Entrepreneurial leader with 20+ years of experience in strategy, branding, thought leadership, and hands-on campaign development.
When I was beginning my career in the early to mid '90s with a degree in English and Creative Writing, many thought my options were limited to the local fast food chain.
Pounding the pavement in NYC at age 22 is daunting. Diploma in hand, and strong undergrad experiences as an editor at the school's weekly paper and an editorial internship with a monthly glossy magazine urged all potential employers to push me into the editorial box. But I was more interested in combining my love of the media with the business world, I hesitated as I accepted the traditional 'editorial assistant' position.
In reflection, I realized a bit about myself: I don't like to be labeled. So at night, I earned my MBA in Marketing Management and soon proved to my employers (and myself) that putting me in a box makes me work that much harder to get my goals.
As newly minted MBA, I was able to parlay my editorial background and media experiences into a successful marketing and public relations career.
Working in-house at two major publishers, Pearson Education and Wiley, I was able to apply the skills and knowledge acquired in business school to not only create successful marketing and publicity campaigns but to understand the bigger picture of the brands, the businesses, and the thought leaders, behind the books.
Taking my valuable insider information from NYC, I made a new home in Boston with an independent public relations firm for more than a decade. While a large area of my concentration remained on promoting books and garnering media attention, I was able to work directly with clients on their personal business goals: building their platforms, raising the profiles of their consulting practices or getting the attention of the desired publisher, speaker's bureau or targeted audience.
In 2013, I took my future into my own hands and launched Tess Woods Public Relations.