Episode 14 Alessandra Pollina
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Serena Reynolds: [00:00:00] Hi, I’m Serena Reynolds from Conceptive.

Sara Ferrer: And I am Sara Ferrer from Saraferrerco. com. And today we have Alessandra Pollina with us. Alessandra is the founder and CEO of Quotable Media, which is a PR agency dedicated to elevating stories and empowering female led brands. With over 12 years of experience, she’s passionate about redefining success.

Supporting women entrepreneurs in creating platforms to amplify inspiring voices. So welcome Alessandra. We are so jazzed to have our first PR guest on the podcast. So snap, snap. Thank you for being here.

Alessandra Pollina: Thank you so much for having me. So, so excited.

Sara Ferrer: Yeah, so tell us, like, PR is a thing that we, of course, know about.

We hear about, but [00:01:00] how do you get into it? What is it? Where did the journey begin for PR? Take us back to where it kind of all began.

Alessandra Pollina: So, yeah, I mean, it is, it’s kind of one of those things where people are like, what, like how do you do that and how did you get into that and why did you think to kind of thing.

And I don’t have a great story around that. I, I honestly just, I studied it in college. I went to the school of communications at my university because like I knew that was like the general area I wanted to like be in. To be entirely honest, I applied to the school of communications because it was the only one that didn’t have any math requirements.

So, I guess we can, we can base everything off of that. I was like, I am done with doing math when I graduated high school, and that was what I based it off of. But I also knew I liked. Communication in general and like wanted to kind of probably be in that world, but that was like literally my deciding factor and then once I was in there, I, you know, tried everything kind of and I was the most drawn to the PR, the PR [00:02:00] classes and the whole concept.

I didn’t really, I knew I didn’t want to do like advertising. I didn’t want to feel like I was like selling stuff to people, but I liked the idea of helping tell stories and helping amplify. What cool organizations or brands are already doing and helping to tell those stories in a way to draw in the right people so that if there was the right fit that could make sense and then it’s not necessarily like selling a product, but it’s helping get out there messages that need to get out there.

So that was like really what drew me to it. And I just. Once I decided, I just went all in, like, I honestly don’t even know, like, now looking back, I’m like, I, I see, like, people of that age, you know, in college, like, really struggling with, like, how do I know what the right thing to do is, and, you know, not feel, like, oh, I’m not sure if I’m, like, in love with this for the rest of my life, though, you know, and switching around a lot, and I was just kind of, like, I don’t know.

I just kind of like picked it and I just went with it. I mean, I did. I always enjoyed it, so I guess I never really second guessed it, but I just had a bunch of internships. I got every internship I could have in [00:03:00] college. Every semester I was doing something, working in a different agency or in house at a company.

So I got a ton of experience that way, and I just, I still always liked it, you know? So I just kind of kept going with it. And then after I graduated, I I got a job in house at a small non profit, which was where I thought I was going to go with the whole thing, and, um, it ended up not being a great work situation.

And so I ended up quitting actually very soon after, after about three months. We don’t need to go too much into that story, but basically they were like, oh, in three months we’ll be able to like pay you a living wage, like right now this is all we have. And then it became clear that that was not actually going to change.

Um, so I was like, I can’t, I can’t do this. I literally wasn’t even making enough to pay my rent. And it was like a very. Consuming job so it wasn’t like I could then go bartend on the side, you know, not that I ever had I had been a hostess in college, you know, I could have done that like at night if I had capacity, but like it wasn’t that kind of situation.

I was working all the time staying [00:04:00] late. Sometimes we were, you know, traveling for it. And anyway, yeah, so I ended up calling up. My friend who I had worked for a couple of different times in college in a small PR firm, um, and I was like, do you have any work I can do? Like, can I help you on any projects at all?

And so I ended up working kind of part time helping him with some projects for about a year after that, and then I was And I was like, actually, I could do this on my own. And I started taking on clients myself. So that’s kind of like how I, that’s how I got into the PR world and kind of how I got to where I am now.

It was all very just like not super well thought out, just kind of like, well, I need to pay my rent this month. So what should I do? And it went from there. And I did not realize I was starting a company. I didn’t realize. I. I literally didn’t think about that. I did not realize I owned a business for a while until I was like, Oh, like, is that what that’s called?

When you have all your own clients and make your own income. And yeah, [00:05:00] this was like before the age of like. Instagram and stuff.

Sara Ferrer: What is a very common misconception, to just clarify before we even go on, is like, I think a lot of people think PR and advertising and marketing, all those.

Serena Reynolds: Marketing and PR, there’s always that confusion, that blurred line as to who does what and why.

Alessandra Pollina: Um, yeah, sorry, I latched on to the journey part of that story of like how I got into it. I did also ask that like, what is PR? Because that’s a great question to you. And honestly, like even people who are doing PR, I feel like are sometimes confused or misrepresenting it or people who are not doing PR and kind of say they are.

So a lot of times people like, even like students who apply for an internship with me, I’m like, so why do you want to like get into the PR space? And they’re like, well, I really want to be so doing social media. And I’m like, That’s, I mean, that might be one piece of it, but that’s like, it’s not just doing social media, like, that’s not PR, that’s marketing, because that’s your own channel.

So,

Serena Reynolds: to be fair, that’s its own channel too.

Alessandra Pollina: Right.

Serena Reynolds: Because they don’t tend to do social media, that’s [00:06:00] kind of Somebody else does that.

Alessandra Pollina: Well, so that’s the thing. Things have become so like pieces of like the marketing puzzle have become so fractured lately, but also so blurred. So it’s really hard. Like there are agencies that will do everything.

There are also agencies or people who will do one specific piece. And so, okay. So to back up though, the way I describe it, so the difference is basically PR is one part of. Marketing. It’s, it should be one part of your marketing department, one part of your marketing strategy. Marketing is the bigger overall picture, is kind of how I think of it and look at it.

Um, because that is how are you getting out to your markets? How are you telling people about what you’re doing? And PR is one of those things. PR, it stands for public relations. It’s anything that is going out to the public from your brand. And that can be, you know, sometimes people have heard of like, um, you know, There’s, there could be like investor relations if you work for a company, you know, a public company that has investors, there could be [00:07:00] internal relations if there’s, you know, it’s a big enough company that you have to be keeping, you know, some messaging to your internal staff or people who are, you know, somehow involved in the company.

There’s all different pieces within PR sometimes. But ultimately when we talk, when, when normal people, like normal brand says like, I want to get some PR, they’re usually talking about media. Media relations, that’s usually what like a PR agency specializes in, even though there are sometimes, you know, as I said, those other pieces to it and these days with media also just changing so much in the past couple of years, it can.

Also, it can also be a lot more. It can be, you know, influencer relations. It can include a lot of that, what’s going on in the social space. Because it can include, you know, podcasting or even getting somebody featured on or like a guest on like a YouTube show. Like those are kind of media outlets these days.

