IAM1130- Public Relations Expert Helps Brands Make a Difference

Unapologetically pushing the Culture forward, Camille Davis pivoted to focus on Black-owned and Women-owned businesses in 2019. Focused on impactful brands, Davis is building her legacy by giving voice to those who contribute to the greater good and make their communities thrive. She's the host of Meet The Media, The WomenForTheCulture Podcast, and a Media Guru. She's making space for and propelling Black Women and representation.

• CEO Hack: My media list
• CEO Nugget: (i) Learn and grow (ii) Don't go too far to care about the business more than your client does
• CEO Defined: Ability to lead and listen

Website: http://montagepr.com/

Instagram: Instagram.com/montagepr

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Transcription

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00:25 – 00:52 Intro :

Are you ready to hear business stories and learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and level up your business from awesome CEOs, entrepreneurs, and founders without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you've come to the right place. Gresh values your time and is ready to share with you the valuable info you're in search of. This is the I AM CEO podcast.

00:53 – 01:02 Gresham Harkless:

Hello, hello, hello. This is Gresh from the I AM CEO podcast and I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Camille Davis of Montage Public Relations. Camille, it's great to have you on the show.

01:02 – 01:04 Camille Davis:

It's an honor to be here. Thank you.

01:04 – 01:33 Gresham Harkless:

The honor is all ours. And what I wanted to do is just read a little bit more about Camille so you can hear about some of those awesome things that she's doing. And unapologetically pushing the culture forward, Camille pivoted to focus on Black-owned and women-owned businesses in 2019. Focus on impactful brands. Camille is building her legacy by giving voice to those who contribute to the greater good and make their communities thrive.

She's the host of Meet the Media, the Women for the Culture podcast, and a media guru. She's making space for and propelling black women and representations. And I love everything Camille is doing because at the end of the day, having a voice is 1 of the most important things we have. So when people can do that through her platforms, I appreciate you for making a way sometimes when we feel that there's no way. So Camille, are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?

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01:49 – 01:51 Camille Davis:

Yes, I am. Let's do this.

01:51 – 01:58 Gresham Harkless:

Let's do it then. So to kind of kick everything off, I wanted to just rewind the clock a little bit. Hear a little bit more on how you got started, what I call your CEO story.

02:00 – 02:32 Camille Davis:

Absolutely. Thank you so much. I had no idea what entrepreneurship was. That wasn't something that was necessarily taught growing up. I had 2 parents who worked for the local government. They were both police officers and education was number 1. They stressed the importance of going to college. And back then it was like, okay, are you going to be a doctor? Are you going to be a lawyer? There was nothing outside of those 2 positions, at least as far as Black excellence was concerned, right? So also being located in D.C., I had family members, who just go get a good government job. You know the G.G.J. Right? That's like a good government job, a good government job. That's all people talk about in Washington D.C. Right? I guess it's just so easy and people just assume that if you live here you work within the government.

So it wasn't until maybe my junior year of high school that I started thinking about, okay, what college am I going to go to? I put feelers out and I thought I was going to go to Spelman. I already had it set. It was going to be a girl, black institution. They were so much pride in history there. But can I tell you, Spelman sent me a letter and they're like, oh, come talk to us next year? Do you know how much that shot me down, especially for my people, quote unquote, you know, so that I thought, right? So I'm like, no, I want, they couldn't have sent me a sweatshirt or a, oh my gosh, I'm so glad that you're interested. Here are some upcoming programs where learn more about our school. That didn't happen. The state welcomed me with open arms.

Not only did they do that, they invited me up for the summer. This is the summer before my senior year for a multicultural journalism workshop. At the time, I thought that I wanted to be a writer. I was good at it. So I went there and then that's when I was exposed to the world of public relations. So if Penn State had never given me that opportunity, I would have never known what public relations was. I had the opportunity to come to their campus a whole year early and experience that college experience. I was able to write for the Daily Collegian on campus. And for, we also had a communicator, which was an on-campus newspaper. So I got that writing experience before I even left high school.

So I feel like I attribute my success to Penn State giving me that opportunity when I was just eager for it, right? So that's when I decided, wow, I don't have to just choose 1 lane. I don't have to just write. I can do news. I can do advertising. I can do public relations. And you're telling me that it's all-encompassing of all of these things that I love. And that's when I just ran with it. Once I graduated, it was extremely difficult but I pushed through at the time. It was very competitive to have a career in public relations. I had to have a certain GPA even to enter into my major. But with all of that being said, I still didn't know what an entrepreneur was. I thought I was just going to work for a PR agency coming out of school.

