Hack Your Own PR

With over 20 years of experience editing and writing content for international women's magazines, newspaper supplements and digital platforms in London, Dubai and Asia Jo Upcraft is the seasoned journalist every small business trying to leverage their brand in the media needs to hear from.

Today, Jo is the Communications Manager at ANZA (The Australian and New Zealand Association in Singapore), and the editor of ANZA magazine and digital. Her role includes providing communications for the business, editing the bi-monthly mag, writing and overseeing content across all digital platforms including the website and social media, and preparing advertising and marketing collateral for ANZA events.

In this episode Jo reminisces of starting her career when researching a story looked like sitting in a library for hours searching through piles of books, and stresses the value of knowing your publication and audience before pitching to a journalist.

Find Jo Upcraft online

• https://www.linkedin.com/in/joupcraftcontent/
• https://www.instagram.com/jupcraft/?hl=en

Find Lynda Williams online

• https://www.hackyourownpr.sg
• https://www.instagram.com/hackyourownpr.sg/
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/lyndajw/

Hareta McMullin is a leadership mentor and employee experience strategist who has been featured in over 22 media mentions since graduating from the Hack Your Own PR program.

She is the founder of Third Space People and has a firm vision of shaking up the way we think and feel about HR. She helps businesses create epic places to work, by developing confident leaders and reimagining the employee experience.

Since kicking off her DIY PR, Hareta has featured Sydney Morning Herald, Smart Company, Women's Agenda, Australian Financial Review and HRD Magazine.

Find Hareta online

• https://www.instagram.com/third_space/
• https://www.thirdspacepeople.com/

Find Odette Barry online

• https://www.odetteandco.com.au/hackyourownpr
• https://instagram.com/odetteandco
• https://instagram.com/hackyourownpr

Hospitality operators, chefs and restaurateurs get excited, this chat is for you.

Today we're going to be talking about one of my favourite topics and indeed, one of Singapore's favourite topics, food.

Introducing a household name in the Singapore food media industry Debbie Yong, a widely travelled journalist and digital content strategist with more than 15 years of experience in print and digital media including Time magazine, BBC monitoring and The Business Times.

Now editorial director at Michelin Guide Asia and Middle East since 2019, Debbie orchestrates the brands daily digital content that we know and love.

The Michelin Guide is the leading publication of who is who in the hospitality industry in Asia, the brand's curiosity and expertise unveil and promote the ability and personality of talented chefs, whose restaurants they discover for the benefit of their readers.

In our conversation, we gain behind the scenes insight as Debbie breaks down the best way to pitch a story to her and what it takes to make headlines in the Michelin Guide digital magazine.

Debbie is always on the lookout for new chef profiles and stand out ingredient features that will keep the fiery passion and excitement of the Michelin guide alive all year round!

Find Debbie Yong online

• https://www.linkedin.com/in/debbieyong/?originalSubdomain=sg
• https://www.instagram.com/michelinguide/
• https://www.debbieyong.com

Find Lynda Williams online

• https://www.hackyourownpr.sg
• https://www.instagram.com/hackyourownpr.sg/
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/lyndajw/

This instalment in the Hack Your Own PR Singapore Series features Anisa Menur - editor at Asia's latest tech media platform, e27.

e27 covers the latest news on emerging and disruptive businesses across south-east Asia, with the mission to empower entrepreneurs with the tools to build and grow their companies.

What a dreamy resource to have available as a startup!

Tech is an absolutely thriving industry in south-east Asia, and with Lynda's background being primarily in the lifestyle industry, she has made sure to include versatile expertise in the Hack Your Own PR program - and in this podcast episode!

You'll soon hear though, that even in the tech industry, many similar PR principles still apply!

Anisa has worked at e27 for seven years, working her way up to editor. She tells us why it's so important to keep your LinkedIn profile up to date and why passion for your job is just as important as completing the tasks!

Anisa also reveals the must-haves for winning a pitch with her (and even if you are not in the tech industry!) as well as how to become a regular contributor — tune in if you're keen to hear these invaluable tips!

Data and research are one of my go-to strategies when it comes to creating a newshook for a media story. But where do you get this data from and how does collecting your own data work?

Sam Elshaug from Dream Data joins me to talk about the dynamic duo of words plus numbers, and how we can weave data and insights into our comms and PR pitches to increase confidence, authority and credibility to our voice. In this episode, we'll cover how to add real depth to your media stories and by doing so, increasing the chance of them standing out (for the right reasons)].

Sam has been a corporate marketing professional, market research gal, student of innovation and project management boss for over 20 years in Australia (although she did live in the UK for a bit). She's a self-confessed numbers nerd on a mission to teach biz owners to lean into the figures even if they don't love them. She's all about using market research and customer insights to power business growth through data driven decisions.

Find Sam online

• https://dreamdata.com.au/
• https://www.instagram.com/hellodreamdata/

Find Odette Barry online

• https://www.odetteandco.com.au/hackyourownpr
• https://instagram.com/odetteandco
• https://instagram.com/hackyourownpr

If you're a business leader, CEO, entrepreneur…or a person with big ideas, it is almost a given that you'll have Forbes on your radar - both to appear in, but also as the go-to destination for big ideas, stories of change, innovation, tech, finance and leadership.