And so it really does go [00:08:00] beyond the traditional media right now, but that is kind of like Yeah. Traditionally, what we would be talking about when we say PR. And to get to your point about like sales comes later, right? So the PR is kind of like the top of your marketing funnel if you think about it that way.

Because that’s how you’re getting in front of thousands or millions of people through these outlets, right? Like so if you’re going to be on like Good Morning America, you’re going to be getting your brand in front of millions of people. They’re not all going to be super targeted, they’re not all going to want to buy your product, or take part of your service, but they’re going to know who you are now, they’re going to recognize your name, and that’s helping also your brand recognition, building your reputation, because if people see that you’ve been featured in these places, they’re going to, it’s like, oh, that’s like a legit brand, right?

Like, people are going to be talking about it, it lends a certain level of clout. So then you can take those people and bring it down to, you know, Draw them into your owned marketing channels. So marketing is more like those channels you own. Your email list, anything that’s on your [00:09:00] website, your social media, all of that stuff.

And that’s things you own. PR you don’t own. You can’t control that story in the same way. And then once people have interacted there for a while, you might bring them into like your sales funnel. So that kind of is how I think about how that works.

Sara Ferrer: That’s super, I think that that’s the most like well, well addressed way of what is PR.

Essentially, if you’re paying for it, I mean, I’m trying to simplify it even more. If you’re paying for it, hey, I’m going to have an ad in the paper, or hey, I’m going to pay for this time slot. If you’re paying for it, is it no longer PR or can it be PR even if you are paying it versus being featured? How would it be advertising?

Well, right. Is that, is that a right statement to way to think about it? If you’re paying for it, it’s not necessarily PR, but if it’s kind of finding you and being featured, it’s PR.

Serena Reynolds: They are the public face. Marketing is the strategy of the advertising, the PR, [00:10:00] it’s the overall strategy, it’s the umbrella.

Public relations, that’s when you go out and you do something publicly, you do something in front of people. Whereas I think Most of the other areas don’t do that until it hits sales. And then sales will go out and talk to people.

Sara Ferrer: So let’s say like the good morning America, like this is a great example.

Cause I remember like, we were in the same network and every now and then someone would be like, Hey, I have this great PR opportunity. And then there’s always someone who’s like, girl, that’s not PR. That is, like, look, and I, and I’m always like, I’m learning, so enlighten us, is there an equation if you’re paying for it, that Good Morning America slot, that, is it still PR, can it be PR if you’re exchanging?

Alessandra Pollina: So technically that’s an advertisement. And, you’re paying for money. Paying money to be on something. That’s an advertisement. But, like, that comes with a caveat because again, it’s changing so much in recent years because there’s so much pay to play now. There’s so much sponsored [00:11:00] content or partnerships.

In my mind, that’s still an advertisement. If you’re paying for it, it’s not PR because There are, people are savvy enough to see, like they have to say it’s sponsored content, and people are savvy enough to know that that means you paid to get on there. It doesn’t mean they thought you were, you know, whatever it is, educational enough, cool enough, you know, interesting enough that they wanted to feature you.

So people know you paid for it, and it just means like, you know, that’s an advertisement. I will say though, they’re like, I just want to say like there are some PR agencies that will now kind of help manage things like sponsored content opportunities and partnerships like that for brands that have what I would call an advertising budget to kind of roll into like part of their PR plan because there is just so much of that these days.

PR person, it can be really tough to actually get. The placements that are going to move the needle for a client. And a lot of brands [00:12:00] know that or have had that experience with peer agencies that maybe aren’t the best and, or they do want those opportunities. They just say, you know what, I don’t care.

It’s still going to be getting me in front of people. It’s still going to be getting me this content out there. It’s still going to be getting me on that platform. If I have the money to spend, maybe that’s okay. So you know, it’s, it’s really tough to say these days, but I will still stick by, you know, and who knows, like I’m, you know, I might listen to this three months from now or a year from now and be like, I shouldn’t have said that.

But I still stand by the fact that if you spend money on it, it’s advertising. That does not count. We will not do that. I will not touch anything for my clients that requires. Payment. For, you know, they’re paying us as the agency and then that’s it. There’s no cost to any coverage that we’re going to secure for them.

But I think that that’s getting really confusing for people these days, for sure, like more so than in the past because the lines have blurred so much.

Serena Reynolds: See, see, for me, PR is the, the front line. They’re like really tough, putting themselves out there to try and get you [00:13:00] appointments and, and things like that.

I mean, you, you guys are the heroes, really, um, it’s, un-sung

heroes.

Sara Ferrer: Like, what’s the secret, I mean, not, what’s the secret sauce in, in, in a world where everything’s pay to play and the lines are blurred and, you know, everyone’s an influencer, but, you know, it’s like, what makes, besides your breadth of experience, or maybe that is the secret sauce, what makes quotable media like, these are your go to gals.

They know the real dirt, how to get seen without kind of doing the new age pay to play thing.

Alessandra Pollina: Yeah. I mean, it’s a couple of things. I mean, certainly some comes with experience in just like we really do understand the landscape and we like, but, but really what it is is that what comes with experience, which you could also do with little experience if you, if you have this, but it’s being able to uncover the right stories.

It’s being able to like really dig into what is that differentiator for the client or the brand or the person and helping tell that story in a way that makes that something the media outlet [00:14:00] or the writer or the editor is going to want to actually. Pursue, and because they’re getting so many pitches all the time and some, a lot of them are really just scratching the surface, it’s just kind of like, here’s this cool thing, let me know if you want to set up an interview, right?

But like, you need to really be able to dig deeper than that and really tell the story in a way that they can see that this is a story they should cover, that this is a story Something that’s gonna be interesting enough and you know, it’s not even just that it’s interesting enough It’s also like easy enough to work with they’ve you’ve got all the details You’ve got all the material and here’s why it’s so different than any other Brand or person that they could talk to you on this subject or you know around this This topic and it’s and it’s really that that’s what we’re really good at is figuring out and and building the right messaging pulling out your differentiator and then positioning that in a way to the media that it’s going to really they’re going to say yes and then also a certain level of persistence because they don’t always say [00:15:00] yes right away but there is a certain I think to it.

There’s a certain something that some people have more than others, where you can kind of convince someone to say yes, or to want to work with you, and That’s something that’s hard to hire for, it can be hard to tell at the beginning, but I definitely, I think that’s part of my secret to success, to be honest, in this space is that I can follow up with people or check in with people or find ways to form connections with them in a way that I’m not really going to let it go until it works, until it happens, but like not in a way that’s going to like be off putting, if that makes any sense.

Serena Reynolds: So one of the reasons we love your story, Quotable Media, really want to talk about that and what it is that you do and how you focus, um, and your core area of focus. Because you have something quite in common with us, don’t you? No, yeah. Our, like, [00:16:00] overall, our really,

Alessandra Pollina: our main mission is to elevate and empower women who are doing amazing things.

And I think that’s what you get else. That’s what I’m trying to do. Yeah, yeah. And, and, you know, that’s what the, this, where this podcast comes from. That’s like where my podcasts came from, too. Like. I was doing it for, you know, through the PR agency for a while before realizing like, hey, I actually want to like also have our own platforms too because it feels like there’s more we can do with that.

