IAM1140- CEO Leads a Strategic PR and Communications Firm

Lauren Stewart is the CEO and founder of Stewart Media – a strategic PR and communications firm located in Washington, D.C. Prior to launching Stewart Media in 2019, she led the public relations, communications, special events, and fundraising for the Richard T. Robertson School of Media and Culture at Virginia Commonwealth University.

Career highlights include: Renaming and re-branding the “School of Mass Communications” to the “Richard T. Robertson School of Media and Culture;” launching the School’s first-ever major gift fundraising program; building and managing an internationally known media advisory board; and serving as the special event planner for the annual Virginia Communications Hall of Fame.

Stewart is an active member of PRSA and has served on the DE&I Committee since 2018. Stewart holds a M.S. (Summa Cum Laude) from VCU in strategic public relations and a B.S. (Summa Cum Laude), also from VCU, in mass communications. She is the recipient of the coveted National Kappa Tau Alpha Top Scholar Award— the National Honor Society in Journalism and Mass Communications— for earning the highest class ranking of 4.0.

• CEO Hack: (i) Toggl for time tracking (ii) Scheduling all client meetings on Monday and Friday
• CEO Nugget: The comeback is always stronger than the setback
• CEO Defined: Taking full responsibility for your business

Website: http://stewart-media.com/

Facebook: https://www.instagram.com/stewartmediapr/

Instagram: https://web.facebook.com/StewartMediaPR/

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Transcription

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00:09 – 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 the valuable info you're searching for. This is the I AM CEO podcast.

00:38 – 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 Lauren Stewart of Stewart Media. Lauren, it's great to have you on the show.

00:44 – Lauren Stewart

Thanks so much for having me, Gresh. It's great to be here. I appreciate it.

00:47 – Gresham Harkless

Yes. Definitely appreciate you for taking some time out and super excited to hear about all the awesome things that you're doing. And before we do that, I wanted to read a little bit more about Lauren so you can hear about some of those awesome things. Lauren is the CEO and founder of Stuart Media, a strategic PR and communications firm located in Washington, DC. Prior to launching Stuart Media in 2019, she led the public relations communications special events and fundraising for the Richard T. Robertson School of Media and Culture at Virginia Commonwealth University.

Her career highlights include renaming and rebranding the School of Mass Communications to the Richard T. Robertson School of Media and Culture launching the school's first-ever major gift fundraising program, building and managing an internationally known media advisory board, and serving as a special event planner for the annual Virginia Communications Hall of Fame. She is an active member of PRSA and has served on the DENI committee since 2018. Suer Jose, MS summa cum laude from VCU, strategic public relations, and a BS summa cum laude also from VCU as well in mass communication. She is a recipient of the coveted National Kappa Tau Alpha Top Scholar Award, and the National Honor Society in Journalism and Mass Communications for earning the highest class ranking of 4.0.

I love hearing about all your excellence and how you poured yourself into everything that you're doing. And now you're pouring yourself into helping the clients make a dent in the universe. So Lauren, are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?

[restrict paid=”true”]

02:08 – Lauren Stewart

I am so ready. Yes.

02:10 – Gresham Harkless

Awesome. Well, 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 about how you got started, what to call your CEO story.

02:17 – Lauren Stewart

Yes, absolutely. So I would say my story really began, you know, at elementary school, if I could take it all the way back then. 1994 in Virginia, and I was in the second grade, and we had this music teacher at school who was known for being like super mean to students. And one day, you know, she made little baby Lauren cry and I came home and I was so upset. My mother being the very empowering feminist woman that she is, empowered me and encouraged me to not just complain about it to her but to do something about it. And so because I have to take everything to the next level, right, little baby Lauren decided to go out and write a letter to the then governor of Virginia and try to make a PR campaign case that parents should be allowed to go to music class with their children.

The governor actually wrote back at that time and although my request was not successfully taken up by the governor or the Virginia Journal Assembly for consideration. He encouraged me at that time to continue speaking up and out about things that I felt very passionate about. So at that time, little baby Lauren 1994 had no idea what PR meant or was, but I considered that my very first PR. Going into adulthood, I found myself in Virginia, Virginia, Commonwealth University, And that's where I decided to really hone in on my studies in public relations.

Very blessed that I was connected with so many amazing mentors along the way through that process in the journalism, PR, and advertising industries. And just really went from there, from undergrad, went right into grad school. And at that time, that was when the economy was in a really bad shape, 2010. So that's when I went into my master's program. And it was the best decision I could have ever made. I had no idea at that time that the people in that cohort the professors and the industry professionals that I was working with would be completely life-changing.

