Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Christen Lockett. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Christen, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Getting that first client is always an exciting milestone. Can you talk to us about how you got your first customer who wasn’t a friend, family, or acquaintance?

I met my first client on a family vacation. They saw that I was staying at the same hotel as them for the Orange Bowl on social media, and we struck up a conversation about their future in football. They had a goal to be drafted to the Dallas Cowboys and asked if I would be their publicist when they were drafted.

At this point, my PR company wasn’t even a thought. I barely knew what a publicist did and was focused on securing my first post-grad job as I was graduating that spring. We stayed in touch here and there, but I never thought anything of it.

The draft rolled around, and he in fact, got drafted to the Cowboys. We hadn’t talked in a while so I was not expecting to hear from him, but I got on Instagram and he said, “I am drafted. Now what?”.

Lockett-Up PR was then born and I am now headed into my 9th NFL season.

Christen, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I have always been around sports growing up as my parents both have athletic backgrounds and were big sports fans. I never really imagined working in sports until I moved to Texas for high school and had some experiences with the Dallas Cowboys.

In college, I was a student worker for the TCU Football program and that really spurred my passion for working in sports, but really focusing on the “everything else” as I like to say.

Through my mentor who started the student-athlete development program at TCU, I saw the need for someone to focus on developing athletes beyond sport, even after they go pro. What are they passionate about? What other talents and interests do they have? If they could do anything not sports related, what would it be?

We started out focusing on their brand strategy, storytelling, social media, and brand deals. We have now grown into working with a mixture of athletes and luxury brands at the intersection of PR, Marketing, Events, and Finance.

Finance has been a recent development as the interest in Private Equity, VC, and investment opportunities has become more of an interest to professional athletes and as equally of interest to investors. We love to find the synergies between an athletes story and interest and investment or business development opportunity.

I am super proud of the impact that we make on an athletes life beyond sport. Of course I think what they do on the field or court is so impressive, but I am even more impressed with the incredibly creative and determined minds that they have when it comes to building their own brands or businesses.

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

There are many times when I had to pivot in life, especially as a business owner. Whether it was pivoting from the types of clients I was taking or the types of services I was offering, there has always been an opportunity to pivot in my career.

I think pivots are sometimes looked at as a result of something bad happening, but I look at them as an opportunity for further growth. You never know what new business or opportunity is on the other side of a pivot!

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

A lesson I had to unlearn was the client is always right. Of course I am in a service based industry and sometimes we are afraid to push back on our clients out of fear of them leaving, being mean to us, or whatever the negative thought/action may be.

But I had to learn that actually, sometimes the client is in fact wrong and you have to stand strong on what you believe in. Are there times where you know the client is wrong so you just have to go with what they are saying and let them see how they were wrong after? Absolutley. But there are also times when you learn that it is not worth it to you, your time, or even your client to go down a path that you KNOW is not the best one for them.

It was a tough lesson to learn as a rookie in the game, but now that I have reached veteran status, those conversations are much easier now ha!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://lockettuppr.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lockettuppr/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christen-l-b68b44ab/

Image Credits

Christen Lockett