Sophie Lord is a good human. Truly her values run deep and one of the most lovely things about this beautiful human is that she doesn’t shout from the rooftops about all the awesome things she does, instead, she just makes value judgments and strives to be better than she has had shown to her in her career as Art Director for the likes of Bauer Media and Pacific Magazines. Sophie unequivocally rejects the messages from corporate execs that the colour green and Asians on a cover won’t sell mags. As a result of this misguided advice, Sophie has developed an MO to raise the bar, but she’s not necessarily spruiking a diversity and inclusivity policy, she’s just living it. She’s not necessarily an environmental ambassador, instead, she makes conscious decisions to support small businesses that consider the life cycle of their product’s consumption. She’s not a paid-up mouthpiece for the industry but she has advocated for better support for bridal businesses through the tidal wave of CV19. She truly is a champion for good. Being the editor of Hello May, a bridal magazine with heart, is one of the many strings to Sophie’s bow. Sophie says she felt like the bridal industry needed a breath of fresh air and authenticity and so she set about doing things differently to the big brand publishing companies. Printed on recycled paper stock with soy-based inks, printed in Australia, she is on the front line of changing the magazine landscape. As Sophie says, independent publishers are kind of having a moment. While the big brands and titles are closing around them, Sophie and her team are weathering the pandemic and regaining momentum after an initial pause. This conversation was a joy to record with Sophie and will be incredibly valuable to vendors, photographers, wedding gown designers, stylists, and all of the creatives who bring our weddings to life. Find Sophie at https://www.instagram.com/sophielord/ https://www.instagram.com/hellomaymagazine/ Find Odette Barry online https://instagram.com/odetteandco https://instagram.com/hackyourownpr

Alison Izzo's CV reads like a dream for anyone who loves glossy women's magazines. From Harper's Bazaar and Elle to Cosmopolitan, Dolly and Cleo, Alison has worked at some of Australia's best loved titles doing everything from fashion styling to managing huge digital footprints that attract millions of eyeballs each week. 

Alison's current role as digital editor at body + soul has her overseeing the respected health and fitness publication's online presence, including producing and co-hosting the Healthy-ish podcast. 

Alison joined me recently to talk about the women that body + soul speaks to with its content, what she's looking for in health and fitness pitches, and what makes her tick as an editor. She spelled out for us why she's so interested in hypercurrent trends and how to take advantage of these when you're pitching stories, including why you need to do keyword analysis. Plus she talks about video and why it's a super important area for body + soul's content strategy. 

It's a jam-packed episode full of insights into one of Australia's best health and fitness publications. 

Find Alison on Instagram 

https://www.instagram.com/ali__izzo/

Find Odette Barry online

https://instagram.com/odetteandco

https://instagram.com/hackyourownpr

Brittney Rigby is a senior journalist at Mumbrella, primarily covering media agencies and editing the opinion vertical. In this episode we go deep into conversation about the state of the media landscape, contemplating the financial models beyond traditional advertising models. From The Guardian through to New York Times, Brittney shares the subscription models that are working (although the outlets are very coy on specific numbers). We talk diversity in the media landscape and Brittney shares some questions she believes we should be asking of ourselves to encourage grassroots changes, as we scramble to catch up on gender and cultural diversity at the executive level. Of course, we talk through what Brittney and Mumbrella are looking for in pitches, if you’re interested in elevating your profile in the marketing and media industry you’ll want to have a pen handy. Find Brittney on Twitter https://twitter.com/brittneyrigby Find Odette Barry online https://instagram.com/odetteandco https://instagram.com/hackyourownpr