And it was that program that ended up helping me get my foot in the door to BCU. And that was the opportunity for me to really do so at age 24 and all sorts of other cool things. And that, of course, all that experience led up to 2019 when I was able to launch my own PR firm. So here we are today.

04:48 – Gresham Harkless

Nice. I absolutely appreciate that. I love how, you know, little baby Lauren, you know, planted that seed and then it grew into something really phenomenal. You being able to kind of make, you know, that impact for so many clients and then for yourself as well too. And I think it speaks to a lot of how important it is, those lessons we get when we're younger and how we're carrying them on about, you know, seeing something and deciding to speak out and speak up as you said so well so that we can make sure our voice and our issues and our opinions are heard.

05:14 – Lauren Stewart

Absolutely, absolutely.

05:18 – Gresham Harkless

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. So I wanted to drill down a little bit more and hear a little bit more on how you work with your clients and how that process goes. Can you take us through a little bit more on what that looks like?

05:25 – Lauren Stewart

Absolutely. So unlike a traditional PR agency that says, hey, we specialize in specific industries, right? Maybe it's food and beverage or hospitality or entertainment somebody who never does things the traditional way I don't do it that way I work with brands that I believe in so this goes from clients that are solopreneurs to corporations with 50, 000 employees. I do What it comes down to is my process when I work with clients again, it always starts with, is it a brand that I believe in? Something that I believe impacts in some way shape or form in our society.

That is super important to me. I will never lose that, that is really a huge ethos behind Seward Media. And then from there, what we do in the onboarding process, It's really, it's honestly, it's very simple. I live, eat, and read those clients. So when we bring them on board, you know, Steward Media is not just an agency that you hire, we truly work with our clients as if we are your internal PR and communications, you know, team. We are always there and it's a 24-7, 365 job. And I love every moment of it. Our clients are truly, They're just so amazing. I could go on and on for hours. It's truly an honor to be able to help them communicate their messaging and to be able to help them grow their brands to the level of impact that they wanna make in the world.

07:00 – Gresham Harkless

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. So what would you consider to be what I like to call your secret sauce? This is a thing that you feel kind of either sets you apart personally or your business or a combination of both and makes you unique.

07:10 – Lauren Stewart

Awesome question. I would say that Stuart Media was founded on a very simple yet very highly complex issue of my own experience in my industry, right? I love my work. I love what I do. I love public relations. But the media industry as a whole, and when I say media, I'm referring to news outlets, blogging, advertising, PR, everything that falls under that umbrella. And it's a very, you know, I can just be blunt. It's a very sexist and racist industry. And I saw so many problems through my own experience and witnessing my own friends. And I was just like, wow.

And it's huge because what we do is controlling the messaging that's coming out to the masses. So if there's huge sexism and racism in our industry, we'll know what messaging that's coming out at a national level is just perpetuating and supporting these broken and oppressive systems, right? So I wanted Stuart Media to be a place where we are a media agency that elevates and gives opportunity to black and POC and LGBTQIA and that's just so important. We have to have a media that represents the world, that represents the audience. And this is a huge component, I personally believe in, that needs to be addressed and in place.

08:44 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah, absolutely. So I love and appreciate you for being able to do that. And so I wanted to switch gears a little bit and I wanted 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?

08:57 – Lauren Stewart

Okay, so something that makes me more effective and efficient, I'll actually throw 2 out at you. One, something super practical. It is Toggl. This is not an endorsement. I do not work with them. They are not a client. But they're just literally a free-time tracking app or website that you can use. It is so amazing how to track your time management and agency life, you got to track that time management. That's on the practical, the tool side. Then another hack, I'm not even going to take credit for this, a friend of mine, Hannah, who also runs a digital marketing firm called Westfall Digital Strategies.

That's not a plug for her either just a friend. But she taught me this and I love it. It's scheduled for all your client meetings on Mondays and Fridays, right? And then you have the middle of the week to really dive in and get the work done. And again, a time management thing, but it's so, it just, it works, right? You capture things at the beginning and the end and like who tells you what it makes scheduling so much nicer.

09:57 – Gresham Harkless

Absolutely and so I wanted to ask you now for what I call a CEO nugget so there could be a word of wisdom or piece of advice. It might be something if you were to hop into a time machine or something you might tell a client as well.