But yeah, it all came from. You know, well, so I had the agency for a while for, you know, I don’t know, a lot of years before anything else. And people would come to me a lot, you know, cause I was in the circles of, you know, business people in my area and just being connected to a lot of people kind of getting out in the business world.

A lot of people would. You know, have questions or want to talk to me about like, Hey, hey, how can I do this? Or how can I get featured in these places? But, you know, not be ready to hire an [00:17:00] agency or not have the budget to hire an agency. And so I just kind of really wanted to still help tell their story.

I’m like, your story is still so interesting. And like, I personally want to hear exactly how you’ve done this. Like, how have you built this business? And like having those conversations. I find so motivating and so inspiring personally, I’m like, oh my gosh, like, she’s done all that? Like, that makes me wanna like, you know, do more or like, you know, it reinvigorates me for what I’m already doing.

And that’s kind of like for me where I’m like, we need to just tell more of these stories. We need to be able to, and also like what they, what you see when you tell those stories and it’s the first time they’ve gotten it out there. Like they haven’t had a chance to tell it yet or to, to talk about their experience.

It’s so empowering for them.

Sara Ferrer: The name of your podcast is?

Alessandra Pollina: The, my podcast is called Quotable, a female entrepreneur podcast. When I started it, it was a female millennial entrepreneur podcast. And it was specifically telling the stories of like people who were [00:18:00] like back then, like in our twenties and like, you know, in that very specific stage of life.

Well, when we rebranded the company, we rebranded the podcast, but also like. I just wanted to go, I was like, nobody even knows like what a millennial is anymore, we’re just like regular people, like no.

Sara Ferrer: I have a question for, when you had mentioned what I’m hearing from you, you know, what I keep kind of hearing when it comes to your day to day job and your PR agency, I’m hearing the word persistence is really key.

To, you know, to following up with potential, um, potential gigs and potential, you know, places to be featured with persistence comes a lot of nose, I’m sure you’ve experienced. So, how do you handle probably hearing no more than yes? How do you handle that? And then persistence can be seen, and you mentioned it, like we do it in a way where it’s not off putting.

And I love that as well [00:19:00] because everyone thinks, oh, persistent equals bad, but you’ve really managed to find a way to keep the engine running by knocking on doors, hearing no, being persistent. So speak a little bit about that. That’s how does it. How do you keep going, how do you manage when you hear the no, how are you persistent without being annoying?

Alessandra Pollina: So,

number one, I want to say, like, I think one thing that I learned very early on or maybe have just always kind of felt is that most no’s are not really like a no, never, we hate you. It’s usually like no, not right now, no, it’s not the right fit at the moment or not the right fit for this specific thing.

So I don’t take no’s. Personally, usually, you know, there’s always the kind of time when it feels personal, like, you know, if I put up a proposal to a, to a company and they pick someone else, like, that feels like, you know, that’s kind of a no, and that’s kind of like, oh, [00:20:00] did they like that other person more than me or whatever?

But honestly, that hardly ever happens to me. Honestly, people do, like, usually like us once they, like, see me in person, I think. Sometimes there’s reasons. I’m sure that we don’t work together, but I do get most of my business through, like, referral or, like, someone who said, like, Somebody who knows somebody who knows somebody.

And so like they aren’t like meeting with a lot of other agencies. For the most part, especially when it comes to like PR opportunities, pitching yourself for your clients, or yeah, pretty much everything else in business and in life. It’s like you can’t take that personally. It doesn’t mean anything. It’s almost always like it’s just not a right fit right now.

And that’s, that doesn’t mean you’re bad. And I always tell this to people when I. You know, when I’m kind of coaching them on like how to do their own PR or like telling them they should reach out to people or whatever, it’s like, don’t, like people think too, like, oh, I made my list of who I want to reach out to, who I want to pitch, where I want to be featured.

I pitched them all, you know, they said no or I didn’t hear back. It’s not over. That’s not, it’s not done after that. You can reach, you pitch them again [00:21:00] three months from now, pitch them again one month from now, a different angle to the story. Like it does not mean that they don’t like you or they don’t ever want to feature your brand.

It just means in that moment or in that specific page it didn’t make sense. But do it again. Like so it doesn’t, yeah, like I think that’s like an important mindset.

Sara Ferrer: Like now you’ve heard the no, now you’re going to be persistent, but you do it in a way where you can, you know, it sounds like you can go to bed at night thinking like, hey, I’m persistent without being, you know, oh gosh, she’s calling me again.

Voicemail, voicemail. What? I love that because that’s the only way that you can turn that no for me. Yes. But a lot of people feel defeated. So what’s some advice you can have about being persistent? In a way that feels also authentic and good.

Alessandra Pollina: Well, I think part of it too is like it’s not just, it’s not just like hammering them with the same email or the same, you know, phone call.

It’s thinking about how can you actually sweeten the deal for them a little bit if like you think maybe there was a reason that they were saying no or it wasn’t right fit or [00:22:00] if they weren’t answering, maybe they didn’t see you. Like especially if your outreach is via email or even like DM or message on like social media, like that can be hard to keep up with for people who are getting a lot.

I mean, I always like to give a little disclaimer, like, if you message, like, what do you want me to go on Instagram? Like, do not take it personally, if we do not get back to you for a while, because I have, like, so many different accounts on that phone, and, like, it’s never personal. If you ask to be on my podcast and I don’t get back to you for a while, it is not personal.

There’s just, I’m getting so many pitches every single day, and I only, like, the podcast is one tiny piece of what I do, like, I make time quarterly to go through podcast pitches and decide who I’m going to set up an interview with. So if you don’t hear from me for three months, that does not mean anything except for that maybe you pitched right after I had just looked at them.

And I think people have to keep that in mind, too. Like we think we want to make a pitch and hear back the next day. And like that’s just so unrealistic for a lot of instances. You know, if you are [00:23:00] pitching a main So if you’re a mainstream media outlet and you’re pitching a staff writer who you know is like writing stories every, every single day, then maybe, but even still, they usually have to go to their editor or have their, you know, their team meeting to talk about what, you know, what pieces they’re going to work on for the upcoming week.

So there’s like some time that goes into this and I think people don’t always think about the back end of what’s going on on the other end of your pitch. So you just have to remember they’re people and they have other stuff going on and they have other thing, other priorities. And so, is there another way that you can maybe connect with them?

Is there a way you can try to like build a relationship even, you know, and I usually say, I mean, the best thing to do is to build the relationship before you ever send the pitch, the first pitch. But if you did get, you know, a little ahead of yourself when you sent the first pitch, or you, you know, you sent that first piece of outreach, whatever it was, it’s not then too late to go back and try to still keep building a relationship.

Don’t consider it, oh, it’s crossed off my list, I pitched that person, it’s finished, and now it’s done. Like, as I said, Is there a way you can still kind of check in with them in a more [00:24:00] personal way, maybe you can still send them an email about a piece they recently wrote with no ask attached or, you know, comment on something on their social media so they see like a, a comment rather than the DM.

