Today we’d like to introduce you to Erica Hicks Anderson.
Erica, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
At a young age, I developed a deep passion for Theatre and even studied it in college. But during my junior year, I learned about the pool of struggling actors awaiting their big break in New York City. I really began to reevaluate my career path. While contemplating other career fields, my best friend suggested Public Relations because of my vibrant personality, my style and my ability to come up with big ideas. So shortly after earning a bachelor’s degree, I moved to my dream city, New York City, to explore a career in Fashion PR. Later, I accepted a scholarship in the PR & Corporate Communications graduate program at New York University.
I always had a love for fashion but didn’t want to go the traditional stylist or buyer route. I wanted something that would really challenge me so I ultimately chose a career in PR. While I was in grad school, I interned and freelanced full time to gain experience and connections in the industry. I worked for amazing companies such as Condé Nast, KCD Worldwide (the biggest fashion PR agency in the U.S.), Tommy Hilfiger, IMG Fashion and The Net-A-Porter Group. After working my way up the ladder and realizing my passion for entrepreneurship, I decided to launch my own communications agency, PR VEIN, in 2014 to help small to medium-size brands with their PR and marketing goals. PR VEIN is actually celebrating its 5-year anniversary this year!
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Absolutely not! The Public Relations industry as a whole is a very demanding and tough industry in general. Verticals like fashion are even harder to break into and stay relevant. The industry is always changing, and it can be extremely difficult to move up the ladder. I worked very long hours and had many sleepless nights.
Being an entrepreneur is difficult as well; there are good days and there are bad days. PR & marketing is a tough industry to be in and the client side has many challenges. The corporate side has a lot of great benefits, but who doesn’t love a good challenge? You can do great work for a client and they might still not be satisfied. Because we work behind the scenes, we don’t really get credit for all of the hard work that we do. It can be a very thankless job, which is why you have to really love this industry in order to be successful. You see, people don’t know that it’s publicists and marketers securing TV features and interviews on The TODAY Show, brand deals with American Express and Revlon, speaking engagements at business conferences, managing the guest lists at high profile parties and shows, securing celebrity endorsements, overseeing influencer campaigns, running social media accounts, managing web content and even dressing talent.
PR VEIN – what should we know? What do you do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
PR VEIN is a full-service strategic communications & marketing firm that specializes in public relations, integrated marketing, social media, influencer marketing, events, content creation and branding. We are really good at helping small to medium-size brands, businesses and thought leaders reach their target audience and achieve their objectives and overall goals. We create their stories, build brands from scratch, market their products and manage their public profiles with strategy and tactics from ideation to launch. We work with startups who come to us with an idea, and we bring that idea to life by creating a brand, a story, a website, developing the product or service and then marketing it. We have even worked with big brands like Verizon who see value in the great work small agencies provide.
I’m most proud of the fact that we are able to help very small, unknown brands get national attention and make money. Very often, people come to PR VEIN right before they start approaching investors. They know they can’t go to an investor with no branding, no significant press and no exposure, so they come to us first to establish credibility. People have even come to us with no company name, no logo, nothing — and we get to build those brands from the ground up. We get to help bring people’s dreams to life, and that’s the most rewarding part of my job. Being able to see these small businesses flourish and showing them that they can be successful means so much to me.
What sets us apart is that we are a boutique company that does the work of a large agency, which is very hard to find these days. Many people will hire a boutique PR firm and only get small press hits and blog features that don’t lead to anything substantial. That’s not how we work. We only focus on top-tier results like major media placements and big national partnerships, and our work speaks for itself. I don’t even have to tell people about my background or about PR VEIN — I just show them the work we’ve accomplished and they’re blown away with our ability to secure big results. I’m not in the business of just making money; I’m in the business of building businesses for long-term success. I want my clients to stand the test of time and shift with the industry. PR is no longer just PR! This is why we have digital services as well. I’m also in the business of shaping the next generation of publicists and marketers. I want to make sure that everyone I work with is more talented than me and can be successful in the long run.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
I was nominated for the Forbes 30 under 30 list one month after my 30th birthday. I was literally one month shy of eligibility for the list and I was super bummed when I got the email. This was the biggest recognition that I’d received since beginning my career in PR and as an entrepreneur. I had only been in business for two years and at that time, that was my most successful year as an entrepreneur in terms of revenue, client retention and overall results. It was bittersweet when I made it to the final list of nominees. It actually took me a few weeks to work up the courage to respond to Forbes declining the nomination.
Contact Info:
- Address: 5830 Granite Pkwy.
#100-268 Plano, TX 75024 - Website: www.prvein.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/prvein
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/prveinllc
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/
ericahicksanderson
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