So, when I learned that Forbes Australia was launching with Sarah O'Carroll at the helm, you can bet I was more than a little excited.

Forbes Australia will offer Australian leaders, entrepreneurs and success seekers a membership built to unearth stories of change and success.

The Forbes brand reaches a staggering 150 million people every month and the new Australian platform will focus on local business leaders and local entrepreneurs with leverage of the global platform.

In this episode, Sarah and I walk through the vision, the team and the BTS of launching this incredible media brand and walk through exactly how business leaders can gain access to this platform to build their brand.

Find Sarah O'Carroll online

https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-o-carroll-5183b24/

Find Odette Barry online

• https://www.odetteandco.com.au/hackyourownpr
• https://instagram.com/odetteandco
• https://instagram.com/hackyourownpr

Katy Gallichio is a cross-platform story-teller and producer. For more than a decade she has worked with Australia's top media brands including Network Ten's The Project, ABC Radio Melbourne and 3AW Radio. Some of the hosts Katy has produced and supported over the years include Libbi Gorr, Matt Preston and Dilruk Jayasinha. Katy has an exceptional eye for content, a nose for news and a passion for sharing stories with heart.

If you're thinking about pitching a story to Australia's most loved news program, you're going to love this episode.

Find Katy online:

• https://www.linkedin.com/in/katy-gallichio-784b9053/
• https://twitter.com/kgallichio

Find Odette Barry online

• https://www.odetteandco.com.au/hackyourownpr
• https://instagram.com/odetteandco
• https://instagram.com/hackyourownpr

With more than 10 years experience in Singapore's media industry, Benita has covered food, lifestyle and travel for various brands, including Time Out, Coconuts Media and Seventeen Magazine.

Now editor at Honeycombers since 2019 (including throughout Covid!), Benita happened to fall in to journalism! Being told she was good at writing, she took it as an opportunity to do what she loved, starting with internships.

With close to zero fashion sense (her words, not mine!), Benita lived and breathed fashion at Seventeen Magazine, but took it as a life lesson that its entirely possible to learn on the job.

Listen in to hear about how your pitch (among hundreds of others) will get an instant delete if it's not relevant and tailored, particularly your email subject line! Benita gives some great examples and why exclusives are a great pitch for Honeycombers, as they like to be the friend who knows about what's new and cool!

Find Benita Lee online

• https://thehoneycombers.com/singapore/author/benita/
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/benitalee/

Find Lynda Williams online

• https://www.hackyourownpr.sg/
• https://www.instagram.com/hackyourownpr.sg/

In today's episode, your host is Lynda Williams as she launches the Hack Your Own PR Singapore Series! Lynda is a phenomenal publicist taking the reins of Hack Your Own PR in Singapore and I can't wait for you all to learn more about her and the amazing guests she'll have on the program.

Don't tune out though - this series is great for listeners everywhere - not just in Singapore!

Lynda's very first guest is Christian Barker - and I am nearly out of breath listing his wealth of experience.

Christian is the Editor in Chief of the luxury lifestyle magazine Boulevard. Christian is an editor and journalist extraordinaire who has more than 20 years of experience, including writing for the likes of Forbes Asia, Travel+Leisure, Financial Times and CNBC to name a few.

Christian also established and edited the luxury lifestyle magazine 'Billionaire' (https://www.bllnr.com/), launched AugustMan in Singapore, and was the founding editor-in-chief of The Rake magazine.

In this chat, you'll hear how Christian started his career in the record industry due to a love of electronic dance music (who hasn't been through this phase!) but always intended to work in the media.

You'll also learn how aspirations of being a cartoonist as a kid have been fulfilled by working as an editor!

Find Christian Barker online

• https://cbbarker.com/
• https://www.instagram.com/christianbbarker/

Find Lynda Williams online

• https://www.hackyourownpr.sg/
• https://www.instagram.com/hackyourownpr.sg/

Not only is today's poddy jammed with juicy PR insights, it's also one of the best things to ever happen to my business.

I'm chatting with Lynda Williams, founder of the luxury travel and lifestyle agency, Vim & Vigor, that's based in Singapore.

After heading up global PR for a number of exclusive hotels and resorts, Lynda founded Vim & Vigor in 2013 where she now works with values-aligned brands such as Smith Hotels, Singita, TiNDLE, and Bamboo Bowls.

She's also the PR superstar that's bringing Hack Your Own PR to Singapore!

I couldn't conceive of a more talented and creative PR professional to guide Hack Your Own PR's freshest recruits. Firmly embedded in Singapore's PR scene, Lynda is across Singapore's current media trends, the stories journalists are chasing and the who's who in the media scene.

She even offers up a sneak peek of some of the big names that will be featuring in the first ever Hack Your Own PR Singapore.

But if you think this ep is only for our Singaprean friends, think again. Lynda is filled with tips and tricks that benefit small business owners everywhere. We talk about successfully navigating Covid when you work in travel PR, the benefits of being a small business and why she'll always have a soft spot for startups.

Lynda also shares her insights into why stripping back the glam was a killer PR move for Tiffany & Co.

Find Lynda Williams online

• https://www.hackyourownpr.sg/
• https://www.instagram.com/hackyourownpr.sg/

Find Odette Barry online

• https://www.odetteandco.com.au/hackyourownpr
• https://instagram.com/odetteandco
• https://instagram.com/hackyourownpr