Not, I don’t like it really when people comment saying like, oh, can you check your DMs? Like to me that’s, that’s not helpful. Comment like saying something like, Actually thoughtful about the post so that then they’ll start to interact with you on social media or like recognize your name or whatever.

Things like that where you can, you know, actually build up some kind of relationship that then they’re going to maybe want to say yes. And usually it’s offering more value before you ask for another ask. So like, on the media side, a lot of times I like to offer information or something about something that’s maybe not a client, but that I know that this person.

Would find useful for a story they’re working on and if you approach it that way, they see you more as a resource than someone who’s just always asking for something and then when you are asking for something, they’re going to be a lot more [00:25:00] likely to want to say yes.

Sara Ferrer: That makes perfect sense. Perfect sense.

Like who do like, and you would never go to a party, it’d be like, hi, I’m Sara, I want this from you.

Alessandra Pollina: Exactly. . And that’s, and that’s what I say about building a relationship with someone before you ask them for something. And even if it’s just like wanting to form like some kind of collaboration or partnership with someone, it’s like, and not like a major media person like you are your, if, if you had somebody just, well this is exactly how I illustrate it.

If you had somebody walking down the street and they just stopped you on the road and said, Hey. Will you do this, like, favor for me? You’re gonna be like, wait, what? Like, what? Are you, you mean me? Like, do you, do you know me? Like, you’re gonna be a little almost confused by it.

Serena Reynolds: There’s actually sales techniques where you ask for something little, and then you can ask for the bigger thing.

That’s true, yeah. There is actually sales techniques that actually take that on board and, uh, will actually do that.

Alessandra Pollina: Well, but I just [00:26:00] want to, like, compare that to, like, if your friend calls you up right now and it’s something that you really don’t want to do, but it’s your friend, and they’re like, hey, will you do this thing with me later today?

You’re probably going to say yes just because it’s your friend or because you, like, like them. Or it’s somebody, even if it’s a friend of a friend, who calls you up and says, like, hey, Can you do this thing with me? You’re going to say yes because it’s a friend of a friend. So even if you can find like that little connection of like some way to like just have that, like people do say yes more to people that they feel that they know or have a connection to.

Not that somebody, nobody off the street is going to say yes. Sometimes they will, but it’s going to be totally along. Like it’s just, you just never know kind of things. So if you can make that connection, I think that’s huge, like a huge benefit. But yeah, there’s also some of you said for like maybe that first, maybe on the street you say like, Hey.

Could you, you know, just tell me, you know, give me directions to this place and like also like I just had picked up these doughnuts and I have an extra one. Do you want some of these doughnuts? And like give me those directions. Like there, you know, there’s ways you can kind of do that [00:27:00] and then they may be like, yeah, and actually I’m going there too.

Do you want me to help carry your other bags? Like there’s way it’s just like think about it as like human beings and like what would make you actually want to help somebody out?

Sara Ferrer: We live in a world of very transactional. World, right? I mean, I like in especially in America, right? We’re very, you know, very capitalistic society.

It’s very transactional. So I speak from my experience there where, especially for a business brain, it’s like, well, how can you help my business versus I’ll give an example like Spain here. Very different. People do not want to talk about what you do for business. Meet me for a drink and let’s talk about anything but work, or let’s, it’s more about let’s, let’s talk shit about the government.

Let’s talk shit about, you know, the things that we don’t like as opposed to like, how can I kind of better my situation by you helping me? And I think what ends up happening, at least I know, you know, if I hear a knock on the door, at least when I lived in Boston, it was like, turn off the lights, we’re not home.

You can [00:28:00] write that feeling of like, you know. It used to be, no, you know your neighbor, borrow a cup of sugar. Now there’s a little bit of like, I don’t actually want to owe anyone anything because then it gets transactional and weird. So what you’re saying is like, the remedy for that is connection. Is, is really just like, Less transactional, more just like, Hey, how was, if you’re at a party, how was your day?

Oh girl, let me tell you about this crazy hair experience I had. And someone else says, yes, me too. Bonding, connection, simplicity. Is that kind of the quote unquote, response to a degree and in world that always is looking to make another buck. You’re, you’re taking a step back and going, the bucks will come, but they come easier when people know, like, and trust you.

Alessandra Pollina: Yeah, exactly. And another juxtaposition kind of with the sales process is like, you know, sometimes people want to think about it. Oh, it’s all numbers. It’s all a numbers game. And I push back on that a lot when it comes to the PR world [00:29:00] because it’s really not. I’d rather pitch three people that I actually know and took the time to, you know, get that prepared, built that relationship, have the perfect.

pitch for them and then get featured in those three places, then pitch 50 different places just to say I pitched 50 places and hope that one of them is going to come through. And let me tell you, maybe one of those will come through, but you’re not going to get even the three that you’re going to get if you really were more targeted and specific and built that relationship first.

And so that’s one of the other big differences. And that’s, yeah, like it’s so much about. Yeah, I think we just have to bring it back to humanity, right? We need to like actually connect with people in real life and, and, and take the time to, yeah, be people to people. And it’s not just like, oh, let me just cross off everything on my spreadsheet.

Sara Ferrer: But that takes time. I mean, so now I’m thinking about the logical side, right? It’s like, this all sounds good, but like, You’re running a business. You have clients. I’m imagining things are happening in [00:30:00] your personal life. You know, you’re, maybe you’re in a relationship. Maybe motherhood is on the way. How are we balancing all of these things?

Cause this does sound all consuming for a job. I’m imagining you have a life outside of work. Maybe not. How do you wear the hats of Alessandra, the business woman, the friend, the I know you have a, a child, I know you’re a mother, like, this seems impossible while running a PR agency to do any of this, cause you’re always

Alessandra Pollina: Well, I mean, I will say I, I don’t do it all myself.

I have a good team and I was only able to build the company by bringing on great people who can do a lot of the actual PR work, like with me and for me, I do still do a lot myself and I, I still, I, I find even every time I try to kind of pull back from like the client work, I still kind of pull back in again because I do, I do feel like I’m very good at the strategy.

And I’m very good at like, At a lot of [00:31:00] it and it’s hard to have other people like that’s definitely one of my biggest struggles in building an agency is like finding people who have that same level of whatever it is that as I said it’s hard to it’s hard to tell and it’s hard to find and it’s hard to cultivate if you don’t have it, but that level of success, but also just.

Yeah, the strategy and level of care, but, uh, but it is important to find people who can, like, help build out that agency and be doing a lot of that day to day stuff with and for me, even if I’m overseeing a lot of it and helping in a lot of the ways, but I will also say, like, a lot of it’s been Sort of the ebbs and flows of, of life, like I had my son when I was, you know, my company was very small.

I did not call it an agency. It was like, you know, I had some clients, it was probably before I considered it even a business. I had him, I think within like two years of starting my business. And cause I was like, I knew I wanted to be a young mom and I had the flexibility already, which [00:32:00] was really the reason why I wanted to have my own business at that point, because I knew I wanted to also be doing other things.