Sarah Lawrence LOVES her job. From courtroom trials to burglaries, with the occasional (possibly) haunted house thrown in, Sarah's day as a senior journalist with Nine's Central Victoria bureau is fast-moving, varied and, as you'd imagine, a wee bit crazy with all those deadlines. Sarah has been a regular on the regional media scene since 2011. She grew up in Melbourne, then worked in newspapers and media in Geelong and Torquay while juggling a journalism degree at La Trobe University. Moving to Bendigo, she never imagined she would enjoy regional life so much, working at Prime7 and WIN News, with a short stint in Wagga Wagga in between. In 2017, Sarah moved to Nine News where she helped set up the Central Victorian bureau as Senior Reporter. Sarah believes there are huge opportunities in regional media. Journalists are often covering courts, crime and politics, however with regional media comes quiet days where journalists are hungry for strong stories with good vision. In this conversation, Sarah shares what she’s looking for in a story, how to pitch to a regional news desk, how long they spend producing, writing, and researching stories, the best time to hit her up with breaking news and how to prepare for an interview. If you want to download my freebie from this episode – jump over to my website www.odetteandco.com.au/regionalPR You can follow Sarah on Twitter at @sarahtlawrence9. Find Odette Barry online https://instagram.com/odetteandco https://instagram.com/hackyourownpr

Kimberley Furness is the founder and editor of Oak Magazine, a quarterly print publication that shines a light on regional and rural stories around Australia. Feeling fed up with going to the supermarket and never seeing magazines that spoke to her, Kimberley decided to shine a light on regional women by creating her own publication. And in 2017, Oak Magazine was born. (The story of how Kimberley pulled the first issue together will make any print editor break out in a cold sweat.) Kimberley has traversed the media landscape in various roles, from literal cut-and-paste jobs at the local paper in high school through to a Supre-clad internship with Cosmopolitan and founding her own communications agency. And now, she's living her dream of creating her own magazine while kicking some serious goals for regional women and businesses along the way. Three years in, Oak has already had some major highlights, like featuring Kimberley's media hero, Lisa Messenger, and jewellery designer, Samantha Wills, on the cover, plus a sell-out issue under its belt. During our chat, Kimberley shares the rollercoaster of learnings across her journey from launch to issue 7, how print has been affected by CV-19 and what her golden rules are when you're pitching to Oak. You can find Oak on Instagram @oakmagazineau and check out Kimberley's podcast @afriendofmine for more conversations with incredible women in regional Australia. If you want to download my freebie from this episode – jump over to my website www.odetteandco.com.au/regionalPR Find Odette Barry online https://instagram.com/odetteandco https://instagram.com/hackyourownpr

Georgie Robertson is one of the leaders of regional PR, known for winning outstanding results for her clients and delivering great stories to media that hit the mark. The Regional PR Co is her creative relations agency based in Wagga Wagga that works with entrepreneurs, solopreneurs, small businesses and big organisations that give a damn about regional Australia. Georgie herself was raised on a sheep and cattle station in outback New South Wales before she moved to Sydney to work in public relations across tourism, entertainment, lifestyle and more. This lady not only knows what resonates with regional audiences, she's also fortunate enough to have a great book of contacts from national media. And boy does she know how to package regional stories in a way that gets mainstream attention. In this episode, Georgie generously shares a little of what she's learned over her 15 years in the business, including some recent lessons, plus the common strategies that she uses with her clients - which can also work for you if you're managing your own PR. If you want to download my freebie from this episode – jump over to my website www.odetteandco.com.au/regionalPR

Find Odette Barry online https://instagram.com/odetteandco https://instagram.com/hackyourownpr Connect with Georgie https://www.instagram.com/the_regional_pr_co/

Sally Prosser is a voice coach who’s all about helping you speak with confidence, clarity and charisma.

If you’re a nervous public speaker or struggle putting your story out there – if you hate the phone pitching or you’re dreaming about appearing on a podcast, radio or TV then this episode is going to put the FIRE in your belly.

Sally says unless you’ve sworn a lifetime vow of silence, your voice matters and is key to connecting with others – whether it’s one person at a coffee catch-up or a thousand people at a conference.

With a casual two-hundred-thousand followers on TikTok, Sally clearly knows how to use her voice to connect with an audience.

