Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Emilia Gledhill. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Emilia, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you tell us about a time where you or your team really helped a customer get an amazing result?
Financial advisor David Peters came to us with no prior media experience. He wanted to promote his financial services business to consumers, as well as generate awareness of and enrollment in his continuing education programs for professionals in his space.
We quickly got David booked to discuss personal finance and tax issues with media including Scripps News, Cheddar, NBC News Now, AARP and others, as well as a profile in Authority magazine.
As he became more comfortable in interviews, we expanded his topic range to include discussing the markets and crypto.
We secured bylined articles for him in outlets like BenefitsPRO and Retirement Daily, part of TheStreet.com, and recently booked features for him in the Wall Street Journal, Barrons and MarketWatch.
We continuously work David’s thought leadership into the news cycle and have placed him for interviews on everything from how to prepare financially for the natural disasters to what to do if you win the lottery.
David’s financial education business is thriving, and he says our ongoing performance coaching for his media hits is helping his delivery in the classes, too.
Emilia, 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?
I am managing partner and co-owner of Guarisco Group, LLC. We represent thought leaders in a variety of industries including politics, health, entertainment, business, law and more, helping them spread their message through high profile earned media interviews. We also represent select non-fiction authors and frequently serve as a white labeled TV booking swat team for other agencies. One of the things that makes us different is that our team is small, but scrappy. We carefully choose the clients we work with and once engaged, we are as invested in their success as they are. We are known for finding the most creative ways to help them accomplish their goals. Once a client who was a wildlife filmmaker mentioned she’d love to have her films screened on the video towers in Times Square. That was all we needed to hear so after months of relentless research and work, we finally secured an opportunity for her to ring the closing bell at NASDAQ and clips of her films streamed on the 7-story video towers throughout Times Square. No dream is too big for us to pursue!
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
I wish I could say getting to where I am was a straight line of carefully planned steps, but that’s not at all what happened. I made several pretty big pivots along the way and learned from each one. I grew up watching my mom build her media relations firm from scratch, and that inspired me to carve my own path. After changing my college major three times, I finally decided to pursue my love of fashion and earned a degree in Apparel and Textiles Technology. I worked in retail shops and wholesale clothing trade shows, and even worked with wardrobe teams in scripted and unscripted TV and film production before finally landing my first gig as a stylist, my “dream” job. Guess what? I hated it. I mean I really hated it!! Right about the time I decided I couldn’t take another day of it, my mom’s long-time managing director abruptly quit, leaving her in a big lurch. Together we decided I would leave the stylist job and come to help in the firm until we both figured out our next moves. I started as my mom’s assistant, but we were both surprised at how much I’d picked up helping in high school, so I quickly became an assistant account exec. Before long I was booking our clients in top tier media and loving it!! It was such a good fit that my mom asked if I wanted to be her business partner and I jumped at the chance. Today we are 50-50 partners in the firm, and I manage our staff and news-of-the-day outreach for our clients.
Can you tell us the story behind how you met your business partner?
I first met my business partner at the hospital in the early hours of a June morning in 1996. She’s my mom! A lot of people wonder how I could spend all day every day with my mom, and I understand a lot of moms and daughters couldn’t do it. But my mom and I have always been best friends. We’re both only children and feel like we got the sisters we wanted in each other. While our core values are the same, the generational difference does sometimes present challenges. My mom’s generation, and particularly her former colleagues at CNN, feel like unless their hair is on fire with 50 different projects, they’re not really working. I am all for hard work, but I also think my generation has a better handle on work-life balance. It’s essential in a business like ours when news can break around the clock. I’m trying to teach my mom to work smarter, not harder and how to actually take time completely “off.”
Contact Info:
- Website: guariscogroup.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/guariscogroup/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100088448840472
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emilia-gledhill-709160134/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/EGledhillPR
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@GuariscoGroup/videos
Image Credits
Kay Hillman Photography