And so I think that’s always been kind of at the forefront of it for me is I’m not running a business in order to be working 24 7 and have it run my life. I’m, I’m, I own my own business because I like that level of flexibility because I like to kind of be calling the shots and be in charge of, you know, what I’m doing when and who I’m working with and what that looks like because that can be a really big part of it too.

And so, you know, part of it is definitely like. Finding the right clients, finding clients where it’s going to be like a fun project and not be too hard, you know, find work with people where we do already have a lot of those relationships built because that’s, you know, that’s where the experience and having done this for a while comes into play.

Like if we work with a local client, like that’s easy for us at this. Point because we already, we just, I just know everybody here so well in the media world and things like that, that I’m not like going out and having [00:33:00] to build the relationships in the same way that like somebody who’s just getting started might have to.

But yeah, I think it’s just keeping in mind that that’s why I’m doing it. I don’t want it like, like success for me is not having these huge clients working so much that I’m making so much money that I have a nanny go pick my son up at school so I can keep working, you know, success for me. Is being able to stop at three to go pick him up at school and be a part of that day and have that be a big part of my life.

So I think keeping that in mind has been really big for me and bringing in the help that’s required to make that possible. So like I hired my first part-time help like the year that, like right when he started school, because I was like, I want someone to be around from three to five or whatever. But it’s, I don’t want it to be me.

And so I actually brought on more help when he went to school. And that was kind of like where it’s all like the decisions come from, from there.

Sara Ferrer: Delegation early on. [00:34:00]

Alessandra Pollina: Yeah. And that’s hard. I mean, I know that’s not like, oh yeah, easy peasy. Like that can be really hard and I’ve gone through different iterations of the team.

You know, sometimes you bring on someone thinking it’s going to be the perfect situation and it’s not. Or things have changed around or the needs have changed around, and I think so much of it is just staying aware of what your needs are and what the needs of the business are, but also you as the business owner.

And again, so much easier said than done. Like I don’t want to make it seem like I have that all figured out, like it’s something I literally am learning over and over and over again every single year. But I think that’s so important to keep in mind. Like, and what you thought was right last year might not be right anymore this year.

And that’s not the bad thing. If you have to kind of shift things around or change things around, find a new person, whatever that looks like for you.

Sara Ferrer: I want to get to the meat of it. Like it sounds like with your experience. You’ve kind of got it figured out. What do you do when you just have a shit client?

You know, maybe in the earlier years, because now I, what I’m hearing is you have [00:35:00] the ability to be a bit more selective, you’re more established. So that’s what I’m hearing. But in the beginning you’re hungry, you’re out there. Give us advice for like, I got, listen, I got to pay the bills, but this person is just driving me loony.

Like, what has been your experience with navigating those clients or those potential clients?

Alessandra Pollina: Yeah. I mean, I can give you like advice from where I am now. I will not say I’ve taken my own advice every time because I’ve definitely been in that place where it’s like some client is better than nothing. And you know, I need to pay the bills right now.

And so I’ll take whatever I can get. Like I’ve been there and I do not, you know, I have no shade for anyone who’s there right now or has been through that too. But. And so I don’t want you to think like, oh, she’s always been great at this. No, but I think, I think number one, it comes from, you know, I will say I’ve never worked with a client.

I can’t think of a client where I’ve been like, I really don’t like working with this [00:36:00] person. Like I don’t get along with them or like, don’t like what they’re doing. Because for me, from the very beginning, it’s been, The whole, again, like I want to work with people who I want to work with. Like that is so exciting and empowering to me that I get to choose who we’re promoting.

And it’s always been very important to me. Like, as I said, I didn’t want to go into advertising because I didn’t like the idea of feeling like I’m selling something that I don’t stand behind. I’ve always had that kind of be a really strong, just piece of me and who I am, I think. So that’s been so important is what is the brand?

What is the, the. The product or the service or the person behind it, because that’s essentially what you’re selling to. So I really, I really have always taken that into account. But I’ve definitely had tough clients where there’s things, you know, going on. And I think a lot of it comes down to boundaries and figuring out what you’re willing to work with and what you’re not willing to work with.

And that might be different for different people. And I think there’s a lot of like, There’s a lot of like talking points these days around boundaries and like what you should do and what you shouldn’t do and I think that we can get really caught up in what other people think are good [00:37:00] boundaries for a business owner or for a person and it might not be the same for you, I think it’s really important to think about that for yourself but to communicate that to the other people involved as early on as you can and then stick with that and You know, sometimes that weeds out the wrong person, right?

That weeds out the person you don’t want to work with who wants to keep, you know, whatever it is. I think for me, it’s usually like clients that aren’t going to pay on time. Or like early on, like, again, this was like, I mean, I’m sure it existed, but I didn’t even have like an online payment system when I first got started.

Like they were mailing me a check. And like, I had clients where. They didn’t mail the check and I had to go pick it up and I would like ask to go pick it up like five times in a month and they wouldn’t ever say they were like around and like, like dealing with that stuff. And I now looking back on it, I’m like, I mean, I allowed that, right?

Because like, I could have been like, sorry, I can’t do any more of the work until this is paid. And, and honestly, I still, I’m still really [00:38:00] not like, that’s like. I don’t know. I, I don’t like, that, that didn’t feel right for me, because I’m like, I know they’re going to pay it eventually. I know this is just, they’re all over the place.

Like, you kind of have to see where they’re coming from and where you’re coming from and what you’re able and willing to kind of put up with and what things are going to feel better for you and how you can try to bring in more of what feels better for you. But I think it’s around really figuring out what works for you.

Because again, I’m like. In the PR world, like, the boundaries for me couldn’t be like, oh, I’m off my phone at 5 o’clock, or off my computer at 5 o’clock, which I know are like, some people are like, that’s the boundary you need for like a good, healthy work life balance. Mm, if a media person’s gonna get back to me at 6 o’clock, like, I still have to, I want to take that.

I want to. That’s exciting for me. And I really take pride in being quick about getting back to people and, and making the connection. If they want to do an interview at seven o’clock at night, I’m going to make sure that they can do the interview at seven o’clock at night. Like, so that was not a boundary for me, but there are other things.

And I think just, just knowing what those are for you can help you avoid the [00:39:00] clients that are going to be a disaster to you, if that makes sense.

Sara Ferrer: Totally makes sense. Like those, and again, I, I think you nailed it on the head where it’s like those clients where it’s just a mismatch of expectations was essentially what I was kind of referring to and, and what I heard was communication is really key.

I mean, Serena and I have talked about this a lot when we worked together years ago, you know, there’s vendors or suppliers, there’s retailers, you know, a problem, at least in my experience, and I’m sure Serena, uh, you know, it’s similar. A problem is not a problem if you usually address it right away and you’re very clear about who was responsible and it’s okay to say, Oh, I goofed my bad and let me sweeten the deal.

