jmac clients with their social media strategy as well. For example, I work with Pretty Big Monster to help put their content online consistently on all platforms.

Do you have a favorite project you’ve worked on?

I’ve really enjoyed working with Pretty Big Monster because they have so much video content. It’s really great to be able to have all this video content that you can promote and post online.

What excites you most about social media management?

My favorite thing is creating a content strategy that portrays all aspects of the business, and making things easier for social media management. It’s hard to create content when nothing’s there to create. So I love working with brands to flesh out what they want to be doing, what ideas they have, and how to put the content and the products that they’re creating into a social media folder.

What are you passionate about for your business, and the direction you’re headed long-term in the social media landscape?

Long-term, I want to be a big 500 company and CEO with lots of employees, and have a huge marketing strategy brand to help a bunch of businesses. But that’s a long time away, and things change so fast.

But I think with my current brand, I’m really passionate about female entrepreneurs. I work with a lot of them. As a woman entrepreneur, it’s so hard to get into industries and be competitive with brands that have been out there for a while, or run by men. I really love working with female entrepreneurs who’ve started their companies from the ground up, because that gives me courage and motivation that I can do that, too. Those are the brands that I’ve really enjoyed working with, because it’s just incredible to see these badass women in action.

***

Casey Burke, Content Writer

Tell us a bit about yourself and your background.

I’ve always loved to write – it’s been a passion of mine since I was really young. I was an English major with a concentration in creative writing in college, and I enjoyed developing my skills there. Out of college, I took a little bit of a detour and worked as a paid search analyst for almost four years – that was my introduction to the world of marketing.

It was a really great experience, but I started to realize the job wasn’t focused on the creative aspects of marketing, and it wasn’t necessarily the path I wanted to go down. So that’s when I started freelancing as a content writer and working with John. Now I’m working full-time as a copywriter and still working on Jmac, as well as other freelance work. It’s been really great to dive fully into the copywriting field.

What’s your role on the JMAC team?

I help craft and share the voice for all Jmac in-house communications that we put out into the world. The main type of content I produce is blog content sharing industry knowledge – whether about PR or marketing more generally – client accomplishments, and company updates.

I also help out with a bi-monthly newsletter, working closely with Libby and John to make sure that all the writing reflects John’s voice and highlights client media placements, and I help out with writing copy for social posts. But in general, showcasing John’s knowledge about the industry and Jmac client accomplishments are my main duties.

Do you have a favorite project you’ve worked on?

I’ve really enjoyed conducting several Q&As with Jmac clients and strategic partners. I’ve interviewed them on their background, as well as topics that they’re passionate about and/or pertain to their roles, and then converted those conversations into Q&A blog posts. Those have probably been my favorite projects, because it’s not only a writing task. It’s also an interviewing task that can lead to some really interesting conversations.

What excites you most about content writing for PR and marketing?

It’s a learning opportunity. A lot of the strategies and a lot of the wisdom in the PR world are very new to me. So I’ve really enjoyed some of the research that I’ve done for the blog posts, learning through that process, and applying the PR and marketing knowledge that I’ve gleaned to my own career as well.

In general, too, I really enjoy the breadth of topics that I have the opportunity to write about with Jmac. Most recently, I helped out with an article about PR pitching tips, and prior to that I’ve explored a number of other marketing-related topics that have all been relatively new to me.

As a writer and a creative, can you share something you’re curious about?

I’m very curious about the ways small differences in language can influence the message or the tone of what’s being written. I think this especially applies in shorter form copywriting like ad copy – tweaking even just a single word in an ad, and then analyzing the effect that has on the message. I find it really fascinating.

Connect with us to explore more about the passion that drives our team, success stories, industry insights, thought leadership, and Q&A sessions.. Contact us today to begin the journey towards achieving outstanding results together.