So flash forward to my senior year of at Penn State, I'm applying to all of the PR greats the Edelmans, the Ogilvie's, I thought that I wanted to be with 1 of those big PR agencies, the Ketchums. What was interesting is I had phone conversations, during my initial phone interview, and that's what passed you along. I never got that next step interview, and I don't know why, but it wasn't for me and I'm so glad to know that now. It wasn't until I graduated and there were no jobs available. I graduated at a time where it was, we were in the middle of a recession, and jobs just were not there. So I said, I'll go to grad school. Luckily I had that option. I had a full ride to Penn State. My parents were behind me. Whatever you need to do you got us thus far.

They were willing to support me financially. So I came home, I went to GW and I went to business school. I then wanted to kind of focus on my public relations experience. I said, well, let me pick a lane. And I thought that was gonna be towards sports management and event management. So I decided to enter their business school and receive a master's in tourism administration. That's where sports management fell under. What is so funny is that I was then introduced into another world. Tourism was amazing to me. The fact that I could throw 1 event, a high profile event, let's take the Super Bowl for instance. If I could bring the Super Bowl to Washington, DC, how the area restaurants would benefit from that, how the area hotels would benefit from that, how the arts would benefit from having 1 major event produce revenue all around it? That was fascinating to me.

So here I go graduating from grad school thinking that I was going to get with local tourism administrations that still did not happen. Destination DC at the time was huge for me. I wanted to work there. I wanted to plan events in a city on a major level. Between that and working in sports I went to Penn State, which was a sports-dominated school. I had nothing but athletes as friends, but still couldn't find my place. How do I represent these people? What is so funny is that in 2010, I started Montage Public Relations. No knowledge of entrepreneurship, but simply because not only were the jobs still not available, but those that were available then were not willing to pay me what I was worth coming out with a grad school degree. I thought as though my salary should, you know, be equal to my experience or my educational background.

So I just decided, hey, I'm going to do it for myself. And luckily, I've been doing it ever since. So this is officially 11 years in business for me at Montage PR. And I'm so proud because as many of you failed within the first 2 a pleasure that I'm' and now I make sure that I'm identifying what those gaps are to make sure that other businesses just like mine see longevity.

07:53 – 08:18 Gresham Harkless:

Nice. I love that. And I appreciate you for telling your story. And a lot of times we don't realize that when we're sometimes facing a place where we can't go to a stop-gap or a dead end. A lot of times it's a redirection into something better. So I love that you've been able to kind of do that and remind us of how important that is. So I wanted to drill down a little bit more and hear a little bit more about montage PR, hear how you work with your clients, and also hear a little bit more about what you feel kind of sets you apart and is like what I like to call your secret sauce.

08:24 – 08:56 Camille Davis:

Thank you. I'm all about emotion. I'm all about communicating a brand's message and I make sure that I tap into the emotions of the reader, the viewer, and the customer. That is kind of like my thing, you know, my secret sauce, as you can say. I don't think that we can tell a message without making it relatable. So I want to come into your home whether my client is on the news or whether you're reading about their product in the paper and I want to make it make you feel a certain type of way. I want to tell their story and either make you laugh or make you cry or make it hit home the fact that you want to align with this business. That's how I appeal to the customer.

Also, right about now, I only want to work with businesses that are about impact. I think that we've been through a lot as a nation over the past year. Not only do we wanna see the people who are packaging their products, we wanna know the people who are behind that brand. We wanna hold those people accountable. We wanna know that they care about the customer. So I'm all about brands that wanna make a difference and an impact. It's all about CSR to me. What's your corporate social responsibility? How are you giving back and making a footprint in a major way? And that's really what I'm invested in. And I think that that is how I make my clients stand out as opposed to the rest.

09:50 – 10:01 Gresham Harkless:

Absolutely. And so I wanted to switch gears a little bit and I want to ask you for what I call a CEO hack. So this could be like an app, a book, or a habit that you have, but what's something that makes you more effective and efficient?

10:01 – 10:24 Camille Davis:

Can I say my media list? That's my Bible in a sense. Without my media list, I couldn't do anything. So I think that that's my go-to having this document that you can at the press of a button access a ton of contacts in 1 moment. That's my way in and out of any situation.