10:09 – Lauren Stewart

Ooh, OK. A little nugget. So I'm going to say The comeback is always stronger than the setback. Okay? And this is a nugget that can apply to your personal life or your professional life. And I think it's particularly, you know, in the PR world, you know, it's almost like sometimes you're the therapist without therapist credentials. You know everything about your clients, right? The good, the bad, the ugly, the beautiful. And sometimes in that role, when people lean on you and them, you know, your life or whatever problem it is can seem like it's just so daunting and like there's no way around it and how are you ever gonna get through it?

And the comeback is always stronger than the setback. So just stay the course, and stay focused. There are solutions to everything. Marie Folio, a big entrepreneur, is very successful. She has that book, you know, everything is figured out. I love that saying because it's so true. And I guess the comeback is always stronger than the setback is my version of that. Everything is figured out. Like whatever you think your setback is in business and in life, whatever, trust me, you can not only overcome that, but you can come back to what's bigger than whatever that obstacle was. You know, those buffers mold you into a better person.

11:27 – Gresham Harkless

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. 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 to have different quote-unquote CEOs on the show. So Lauren, what does being a CEO mean to you?

11:37 – Lauren Stewart

Being a CEO means taking full responsibility for yourself, your life, your business, and your work. We have this preconceived notion, I think, through society, or at least I did when I was starting off, that being a CEO meant, you know, it's like, you know, you're completely buttoned up and you have this very corporate type mentality. And I just think that, yes, that can be 1 way, but I think being CEO, it's just being the boss of yourself. It's, you know, it's doing the right things, even when it's difficult. It's making the calls that you need to make that are going to have the most positive impact on you and everything connected to you. And that's where we're human.

We make mistakes. And you're not always going to walk that line for sure. If I made mistakes, woo, absolutely. But I don't let them stop me. You know, it's just like we were just talking about, you know, with the darkest before the dawn, right? So you have to be able to push through and you have to be able to do that in your own way. You know, like even the news headlines this week, right? Our favorite Olympic gymnast, We wanted her out there winning that goal, but you know what? You need to do this best for you. And I so admire her. I had chills talking about it right now. I just, I so admire the strength that took her to stand up and say, no. And you know what? That's being a CEO. That's being a boss. That's saying, I need to do what's going to be best for me and my path and everyone connected to me. So props to everyone who can do that and that's what being a CEO is, taking control of your life.

13:13 – Gresham Harkless

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. Well, Lauren truly appreciates that definition And I appreciate your time even more. What I wanted to do was 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 a hold of you and find out about all the awesome things you're working on.

13:26 – Lauren Stewart

Awesome. Well, thank you so much. And yes, so the best way to keep in touch is to follow us on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, or whatever your you know preference is and that's just at Stuart Media PR all one word, and then, of course, you can pop on the website StuartHypenedMedia.com and then you know I would love to just leave everyone with this to just really truly be empowered to truly look at your media and your messaging. And 2 things, one, I know that the trust and you know this is all statistics, right?

So take it with a grain of salt, but it seems that the trust across the board and journalism has truly faded, and that just so saddens me. And I just would love to just remind everyone that journalism is the fourth estate. It is the watchdog of our government. It is the watchdog of major corporations, of all the players at hand that are shaping our world, not just here at home, but abroad, even just from Black Lives Matter to Palestinians suffering right now. I mean, there's so much. And I want everyone to just really be encouraged to seek various views. If you're watching a news station that is only putting out the views of one party, one political party, it's probably not news.

It's probably propaganda. So look at your independent journalists and check out things like your NPR and your PBS or even great things. And abroad, I would just say things from your Al Jazeera and stuff. Explore and check out the media messaging and trust journalists. They're there for a reason and they're very good at their job. So listen to that and think about how the messages that you consume impact the choices that you make and take control of that. And don't just seek messages that are going to reinforce something just because it's what you've always been taught, you know, seek different views, make informed decisions. And that's what I would love to impart people with.

15:29 – Gresham Harkless

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. I truly appreciate that, Lauren. We will have the links and information in the show notes. And I love that you left us with those final words about the power of media, but also steps that we can take as well, too. I always heard and I believe that there are at least 3 sides to a story. There's A, there's the B side, and then there's the truth. You want to make sure that you are kind of paying attention to each of those because not only does that help to shape our viewpoints and our beliefs, but it also helps to make the world a better place when you have a more holistic look at certain issues. So I appreciate you for reminding us of that, of course, doing that as well. And I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.

16:02 – Outro