I goofed. I’m going to correct it. And I’m going to give some extra product or whatever, right? Like, I think that that’s something that more, more women need to hear is that sometimes it’s, it’s in our brains. We have to be perfect or we have to abide by what, you know, the Instagram [00:40:00] expectation that you read on a post somewhere is phone off at five o’clock.

This is what a good mom looks like in business or a good business woman, a good boss, babe. And it’s like. Who’s this work for if it’s not working for you, right? What’s the point?

Alessandra Pollina: Yeah. Yeah, exactly. I think a big, like something I always kind of latched on to early on was under promise and over deliver because I’d rather make people happier.

And it’s definitely something I run into a lot in the PR space. People have had poor experiences with PR agencies. A lot of people have very high expectations of what PR can do for them or how quickly PR is going to work for them or they’re going to see results. And so they’ve worked with agencies for a couple months and not seen the results they expected.

And then they’re like, oh, it doesn’t work for me, or I’ve been burned in the past. I get that a lot. But, you know, knowing how it works, I’m like, I don’t think you were really burned. Like, I think you probably, they didn’t set very clear expectations of you. And then you expected more and you were disappointed when it didn’t happen yet.

And [00:41:00] you probably didn’t give it enough chance. And I mean, there are people who are just not that good out there. Like, I’m not gonna say that was never the case. I think so much of it comes down to setting those expectations early and, like, continuously even, because people do kind of get caught up in, like, the excitement of it and they’re, like, they start to think, like, oh, it is going to happen faster, even if she said it might, even if she said I’m not going to see anything in the first three months, like, maybe I will because I’m doing this interview and I’m getting this opportunity and it’s, like, Nope, still it took three months for the first article to come out, but like, yeah, going over that, I think, and staying in really good communication so that they know that like, you’re working on stuff behind the scenes.

That’s a big one for me too. People want to, people just want the check. People just want to hear like, what’s been happening? What’s the feedback you’ve been getting? Who have you been pitching for me? And like that kind of thing. And I think a lot of times people forget about that.

Sara Ferrer: Absolutely. Like I, I, that resonates so much with me that like, even if you set the clear expectations, I’ve had experiences You know, where it’s like this will take [00:42:00] eight months and this across the industry, you know, across the industry that this certain task takes eight months, but then you get someone who optimism is great.

But when it starts skewing reality, it’s like, well, I think we can get it done in three. It’s like, okay, this takes eight months, right? And sometimes you find that in your experience. You know, it seems like with your persistence, you have to be, you know, you know, a lot of people, you seem to be very optimistic about your ability.

How do you kind of stay optimistic, but also stay realistic through your whole journey of when you started to where you are now, how, how has that growth looks like personally with like, Hey, I’m sure you’re building more confidence as time has gone on because you’re forming new connections, but also tailoring that to like.

Probably the stuff that happens in the PR world, which is just out of your control. How does that, how does that growth look like in terms of, again, knowing what you know, but also [00:43:00] preparing for the unexpected, I guess, is what I’m, I’m, I’m alluding to?

Alessandra Pollina: Hmm. That’s a good question. I mean, yeah, at the end of the day, like.

I want to, I want to say I have no control, like, but I also don’t want to say that, like, I feel like that’s, that’s not really true, right, because there’s always something I can do, and again, maybe that’s not optimistic, your optimisticness you’re talking about, but like, I do truly believe there’s always something we can do to like, get where we want to go, and um, So I think keeping that in mind, I don’t know though, like the thing that comes to mind, like, just while you’re asking that question is, I mean, I think I’ve personally grown so much just over this time because It’s been a long time.

But I also started, like, as I alluded to, like, I started before, like, Instagram was a thing. Like, I didn’t have anything to really compare myself to. And I don’t mean that, like, in a negative way even, but, like, you know, now as we said, like, you start a business and you [00:44:00] see all these, like, Instagram memes of, like, what you should be doing or, you know, how quickly you should be making 100, 000 a year and whatever.

I feel pretty lucky that I started before that was a thing because if I thought I was supposed to be making 100, 000 in the first year or two years or three years, like I would have felt like a failure. I mean, but you know what, now that I even just said that out loud, I’m like, but or maybe it would have pushed me that I would have grown faster.

I don’t know. But on the other hand, like I, as I said, I had my son, like within the first two years, I wasn’t looking for growth. And so, I mean, and that sounds like such an odd thing to say, but true, like truly when I started my business, which as I already said, like it wasn’t super intentional to begin with, but there was this term that people used to use a lot, I think it’s still used, but now it’s like not a cool thing anymore, but like a lifestyle business, which just meant I want to support my lifestyle.

And that’s it. Like, I just want to do what I need to do day to day to be able to pay my bills and live the life I want to live. And I’m not [00:45:00] necessarily out here to try to reach a certain revenue goal, or I’m not necessarily out here to like, you know, sell my business for a million, millions of dollars later on.

And so, and that was really where I was when I started. I said, I’m doing, I’m doing, I’m having a lifestyle business. I want to pay my bills. I want to live the life. I want to have the freedom and flexibility. I didn’t realize I could actually build the business to, to build those things in, um, because. I didn’t see all of that on Instagram yet at that time.

But, um, then once I had my son, I was like, wait, actually, I don’t want this because when I’m not working, I’m not making money. And I want to be able to do all of it. I want to be able to like stay home with him, but still be making money, like still have my business and going. And that’s when I had a big shift in like what I wanted out of the business and realized I wanted to actually turn it into an agency.

So it could be like, you know, I could be making money and it could, I could have the business even if I’m not working right then. So that was the big shift for me there. But, like, I think it’s just important to keep in mind, like, again, that goes back to what we kind of touched on earlier of what was right in the moment.

Like, what was right for me at that stage [00:46:00] of life? And at that stage of life, I wasn’t looking for growth. I was looking to still be making money because I wasn’t in a position to not be working or not be making money. But I knew I wanted to also be home with my baby as much as possible. And I wanted to be able to take him out to, like, you know, the baby music class, like, in the middle of the day on a Wednesday.

That was what I wanted the most. And I built a business around that and then when he went to school, I built a business around what made the most sense there and then, but again, I think that, I think I do, I get so much motivation and inspiration from other, other people and seeing what other people are doing.

Like I know not, not everybody’s like that, but for me, I actually think that’s where most of my growth has come from. is by putting myself around other people and, and putting myself in situations or even just consuming, you know, content and information from other people because I wouldn’t have even thought that these things were possible if I didn’t see it.

From other people doing it or talking about it [00:47:00] sometimes, that’s kind of where I’m coming from with the whole, like, when I first started, like, I didn’t even know 100, 000 was the goal, you know?

Sara Ferrer: In a way, it’s refreshing, but then it’s also like, once you know, you know, right? Like, ignorance is bliss until you’re like, wait, that’s what people are out here doing?

