We were lucky to catch up with Jennifer Von Stauffenberg recently and have shared our conversation below.

Jennifer, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What were some of the most unexpected problems you’ve faced in your business and how did you resolve those issues?

One of the unexpected problems I have recently overcome is taking that journey from doing the work and working your brilliance to becoming a business owner and running your business. I didn’t know it would be such a difficult transition and I wasn’t exactly sure how to do it with grace. As a public relations and marketing professional, I rose in my career because of my skills in those areas specifically, so I have had to really step into my business shoes and learn even more in order to achieve my own business goals.
Pairing that realization with the fact that I wasn’t even sure which direction I wanted to go led me to hire a business coach who specializes in working with agencies. That investment of time and money has been one of my best decisions to date. His name is Frank Cowell with Revenue Ranch, and he is helping me continue this path with precision and intention, ensuring that my joy and purpose are at the forefront of my choices, resulting in a great return on investment for all of our clients.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

It all started with Cyndi Lauper in the 80’s. I was six or seven years old, glammed up with my pink ruffled skirt, scrunchied ponytail and jelly bracelets up to my elbows, seeing and experiencing true self-expression for the first time. Earlier that day, my Dad surprised me and my older sister with tickets to our first concert. In disbelief that Cyndi Lauper was a real person, I not only lost my front tooth that night, I got a glimpse of what I thought was my life purpose. While the music, lights, mohawks, and pink hair mesmerized me, it was the power that Cyndi Lauper had over the giant crowd that captivated me. I stood on my tip-toes on the fold-out stadium seat, craning my neck to get a better glimpse of Cyndi Lauper, who used the stage and a microphone to spread a message of love and explain her passion for equality. At the time, I didn’t fully comprehend what was happening, but I knew I either wanted to be Cyndi Lauper or I wanted to dedicate my life to helping people share their powerful messages to the people they were trying to reach.

Fast forward twenty-some years later and I launched Olive Public Relations – a national public relations and marketing agency. Inspired by Cyndi Lauper, my mission is to amplify the messages of the most positively powerful people and brands. I have the honor of leading a team of savvy, dynamic public relations professionals in producing strategic campaigns that focus on the client’s results. With over 24 years in the business, I believe I am really a connector who takes an everyone wins approach. My favorite thing to do is help business owners and organizations clarify their vision and organize abstract concepts into strategic plans that get results. I love the freedom to create larger-than-life ideas and see them through to success. I have had the honor of securing media coverage around the world and I love a big win. I also love solving big problems and I really believe that when problems are illuminated to the right people, they are no longer a problem.

At Olive Public Relations, we are so lucky to work with amazing clients. We have become known for our work with neighborhoods and have worked with Little Italy Association for almost 12 years along with many others like Arts District Liberty Station, Downtown Chula Vista, Downtown Hayward, East Village Association, Redwood City Improvement Association and others. We also do a lot of work with luxury multi-family developments like Orlo and Folia by Holland Partner Group and 800 Broadway among many others over the years. We also are so excited to be working with San Diego FC to support their local media relations efforts. What a huge honor it has been to introduce a new Major League Soccer team. Additionally, we work with many other incredible clients spanning non-profits like Susan G. Komen San Diego, Oceanside Museum of Art, Emilio Nares Foundation to experiential events like the La Jolla Concours D’ Elegance, ShamROCK, and La Jolla Art + Wine Festival, as well as restaurants and hospitality like Hilton Bayside Campus, Barbusa, Nonna, and Lala.

As an agency, we really specialize in media relations, community activations and promotions, social media, social media influencer campaigns, and corporate social responsibility. We have a great time, but most importantly we are proud of the great work we do.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

About three years ago, my Dad unexpectedly passed away and it rocked my entire life. Until that moment, I did not know how much he impacted my life and my choices – he was my North Star. Unconsciously, I made a lot of choices and set a lot of goals around making him proud. Now I know that wasn’t really healthy, but until then, it was a powerful motivator. With the support and guidance from friends, healers, and life coaches, I set out to become my own North Star and it required a lot of soul searching. I had to take a step back and really look at what I really wanted to do, what really motivated and inspired me. Needless to say, it lead to a lot of changes and I’m proud to have found my way back to me for the first time in my life.

The truth about this and any other big life change is that they change you and from that point forward, you are someone new… whether it’s loss, love, childbirth, moving cities, marriage, divorce, etc. – we are always changing and growing and what I find about business is that it is directly tied to the lessons I have to learn in my intrapersonal relationship. It always comes back to honoring and loving yourself.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

I think what helped build our reputation within our market is consistency. When I first started Olive, I knew I was getting better results than a lot of my peers, but I didn’t know why. I literally didn’t know why my way was working so well, so I hired a business coach to help me reverse engineer my process, so I could help to train my staff to provide consistent results. I wanted everyone on the team to do it the best way possible. Of course, as things change in the world, we modify our process, but it helps to create consistency and ensure consistent results. I feel like our clients know what to expect from us with a few happy surprises that push beyond expectations. Thankfully, what we do is very public and we are so grateful to all of our clients and colleagues who have spread the word about what we do.

I know that every decision and every choice adds up, so I would like to believe that our reputation has grown because we make good honest decisions and choose to do our best every day.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.olivepublicrelations.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/olivepublicrelations/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OlivePublicRelation
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/olivepublicrelations/