In this episode, we dive into Sally’s career but also, some super useful tips to nail your speaking voice and build your confidence.

If you want to download my freebie from this episode loaded with Sally’s tips – jump over to my website www.odetteandco.com.au/episode11   

Find Odette Barry online

https://instagram.com/odetteandco https://instagram.com/hackyourownpr

Connect with Sally

https://www.instagram.com/sallyprosservoice/?hl=en

https://www.linkedin.com/in/sally-prosser/

Recently I’ve been reading, listening, and exploring the platforms and voices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander creators and which led me to the Tiddas 4 Tiddas podcast.

Marlee Silva is a 24-year-old Gamilaroi and Dunghutti woman. She is a storyteller, the host of two podcasts, Tiddas 4 Tiddas and Always Was, Always Will Be, and first-time author of ‘My tidda, my sister: stories of Australia’s first women’ set to be released in September.

Marlee is electric, can talk underwater, and has interviewed some of the most incredible Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women across her Instagram and podcast platforms. She has a knack for finding the hidden gems and elevating their voices. Collaborating with her sister, Marlee and her sister Keely have amassed a digital audience of over 70k avid fans.

As many non-indigenous Australians come to terms with our history triggered by the wake of George Flloyd’s death, Marlee offers some insights into the importance of acknowledgment of country, talking about mob, and how the media landscape can adapt to be more inclusive.

If you’re not already, I know you’ll be a Tiddas 4 Tiddas subscriber by the end of this podcast, and you’ll no doubt have nabbed yourself a preorder of Marlee’s book via Booktopia. 

Find Odette Barry online

https://instagram.com/odetteandco https://instagram.com/hackyourownpr

Connect with Marlee Silva 

https://www.instagram.com/marlee.silva/?hl=en

https://www.instagram.com/tiddas4tiddas/?hl=en

Order Marlee’s book

Paradiso is a free creative and independently published bi-monthly magazine, made locally with ten thousand copies delivered across the Byron Shire and beyond. This is one of my all time fave mags, not just because I am lucky enough to be pals with the founder and publisher, Lila Theodorus and Editor, Nat Woods, but because of everything it stands for. Celebrating stunning design, our incredible Northern Rivers entrepreneurial and creative community, beautiful story telling and damn fine print stock. Lila and Nat share the story behind how they arrived at Paradiso, along with the backstory behind pulling together this creative masterpiece, the planning, research, mapping of stories, contributors and design and the wild and woolly world of a street press mag gone digital during CV19. In this conversation between pals, these lovely humans share the inner workings of a magazine that is truly treasured by its readership. It was an absolute joy to record and a beautiful example of how women create magic together.

Paradiso https://www.instagram.com/paradiso_magazine_/?hl=en https://www.instagram.com/studio.musemuse/?hl=en https://www.instagram.com/nat.woods_/?hl=en

Share the podcast on Instagram https://instagram.com/odetteandco https://instagram.com/hackyourownpr

Charlie Hale is an English-born journalist based in Sydney, where she writes about a plethora of things women care about - from pasta to politics and everything in between. She is currently the Deputy Editor of WellBeing, WILD, and EatWell magazines. So you can imagine her plate is rather full.

For this discussion, we jumped headfirst into WILD - the reasonably new print mag published by Universal Media Co, and little sister to Wellbeing magazine. 

The stunning little mag is born out of Byron Bay where editor Kate Duncan resides and you can feel it in the pages. it's brought to life for the curious – the belief shakers, paradigm shifters and paradise creators. 

The mag covers those topics that are swirling around friendship circles, at book clubs, at the pub, and around slow-cooked feasts of sustainably farmed produce.

Charlie shares a peek behind the scenes of pulling this beautiful magazine together, the planning, strategy, and coordination along with some of her tips for working around your flow.

Find Charlie online

https://www.instagram.com/charliehale1/

https://www.instagram.com/wellbeing_wild/

Share the podcast on Instagram

https://instagram.com/odetteandco

https://instagram.com/hackyourownpr