Alessandra Pollina: Yeah, yeah. And I mean, you know, 12 years ago, that was very different. Like, now I feel like it’s so , easy in a way or like, like a hundred thousand is like a lot to like live off. Back then a hundred thousand for me was like a lot and I didn’t even know that was the goal. But yeah, the growth is just, I think, staying aware and checking in with yourself and figuring out what makes the most sense at that time and having those goals, those five year goals, the three year goals.

But also. Revisiting them as you need to because your, your needs might change by the time you get there and you have the power to be able to change what those goals are or what those outcomes are for you in that, in that time, by the time you get there.

Sara Ferrer: Yeah, and with that said, where’s quotable? You know, where, where [00:48:00] is quotable media now?

Like, give us an update. There’s a podcast, there’s a magazine. How many people are on the team? Where has it evolved to? What types of clients are you attracting now that you can be more selective? Where is the next chapter? We’re quotable going.

Alessandra Pollina: Yeah, I mean, so, so it’s interesting. We’re in a, in an interesting time now where like during COVID, I hired people who were not local to me and I’m based in Boston.

And the team actually grew at that time because again, life, right? Like what I needed in that moment of life was more people because I was stuck at home with my son and I couldn’t have anyone help with him. And he was like five or so at that time. So I brought on more people to the team because what I could do was have other people help with the clients, right?

And then now, though, you can see I’m in this new space, I’m, I’m like really embracing being in person. I really like to have my team around me, like as I’ve like mentioned several times, like I’m really lit up by being like other people’s energy and, and being around other people. Yeah, [00:49:00] just being in community with others.

And so I, I have everyone right now who’s working with me is local. Not to say that’s always gonna be the case forever, but right now that’s kind of like the big shift for quotable is that we are. It all in the Boston area. The team is actually smaller right now, but I don’t really want to say that because I think we’re going to expand a little bit more in the next couple months depending on when this comes out.

But I’ve just been really liking having people in person. Most of our clients right now are local too, which again I don’t, kind of don’t want to say because like we still are totally open to working with clients who are not local. But I’ve been loving like being able to have in person meetings with the clients, going on site to see what they’re working on, things like that.

A lot of what we’ve been focusing on lately is. A more holistic visibility strategy. It’s not just only the traditional media right now because that’s not necessarily enough for what they need. So we are thinking about what else is going to move the needle for the visibility that they want and desire.

And some of that includes other pieces. We are doing some [00:50:00] more social content. One of the people on my team has, is a videographer and photographer, so we can like offer that in house now and really come at that through the lens of the PR and, and the media whole, the whole kind of, you know, process of if we’re going to pitch an editor, like, and then they go to look at your, your Instagram page, we want it to like align with what we’re pitching with the story that we’re telling them about you.

So these things are all really, really interconnected. And so being able to offer more of that, getting people to the right events, setting up the collaborations that are going to really get you in front of the right people. So we’re sort of. Offering more to clients right now than what we have historically.

And then along those lines too, I’m also doing a kind of a new program directly to work with female founders. So not as much a focus on the brand and the company, but really working directly with a founder in a small group setting. Where, as I was kind of saying, we’re taking you from business owner to thought leader, because [00:51:00] that’s really what people need these days.

People need to be seen as a thought leader in their field. That’s what I’m seeing people really, really wanting right now, but not necessarily knowing how to do it. They’re like, I’ve been on all these podcasts, but like then what? Like nothing’s happened. And because they’re just kind of throwing themselves at these opportunities with no real strategy.

So I just kind of saw that need. And that’s something that we’re going to, you know, by the time this comes out, I’m sure we’ll be underway, going to be starting in the next couple of weeks. But that’s what I’m like really excited about right now is kind of working with people in that capacity. And yeah, we have the magazine and we have the, the podcast.

And if anybody wants to like pitch themselves to be in those, like that is the whole point is that we’re a platform for telling more women’s stories. So we have opportunities to submit for like the magazine, the print, um, it comes out quarterly in print, but it’s online as well.

Sara Ferrer: You stay busy. I will say that.

You stay busy, girl.

Alessandra Pollina: You know, it’s one of my goals for next year is to figure out, [00:52:00] like, how to not be so busy. You know what I mean? Like, I’m really trying to figure out, like, how can I I don’t know. I do need more help, essentially, because like, again, it’s not all me doing all of these things. Like, I can’t stress that enough, but I do feel like I’m still doing too much of it.

So trying to figure out how to streamline certain things, you know, build out the team in a way that makes the most sense, all of that stuff for, for 2025.

Sara Ferrer: Totally. I mean, that, that makes sense. I think busy is good until you’re too busy. And then you’re like, how the hell do I scale back? Uh, that’s right. I mean, Serena and I, Serena’s in London.

And I mean, when I was in Boston, it would be like. 8 o’clock Boston time and I’d be like, there’s just no way in hell she’s like awake right now, but I’m just gonna slack her real quick. And she, she would like right back and say, Oh no, like I’m here, I’m vibing, Oh, it’s only 2 a. m. My side. And I’d be like, you’re a mad woman.

But like, I think, you know, it, it was, [00:53:00] some of us identify that like busy, as long as it’s busy working to work something, it’s like, no, this is good. But then at what point do you go. Being busy and being productive versus just being busy to be busy can be, you know, when it’s draining and it’s not connecting to people one on one and it’s not, you know, fulfilling your soul.

It’s just more busy work.

Serena Reynolds: I was going to say at some point being an entrepreneur or being a business owner, you have to start working on your business and not other people’s businesses. I think that’s where you, you kind of, well, that’s where I struggle. I don’t know about anybody else. That’s where I struggle is, is where.

Where is that line? How do I navigate that?

Alessandra Pollina: Well, I think it’s tricky because, like, as entrepreneurs, it’s like we’re doing it because we, like, love doing it. Like, it’s, for me, it’s just like, I just want to do all the things. Like, I can’t stand the idea that I’ll look back and be like, I never even tried doing that.

Like, you know, I just, I love doing all the things. I want to do all the [00:54:00] things. And I just, I don’t know, I think I have, I have a fear of regret.

Serena Reynolds: But you’re a business owner, you, you have, you, you have that role as well, as well, I’m going to say. I like the fact that you changed your business name though from your name.

I think that’s a, that’s a really affirming step in your journey to, to growing your agency.

Alessandra Pollina: Yeah, my, I like, I mean, I know there’s a lot of agencies that are named after a person and it doesn’t like mean they’re still working there, anything like that, but for me it was like, okay, I want to be able to step away, like when I’m 45 and what if I don’t want to be doing this at all, like I want, but I want the business to still be going and so I wanted to already kind of start letting people have the idea of like, this isn’t, yeah.

Me, this is an agency, and you work with me sometimes, and also maybe sometimes you’re totally just working with my team, like you’re working with Quotable, it doesn’t mean you’re gonna get Alessandra. Yeah, so for me that was like [00:55:00] a differentiation of like, it’s bigger than me, and it will go on without me, eventually, hopefully.

Sara Ferrer: Very smart. And let me ask you, we do this thing every, every podcast where we ask a former interviewee The next interviewee, a question, so we have a question for you from, from Lisa Sands, who is the owner of Shop 2 to 5 Designs, cute little fashion line. The question is, what would you tell your younger self that would propel you forward now?

