Articles on PR for People

Rapper DQ the don Derkquon Battle | Rapping Yonkers’ Pride

From Yonkers

by Patricia Vaccarino

I  interviewed Yonkers Rapper DQ the don, whose given name is Derkquon Battle. His song called Yonkers slumtown caught my attention. I grew up in Yonkers about ten minutes away from where Derkquon lives in the Schlobohm Housing Projects—or "Slow Bomb" projects. While today our worlds are different, I like to know what...


Election 2016 | The P.R. Strategy of Middle School Twerps

From a P.R. perspective, our three major Presidential hopefuls are like the twerps we’ve known in Middle School. Remember how bad everyone felt about their bodies when the birth of a new pimple could ruin your day? Here we are adults, all grown up, and agitated over who will be the next leader of our great country. Under the lens of P.R., let’s take a look at our twerps, their greatest strengths, their greatest flaws and ultimately decide...


George Lois and Muhammad Ali | On Race and Courage

George Lois recently walked me through the process that led to his idea of putting Muhammad Ali in the pose of a martyr on the cover of Esquire Magazine.

Muhammad Ali on the Cover of Esquire Magazine in 1968 sparked a heated controversy. The Esquire cover depicted the famous boxer being pierced by six arrows. How Muhammad Ali came to grace the cover was a deliberate stroke of genius created by legendary ad man...


From Denver: The not-so-elusive Poet Devan Kingsford

Although Devan Kingsford fancies himself as an elusive poet, he keeps a high profile on the streets of downtown Denver. He stakes out a spot in front of the Tattered Cover Book Store on 16th Street, where he sits at a desk, with an old typewriter, and his dog, and writes poems on demand.  In fact, the name of his business is Poetry on Demand. He doesn’t charge per poem, but gladly accepts donations. 

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Blackberry Pie

Every summer while I’m on the Oregon coast, I make blackberry pie.  The concept of pie is larger than a summer pie and means whole or wholeness that is divisible into shares. If you apply the concept of pie to the media, it is apparent that only a few people like Donald Trump and Kimye who get the whole pie.

It takes lots of dollars to catapult yourself to a height that commands whole media attention—from Twitter to the...


The Young, the Restless and the NEET

I was at a private fund-raising dinner, where I sat at next to the CEO of an early-stage technology company. The topic of of Seattle’s new light rail expansion came up. The new light rail line would provide rapid transportation between downtown Seattle and the wealthy neighborhood where the CEO lives. “The light rail will bring them close to my home,” he said.

The them he referred to are the people who he would never hire or sit next to at a dinner party because they are NEET.  There is more to this story than I can share at the moment, but I can comment on the NEETs who are them—the other—those who have been cast aside by the great economic divide that only favors people who come from privileged circumstances. 


Marilyn Fezza Gives Girls a Voice of Their Own

Marilyn Fezza is New York City-based entrepreneur, business owner, fashion designer, mother and feminist who envisions the time when her latest media venture, 7Sisters project, will be embraced by young women and girls worldwide. Marilyn was only 23 years old, when together with her husband, she co-founded a successful apparel label, Andrew Fezza. She served as COO, Women’s Design Director, Head of Marketing and PR...


Bernard-Henri Lévy: The People’s Pig

The self-proclaimed French public intellectual Bernard-Henry Lévy, who was born into great wealth, once reportedly said, “I knew when I was 20 that I’d never have to suck up to anyone.”

He often associates himself with other notable men, such as Charles Baudelaire, Andre Malraux and T.E. Lawrence. Anointing himself the successor to Alexis de Tocqueville, Bernard-Henry Lévy toured America as if it were a freak show. The result...


Pete Soukus: A Chance to Trust

For years, Pete Soukus lived on top of the hill in Seattle’s wealthy Magnolia neighborhood that overlooks Interbay and Tent City 5. Pete still lives in Magnolia, but his new home now lies in the shadow of the hill, inside of Tent City 5.  Until alcohol took over his life, Pete had a career in product management and supply-chain logistics, a home and a family.  Then according to Pete, “I drank myself to the point of almost losing my life...


On the Towne

Last Spring, we covered a story about the Queen Anne Helpline, a Seattle-based non-profit organization serving people-in-need in the neighborhoods that are experiencing unprecedented job growth from the growing influx of Millennial technology workers. The demands for housing exceed the supply and the prices of apartments and residential homes in many Seattle neighborhoods continue to be hyper inflated.  According to a recent article in the Seattle Times, Real Estate Developers are expected to add 11,000 more units in 2016 and even more in 2017.  The operative spin is with so many more units coming onto the market, then eventually the demand for housing will be met and the prices will become more affordable for working and middle class renters. However, in the interim, the Seattle boom continues unabated and unfazed by the displacement of the elderly, families and individuals, who are being shoved out and thrust into a crisis situation.