We were lucky to catch up with Toni Ferrara recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Toni thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. One of the things we most admire about small businesses is their ability to diverge from the corporate/industry standard. Is there something that you or your brand do that differs from the industry standard? We’d love to hear about it as well as any stories you might have that illustrate how or why this difference matters.

In a simple answer, yes. Since I do not come from traditional PR, I reverse engineered my style of PR & Brand Partnerships. As a respected Celebrity Fashion Stylist and Editor, my media contacts ran very deep. Those same people who were writing about what outfit’s my clients wore on the red carpet, typically also wrote about the talent too. Traditional PR loves a good press release, which there is a purpose for and I will explain that part shorty. The truth is a press release is like casting a wide net, hoping to catch the attention of an editor. Whereas, I believe in developing, researching, and engaging editors to create a personal relationship that is mutually beneficial. There are times, like I mentioned before that a press release will serve a purpose, for example, a merger or acquisition. If you are trying to chat trends or a new product launch, going directly to the editor’s who write on those topics will always garner more press hits. Press runs on cycles too, so communicating with editors to learn what they are currently writing on is key.

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

Just a small town girl, . . .no but for real, I was born in Charleston, South Carolina and raised on the beautiful beaches of Florida before I made my way west to pursue my passion of storytelling. I shared stories through fashion for over a decade in Los Angeles- from magazine photoshoots, press appearances, and red carpets, Hollywood was my runway and it ultimately led me to what I am doing now. It was my years of cultivating real relationships with editors, designers, brands, celebrities, their teams (PR, Agents, Managers) that made pivoting into PR & Brand Partnerships a natural next step. I began by doing one-off paid partnerships amongst my styling clients and designer brands. A brand would ask me how much to get X celeb into their jeans, shoes, or gowns– I would take that offer directly to my celebrity client and the transaction would go down and I would receive a %. Years of negotiating those deals, along with launching ShoeDazzle with Kim Kardashian from the beta phase, my brand partnership career flourished. It was actually my Client Profile sheet that helped create the algorithm used to determine the likes and dislikes of their customers. I began to love developing brand stories, influencing those stories, and executing strategies to create a real buzz. That’s when I also delve into Fashion PR so that I could understand traditional PR. I consider myself, non-traditional PR because my strategy is relationship based over “press release and pray” which more PR firms are based on. Our unique ability to pitch stories to the editors directly based on what their scope of writing is makes all the difference. At the same time I was working part time at Fashion PR firms, I was heavily immersed in the Fitness industry, working with BODI’s #1 female trainer, Autumn Calabrese styling, creative directing, and even designing multiple activewear lines with her. Fall of 2017, with the overwhelming support of my styling clients, I began Ferrara Media. My goal was to serve talent on a boutique level but with white glove treatment that they weren’t receiving from the bigger firms. The growth over the last 5 years has been beyond my wildest dreams. Even during a pandemic, Ferrara Media saw growth by leaps and bounds by creating a community amongst our Influencers & Talent and their social media tribes. Even on the days that we were unsure, we showed up, we showed our support, and we gave them a sense of purpose. Whether it was to meditate for 15 minutes guided on an IG Live or a high intensity workout on Revolve’s, Nike’s, Puma’s IG– we were all in this together! Our brands like BoxUnion activated with Tarte Cosmetics, our talent collaborated with media outlets via Zoom, as well. This is something I am extremely proud of. My team stayed calm when we could’ve been chaotic. It was really imperative that we used social media platforms properly because all eyes were scrolling since everyone was at home. By doing this, we didn’t just boost our followers, but our followers became like family. In 2022, we decided that we would partner with our sister agency, Morgan Publicity to expand our rolodex of contacts and serve our clients on an even deeper basis. Think of it as having 2 firms for the price of 1. That way each brand is thought of in a 360 realm– editorial, celebrity seeding, and brand partnerships. The last three years has proven that you can go far alone but you can go even further together collaboratively when you have a rockstar team— and we have the DREAM TEAM!

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

The MOST effective strategy to grow your clientele is to be a person of service and remember collaboration is key. Serving your clients should be your top priority and you must be a genuine FAN of your clients to succeed. These are team wins, always and forever. I still cheer for clients who are not on my roster. I’ve never done new client outreach due to client referrals for new business. We pride ourselves on being a results-driven firm that offers creative solutions and strategies. To us, it’s all in the details and the execution. The results we create speak volumes of our passion for what we do and our love for our clients– and that is best testimonial we can ask for.

Team work makes the dream work. Teaming up with sister agencies that have the same vision as you is a win! win! Not just for your internal team but for your clients. I love the quote, “If you want to go far, go alone. If you want to go further, go together.” Last year, I teamed up with my sister agency Morgan Publicity to expand offerings to clients to include: editorial, celebrity seeding, social media strategy, events and brand partnerships. Our joint venture is beneficial to clients by bringing the powerhouse force of two firms instead of one.

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

Reputation is something earned by your character. I pride myself on transparency at all cost. Call it tough love or whatever you’d like but one thing I’ve learned with over 20+ years in this industry is that people value the TRUTH. Some people sugar-coat it, but I think a gentle but honest approach is best. Many of my clients have thanked me and appreciated my candidness in hard times. Talent and brands are surrounded by a lot of consultants, my advice is to be the compass of truth. Whether it was in my fashion career, I would tell my celebrity clients what looked best on them, what flattered their shape, and what dress/suit would get them the most press. In media and PR, it’s the same thing when it comes to social media posting, appearances, and events, I always tell my clients the truth when it comes to content they are creating. My job is to elevate their brand.

Contact Info:

• Website: ferraramedia.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/ferraramedia
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/toniferrara/