A piece of advice or something you tell your younger self

Alessandra Pollina: That we can do whatever we want to do, and it’s worth just trying, like there’s no reason you can’t do absolutely anything you want to do. And I think, you know, when you’re younger, you don’t necessarily know that that’s possible. Things seem really hard, or it seems like you have to have, you know, X, Y, Z in [00:56:00] place first or a certain amount of experience or money or whatever it is, but like, if you want to do something, you can absolutely find a way to do it.

Sara Ferrer: I love that. It’s so simple in theory, but like, you’re absolutely right. Like, it’s like pretty, I think the older you get, the more you’re like, whatever your mind, you put your mind to, it can happen. It’s like so cliche, but it is so honest. The older you get, you’re like, I can do this if I literally want to, as opposed to like, It’s too hard.

It’s like, no, no. You can figure it out. We’ve had people on the moon, right? Like we can figure this out.

Alessandra Pollina: You can always find the resources. It’s just usually a matter of finding the resources or the connections and I think sometimes we let that hold ourselves. Like I just think if you know that that’s possible and then the only, the only way to fail is by not trying or not like keep going until you’ve actually done it, but like there’s always a way to do it.

And if we just, you know, I feel like you can skip so many steps and like so much struggle if you just know that the outcome. Is definitely inevitable, [00:57:00] like there’s no way not to make it happen if you, you know, if you know you can, and I feel like if I had told, if I knew that, you know, maybe, I don’t know, maybe I would have done more sooner, maybe I would have done more bigger, I think I could have gotten bigger, I don’t even know, I don’t even know what it was like, what the propel would be, but.

Sara Ferrer: But with that said, what would you ask our next interviewee? I mean, you could be as fluffy and dreamy, or you can be as simple and to the point.

Alessandra Pollina: Hmm. Oh my gosh. I was afraid of you. I mean, I gathered you were going to ask me that next. Like, I feel like I should ask something really good.

Sara Ferrer: Listen, it can be as simple.

We say this at every podcast. We’re like, we’re not, this is not the hot seat where it’s like your final word. Okay, girl.

Alessandra Pollina: I feel like something that I’ve been thinking about a lot or asking people a lot lately is, um, what is one way that another woman has supported you lately?

Sara Ferrer: Girl, that is a great [00:58:00] question.

We love that. What is one way that another woman has supported you recently? Yeah. Ah, you are just bringing it right back to the woman empowerment thing. And Serena and I, snap, snap for that. We are loving that.

Alessandra Pollina: I think we all have to support each other

and, and we do, you know, there’s a lot out there about women not supporting each other enough or whatever, but like, I honestly think.

I see it all the time, and I think we should talk about it more.

Sara Ferrer: Right. But I wonder sometimes, too, it’s like, you know, I mean, you’re in PR, so you see a lot of headlines. I always wonder, too, I mean, it’s that natural gravitation. I don’t know if you’ve ever, like, several years ago. I was watching Shark Tank and there was this app that was being pitched, a dating app, and it was called like Hater or something where like it paired people with things that they hate.

Uh, you know, I hate this soccer team. I hate this food because studies show that people tend to bond [00:59:00] better over, you know, so, so, but it always stuck with me because the whole basis of it was that like, you know, in society we tend to gravitate towards people who hate the same things. And so, so I’m, I’m saying that because.

When it comes to the headlines and clickbait, if you will, it’s always very polarizing, you know, to, to females in power side fighting each other, you know, there’s that natural, I think. You know, uh, a curiosity to go, Oh my God, tell me the, the tea, the drama. I really wonder, and I think it’s something not enough people have even explored.

Well, if the headline would be, Megan and Kate bond over this thing, click, click, click, click, click, it’d be like the curiosity of like, what does bring them together? But I think sometimes we just live in a world, to your point, where the numbers show, okay, catfight drama. But no, no, no. We were only here because women supported us.

We supported each other. You reached out to a call [01:00:00] to say, Hey, do you want to be on this podcast? We can help uplift you. So I think that’s really important to verbalize that it’s not just in the headlines. Your lived experience has been women help helping each other, other women. And then it’s our same experience.

So putting more of that out there to normalize it. It’s a beautiful thing.

Alessandra Pollina: And it’s what they say, right? What you focus on, you notice more of and, and grow up to. So like, yeah, if you’re thinking that everything is a cat fight, you’re going to see more of that probably. Totally. But if you choose not to, as you said, like, I think we’ve all seen it in a much more positive way.

We’re seeing, yeah, I think we’re seeing what we want to see. A lot more than what people are saying is out there.

Sara Ferrer: Absolutely. Now, where, for our listeners, where do we find this quotable media? Like, okay, they’re in love with the mission. They’re in love with you. They’re like, girl, she gets me. Where do they find you?

Tell us. Where can we, where can we learn more about the team, the mission, all [01:01:00] these fun projects you’re doing?

Alessandra Pollina: Most things are all housed at quotablemediaco. com. So you can go online to quotable media co.com and find that where you can also connect with me on Instagram or LinkedIn. LinkedIn is obviously my name, Alessandra Pollina.

I’m trying to do more over there. Or Instagram. I am Alessandra Pollina. And then we also have an Instagram for Quotable Media Co. And we also have an Instagram for Quotable Magazine, so you can find us on socials there. But you can find the magazine and everything at quotablemediaco. com as well. And the podcast too.

You can search for the podcast though, wherever you listen to podcasts, also quotable, a female entrepreneur podcast.

Sara Ferrer: And we’ll have all your info on our, on our site. We always say this. If, if, if in one month, two months, whenever this launches, if you’re like, Hey, I’ve got this really great new project and this new handle on it.

Don’t worry. We got you. It’ll be on the site so we can just. Put more eyes on a, a, a woman empowering [01:02:00] PR agency that’s getting shit done, but getting it done in a way that I, I just find is so uplifting. So thank you for everything.

Alessandra Pollina: Thank you. And I won’t discourage anyone, like we have literally a forum on the website for the, for the magazine.

Like there’s ways you can submit yourself to a spotlight without even having to pitch anything. Cause I wanted to make it as accessible as possible. So if anyone’s listening to this and is like, yeah, PR sounds great, but like, I don’t know about. Putting myself out there or I don’t know if I have time to do the pitching or whatever like go on there, submit yourself, get a spotlight in the magazine or pitch a larger story or an interview.

Like I just encourage people to take one action. It doesn’t have to be, you don’t have to be featured in 50 places. Get featured in one or two places that, like, I’m telling you right now, like, this is your invitation, you know, to, like, at least start with my platforms because that’s what they’re there for, and then hopefully that’ll build your confidence and, and get some, you know, momentum going for maybe doing more, and that’s really what it’s all about.

Serena Reynolds: Love it.

Sara Ferrer: Love it. Thank you so much for [01:03:00] chatting with us.

Alessandra Pollina: Thank you so much for having me. This was fun.