10:25 – 10:39 Gresham Harkless:

Absolutely. And so I wanted to ask you now for what I call a CEO nugget. So this could be a word of wisdom or a piece of advice. It might be something you would tell a client related to PR or it might be something if you were to happen to a time machine, you would tell your younger business self.

10:40 – 11:18 Camille Davis:

I love this question. I'm finding out things about myself yearly as I go along, but that's good, right? Because we all want to grow. You never want to be in a place where you're not learning, right? So most recently, I've been struggling personally with being emotional, But that's a good thing as well. I think that the reason why I'm in public relations is because I'm a people person. I always put my client's best interests first. However, that can be detrimental for someone who's an empath like myself because I feel everything, every single no that comes by from a reporter. It's like the publicist is the person who receives all the nos, so the client doesn't have to. But at the end of the day, it's draining.

So if I could give you any advice if you're an empath, public relations may not be the industry for you. But 1 thing that I will say a potential investor pulled me aside and said I think sometimes you care more than the client does. And you would think that's a good thing, right? But it's not. You cannot be more passionate about a project than your client is. You want to make sure that you are passionate. I don't take on any clients that I do not fully support their idea because I need to be able to communicate this to the public when they're not around, right? But my problem is you never want to get too far in where you care about the baby more than the client does because that just doesn't work out And that's something that I've had to learn over the years.

12:19 – 12:29 Gresham Harkless:

Absolutely. And so I want to ask you now my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. And we're hoping that different quote-unquote CEOs on the show. So Camille, what does being a CEO mean to you?

12:31 – 13:10 Camille Davis:

I think that being a CEO is the ability to lead, but also the ability to listen. I had a conversation before we were on this interview today with 1 of my social media managers And although I'm in public relations in our world's cross, I do not in any way lead anyone to believe that I'm an expert in social media. I think that it is important to have people around you. How do they say that your network is your net worth? I think that being able to pull from like-minded individuals, is what makes you a highly successful CEO. Knowing where other strengths lie and being able to pull upon them and utilize them. I think that that's what makes a good leader.

13:20 – 13:35 Gresham Harkless:

Awesome, awesome, awesome. Well, Camille truly appreciate that definition and I appreciate your time even more. What I wanted to do is just pass you the mic, so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional that you can let our readers and listeners know and of course how best they can get ahold of you and find out about your podcast and all the awesome things that you're working on.

13:36 – 14:09 Camille Davis:

I think that before now, self-care was never even a word. And I'm starting to learn that going, all engines blasting, working 24/7 is great. But at the end of the day, rest is so important. And I'm starting to learn that myself, because as you said, we cannot pour from an empty cup. So as we're all trying to take over and have our 7 different lanes and streams of income, I do want to make sure that we save time for ourselves and our mental. And we know how important that is.

And again, going back to creating and setting boundaries, know that we have little ones watching us. So that's so important to me as I'm raising my son and he's 4 years old now, is taking that time to sometimes disconnect, to remember to be present. It's so difficult being a CEO nowadays, especially when we're in the land of all CEOs. But I think that we also have to remember at the end of okay to unplug. It's okay to have a mental just try to stay as it is.

14:44 – 14:51 Gresham Harkless:

I appreciate people who want to get me into your pocket.

14:51 – 15:27 Camille Davis:

Thank you so much. Absolutely. The Women for the Culture podcast, we broadcast basically on all major streaming networks. You can find us on Anchor, Spotify, iHeartRadio, you name it. And there I'm interviewing your favorite celebrities. Also with Meet the Media, I'm interviewing your favorite media reps, not only pushing the conversation on why it's important to control the narrative, and why representation matters but also getting tips directly from the source on how we can elevate and level up in all areas of our lives.

So look for me there. Also, I'm on Instagram. If you go to MontagePR, you can use that as a hub to everything that I have my hands and access to, and basically, that's my best visual portfolio to show you what I do. And I can do that better than I can tell you so please join me over on Instagram at Montage PR, dropping my DMS. Take a consultation. I promise I don't bite.

15:52 – 16:17 Gresham Harkless:

I truly appreciate that Camille. We will have the links and information in the show notes as well too so that everybody can follow up with you. But I love that last piece that you left us with as well too about being so cognizant of our health and our mental health, especially after this past year and a half plus of how important that is not to take away from the work or take away from the work that we do, but it adds to it and creates more fuel for us to be able to be of service and to people that we're working with from a business standpoint or even our loved ones that we have around us. So thank you so much for reminding us of that and how important that is. And I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.

16:28 – Outro