We were lucky to catch up with Emily Pantelides recently and have shared our conversation below.

Emily, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Innovation comes in all shapes, sizes and across all industries, so we’d love to hear about something you’ve done that you feel was particularly innovative.

My career track was always set. I graduated with a degree in Broadcast Journalism and was to be a TV news reporter and anchor the rest of my life. However as the saying goes, you make plans and God laughs… I had an epiphany one day sitting in the newsroom. I was reading a press release and it was long, boring and something I would never cover in a million years. I wondered if the person who wrote it even understood how TV news worked and what we would cover. I realized in that moment that I did. I had those skills. I knew what TV news wanted and moreover I knew what media wanted. What is a story and what is not a story had been my bread and butter for more than 12 years. In that moment I knew I had to pivot and so I switched careers. I created a PR company that wasn’t just forward thinking and innovative…we literally did things so differently that at first I couldn’t find people to work for me. Sending a boring press release wasn’t going to cut it. In fact, these days we rarely send those out. We changed, innovated the PR playing field in Palm Beach County and as a result have become one of the most respected and well recognized PR companies in our area.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

My entire life’s goal is to inspire others and more importantly help women succeed. I am a woman owned business that actively promotes and helps mentor women in the communications field (we need all the help we can get!) I leverage my media and community connections to make strategic placements happen for work but also to give back to the community. Long before the pandemic I implemented a flexible and remote workplace. I am a champion for other women, animal rights, and community engagement. Pantelides PR & Consulting is now considered one of the most influential and best recognized public relations brands in Palm Beach County. So well-recognized that Florida Weekly just named us “Most Connected PR Firm”. We have represented everybody from the Florida Panthers to Baptist Health Systems and are currently working with one of the largest companies in our area. I started my career as news reporter/anchor and spent 12 years in TV news, six of them locally anchoring “The Morning Show” on our local CBS affiliate. I left news and opened my own PR firm because I knew that I offered something other PR firms do not: a direct connection to the media. My company has changed how many local businesses are perceived and we have guided many local professionals through many difficult situations. I am extremely proud of my contributions to my area. I sit on multiple boards…but I’m most proud of the amount of money I’ve helped raise for charities. Through my volunteer fundraising efforts, I’ve helping raise more than a hundred millions of dollars. I always try to explain to our staff that it’s true-the more you give the more you get!

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

I think it’s simple. Hard work. Work harder than everybody else. That doesn’t mean staying up every night till 1am…it means showing up when others won’t. It means volunteer when others don’t. It means going the extra mile when you don’t have to. For any new small business owners reading this let me entourage you by saying if you work hard and give it 100% no matter what the business is you will be successful. I don’t mean monetarily…I mean you can put your head on your pillow at night and no matter what the outcome is you can be satisfied that you tried with everything you had. That is really winning.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

The pandemic created a greater need than ever for appropriate crisis communications and impactful public relations/media opportunities.
Pantelides PR was working on many interesting projects for clients and then
the pandemic hit. We had to ensure our firm switched gears to help all our
clients address, promote and secure funds to make it through a global crisis.
Every single client was navigating challenges and needed help from the
media coverage our firm secured to stay afloat, message changes or
communicate to their community. Media coverage for many of our clients
made the difference between closing and staying open. Leading our team
in creating unique media campaigns for all Pantelides PR clients was a true story of resilience. We
secured wide reaching media placements resulting in billions of dollars of
exposure during the pandemic (incredibly!). One such campaign, the
Feeding Our Front Line campaign, resulted in thousands of dollars of direct
donations for the nonprofit Little Smiles that enabled them to continue
providing important services to children in need in the West Palm Beach
Community. The media coverage we secured for
this client alone resulted in more than one million dollars worth of publicity
which also earned our firm a Marcom Award. Despite the tough times we faced our firm was able to increased the average number of media placements (the main deliverable for the firm) for each client by
approximately 12% in 2020. Our drive (and ability!)
to deliver excellence and results for our clients only increased in a time when
most everybody was struggling.
How? One simple theme (that goes back to my previous answer) work harder than everybody else and give it 100% always!

Contact Info:

• Website: PantelidesPR.com
• Instagram: epantelides
• Facebook: Pantelides PR
• Linkedin: Pantelides PR
• Twitter: Emily Pantelides