We recently connected with Bridget Sicsko and have shared our conversation below.
Bridget, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s start big picture – what are some of biggest trends you are seeing in your industry?
Through my own business and consulting work, I have worked across a number of different sectors including PR and Media, a non-profit, the addiction recovery space and the hospitality/real estate industry. The biggest trend that I’m seeing across all these industries is the importance of human connection. It’s really interesting as technology increases that there is still (and I believe always will be) a need for personal and human touches in business. A big concern for many companies is navigating the delicate dance between the power of technology to automate certain processes and systems while not letting technology take over everything in their business.
For example, in the hospitality/real estate industry there are a number of tech tools that can support properties to have less personal involvement in their check-in/check-out process. While that is definitely a positive to save time and allow for location independence, true hospitality relies on personal connection and the industry is finding that guests still want that personal touch (per their reviews).
Another example that I’m seeing is in the PR and Media space. Let’s say a candle company is mission driven, sells a beautiful product and is looking for media exposure to grow their brand, so they either hire a publicist, PR agency or focus on media relations in house. While they could go to chatgpt, have the AI tools write a pitch for the editor at mindbodygreen and then do a mass email send—editors and writers are becoming more aware of AI written pitches that are not personalized. Writers, editors and producers are more likely to open pitches that have a personal touch and show that the writer (of the pitch) has done their homework on the type of content this writer or editor puts out. This is another area where human connection and personal touches remain at the forefront.
I think that we will continue to see more of this push-pull across many industries in the coming years as technology continues to grow, yet we as humans still have that yearning and need for human connection—even in business.
Bridget, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
As the child of two entrepreneurial parents, I’ve always felt this pull towards entrepreneurship, creative thinking, problem solving and building something of my own. Throughout my professional career, I’ve had a wide array of different experiences across different industries. I always joke that I learn and try different things so you don’t have to. I currently am the co-founder of a PR and Media company called Visibility on Purpose, consult for numerous different types of companies, speak on both business and wellness related topics and teach yoga and meditation.
When I was in my mid teens, I began dealing with health issues as a result of Lyme disease. Navigating health issues during my formative years led me to having a natural affinity towards alternative healing, Eastern Medicine and wellness. After leaving my sales job at Yelp in 2016, I became a Certified Yoga Teacher and Certified Holistic Health Coach dedicated to helping women navigate chronic illness with lifestyle, diet and yogic practices. I began to host workshops, online classes and teach at yoga studios. While I loved working with clients, my business-minded brain craved some new experiences.
In 2019, I decided to switch gears and build up my online consulting business. I had already been working with women for years at this point and many of them had decided to leave their professions and open up a business of their own, but they quickly found that they lacked business acumen and basic brand growth skills. Many of my clients during this time were seeking out ways to increase their brand’s growth, visibility and become the face of their company—and because of my upbringing, background and natural knack for business and sales, I became the perfect person to help them. In 2020, I had an opportunity to open a publishing company which felt like the perfect fit. My clients wanted more visibility, desired to be authors and were looking for avenues to grow their brand. From 2020-2023, I worked with over 150 authors across 14 countries to get them published and more visible. I would host training sessions on things like brand development, messaging, positioning and how to grow through partnerships.
During that time, I began to collaborate with a publicist who could support my authors to grow through media exposure. We hit it off immediately and realized what we were training our clients on could be a business of its own. We wanted to work with mission-led business owners, authors and brands who were looking to gain more visibility for the cool things they were creating—and with that Visibility on Purpose LLC was born. Visibility on Purpose is a PR and Media Training school for small business owners, authors and product brands who are looking to grow their business through press features, TV/podcast interviews and media exposure. We host in person networking events, retreats and offer fully digital, self-paced PR courses for founders and small teams.
Beyond my work at Visibility on Purpose, I also work as a consult for other companies across different industries. My areas of focus range from brand development and strategy to communications and marketing.
What I used to see as a disadvantage, I now see as one of my greatest strengths in business. I’m a person who loves new experiences, new networks, new industries and learning new things—which has allowed me to understand so many different industries, markets and segments. While being “scattered” (or really, having “cross-functional experience”) might be seen as a negative to some, in the consulting space, it is one of my greatest strengths.
We’d love to hear about how you met your business partner.
Lydia Bagarozza and I cofounded Visibility on Purpose in January of 2023, but this wasn’t our first rodeo together. Funnily enough, we had met in a New Jersey manifestation community years prior. After we met, we realized we were both from New Jersey, went to Rutgers University and even had mutual friends. We stayed connected on social media for years before we began collaborating. When I opened up my publishing company at the end of 2020, I was actively seeking out PR experts who could support my clients’ visibility. We hit it off right away and continued to collaborate, host workshops and events before ever going into a business partnership. This was essentially our “dating” phase. We learned how each other communicated, our quirks, tendencies, strengths and weaknesses which allowed us to see if actually starting a business together would be a good idea. After collaborating for years, we decided to officially open our PR and Media company, Visibility on Purpose, in 2023.
We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?
I began utilizing social media in 2016 around the time when I had completed my yoga teacher training and holistic health coaching program. In college, I had studied Digital Communications and Media which allowed me to have a great understanding of the power of social media and I even did a research paper on how to make money through Instagram in 2013. My first plan was to share valuable content related to healthy eating, recipes, movement and fitness. I wanted people to comment, engage, ask questions and see that I had valuable information to share. From there, I began hosting in person events and workshops to start to build my brand. I did all of my sales through social media where I would personally invite people to the events who I knew lived locally. My account began to grow and I was thinking of new ways to gain exposure and credibility so I began to pitch myself to podcasts and local media. I knew that sharing content and my own story through podcasts especially would be highly beneficial. After each podcast episode, I would share the episode link with my community to drive traffic towards the show. This is when the ripple effect really started to happen. I had been sharing valuable content, showcasing my expertise on podcasts and building a community—so other people began to reach out to collaborate, have me on their show or to speak at their event/workshop.
My greatest advice for someone just starting out would be to remember that quality/level of engagement always beats the follower number count. Focus on building relationships with your community. Make your content easy to share and most importantly, be human.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.visibilityonpurpose.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bridgetaileensicsko/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bridgetaileensicsko
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bridgetaileensicsko
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@visibilityonpurpose
Image Credits
Jen Oceana Photography