Today we’d like to introduce you to Christal Jordan.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Christal. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I knew from the time I was in middle school that I wanted to do PR/Marketing, but I’ve officially been a writer since third grade. I remember writing a story and the teacher accused me of cheating; she assumed an adult wrote the story. After my mother came to the school and it was finally revealed that I did write the story, it was apparent that I was a good writer. My teachers treated me different and I believe that gave me the confidence to explore that even further.
Writing, of course, is the basis for PR/Marketing and the other necessary staple is creativity. That being said as a creative writer I believe going into marketing and PR was the perfect field. I received my first “real” PR position two years after graduation as the Community Relations Manager for Barnes & Noble. Working with several stores to become more of a community staple was a great beginning. I had the opportunity to meet authors that I’d grown up reading their materials and I was an integral part of the black book movement. I created book clubs and other integrations to connect readers with their local B&N booksellers.
After Barnes & Noble, I went on to work for a hospital in the women’s and children’s service lines. Hospitals are quite possibly the best place to cut your PR teeth as I had multiple opportunities to learn new skills such as media training, copywriting, creating marketing collateral (including web copy) event coordination, press conference etiquette and much more.
After relocating to Atlanta, GA I looked for a corporate job and couldn’t find one that would accommodate my schedule as a young mother. I ended up finding a small entertainment PR/Media company and I asked the owner if I could come and intern for her. She agreed and my entertainment PR career was born. Some people couldn’t understand why I would intern after working for seven years as a mid-level PR executive, but I understand the importance of learning your market in order to be successful.
I interned for a month and my boss promoted me to Junior publicist. I had been lucky enough to find one of the most brilliant PR/Media minds who also was a writer at her core. I learned so much from my time there about interacting with media, building relationships and client management. After the agency started moving in another direction, I ended up taking on two clients on my own.
Initially, I had no intentions of opening my own agency. I was just trying to take care of my family. I enjoyed the fact that entertainment PR allowed me to utilize my creativity and was much more flexible than corporate PR. Eventually, I started to attract more clients and realized I needed to get my business in order because I was indeed running my own company.
I can admit the business side of things didn’t come as naturally to me as the PR/Marketing side did. Learning to deal with staff issues, taxes, invoices, etc. didn’t excite me nearly as much as creating great campaigns and securing opportunities for clients. I started with hip-hop clients and a personal trainer and soon I realized as a young mother I didn’t want to be in smoke-filled studios with naked girls all the time. I started making strategic moves to change my entertainment clientele and it worked.
Today I’ve been in business for myself for almost twelve years. I’ve had the opportunity to do PR/Media campaigns that I could’ve only dreamt about as a young girl growing up in Oklahoma. I’ve traveled the world and met people that I used to watch on TV and movies. I’ve also been a part of some of their careers in a way that is beyond rewarding.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
It has most definitely not always been a smooth road. I’ve had some tough lessons along the way. The biggest lesson I’ve learned is to trust myself. Sometimes it is intimidating being the small agency in the room with corporate giants like Coca-Cola, L’Oreal, etc. Self-confidence is key.
Another issue I had to learn the hard way was giving as much, if not more attention to the business side of things. That wasn’t my strong point, so it was challenging to get my affairs in order. I had a former employee attempt to sue me and that was one of the scariest moments of my career. It was a great learning experience and I encourage young entrepreneurs to confront their weaknesses head on instead of avoiding them.
Enchanted Branding & Public Relations – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
My company Enchanted Branding & PR specializes in Entertainment Marketing, PR and Branding. I’ve always believed what set me apart is the fact that I have always been good at infusing creativity with PR strategy. To me, that’s the real definition of branding. You want to be able to create an identity for a product or person that resonates with their target demographic. In order to do that you need to take their raw materials and add creativity and marketing research to that.
I believe my agency does a great job of doing this. I am proud of so many things we’ve accomplished. We were able to secure a Sundance premiere for a client’s autobiographical documentary a few years ago. We pitched a partnership with a new technology company and it allowed us to leverage the clients documentary for a Sundance premiere at the height of their album promotion. We’ve done great work with musicians, artists, and TV stars created television opportunities and even produced a few segments.
We’ve done this in addition to satellite media tours, press tours, and the other type of aggressive media coverage that are the building blocks of PR.
What is “success” or “successful” for you?
I define success as being able to earn a living doing something that you absolutely love at the level that you enjoy it. Currently, I’m transitioning more into writing and so my goals include being able to establish myself in that industry so that I’m able to write and create content at a level that I’m personally comfortable.
I’ve learned that you have to define your own level of success as opposed to letting others define it for you.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.enchantedpr.net
- Phone: 6784990297
- Email: christal@enchantedpr.net
Image Credit:
Enchanted PR & Branding
Getting in touch: VoyageATL is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
