PR Powerhouse Kate Marlys On 10 Years of Philly PR Girl and the Importance of Celebrating Your Success

On today’s episode of Creative Space, we have the pleasure of chatting with Kate Marlys, the powerhouse behind the celebrated Philadelphia public relations firm, Philly PR Girl. Since 2013, she’s grown her company from a successful special events blog to the full service PR firm it is today, built on a foundation of networking, relationship building, and an unmatched passion for the city of Philadelphia. Kate has been honored as a 2021 Power Player by Philadelphia Style Magazine, A Who’s Next in Communications Award by Billy Penn, and an ‘I Am Born to Make History’ Award by Influencing Action. On top of all of this, Kate also launched a second business, Photo Pop Philly in 2018 and in 2023, she celebrates 10 years of Philly PR Girl.

We cover a lot of ground in this episode, including the organic beginnings of Philly PR Girl and how Kate was completely self taught, having never taken a PR course in college. We also talk about overcoming imposter syndrome, the fear that everyone experiences before taking a leap of faith into entrepreneurship, and how influencers are changing the media landscape

SHOW NOTES:

0:00—Introduction

1:30—How we first met

2:22—Twitter chats and ‘On the Stoop’ in South Philly

3:10—Kate’s early inspirations, live music, and Jimmy Buffet

5:30—On never taking a PR class and being self taught

7:00—The beginnings of Philly PR Girl

8:40—Leaving a secure job to work for herself

10:00—People see the success and not the sacrifice

11:30—Seven years of Turkey Tailgate

12:07—Caffeine reduction segue

12:45—Coming up with the Philly PR Girl name

15:00—Kate’s definition of creativity 

16:15—Creativity in public relations

17:47—How to decide if a project (or client) is right for you

18:59—How Kate stays balanced running her own business

20:03—Overcoming imposter syndrome

22:00—Even the fun stuff is hard work

23:43—How influencers are changing the media landscape

28:25—The key to figuring out what’s next

29:00—Underscores in TikTok handles

29:56—Kate’s top three Philly PR Girl moments so far

32:45—Getting to work with Philly sports teams

33:16—Advice for entrepreneurs starting from scratch

34:42—How Kate is celebrating her 10-year anniversary

36:08—The importance of celebrating your successes

37:45—What’s next for Kate

BONUS: 

38:30—Launching Photo Pop Philly and the magic of collaboration

Transcript

Jennifer Logue: 0:10

Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of creative space, a Podcast where we explore, learn and grow in creativity together. I'm your host Jennifer Logue and today we have the pleasure of chatting with Kate Marley's, the powerhouse behind the celebrated Philadelphia public relations firm Philly PR girl. Since 2013. She's grown her company, from the successful special events blog to the full service PR firm it is today, built on a foundation of networking, relationship building, and might I add positive vibes and an unmatched passion for the city of Philadelphia. Kate has been honored as a 2021 power player by Philadelphia Style magazine, a who's next and communications award by Billy Penn. And an I am born to make history award by influencing action. On top of all of this, Kate has also launched a second business photo pop Philly in 2018. And in 2023, she celebrates 10 years affiliate PR girl, Welcome to Creative Space, Kate.

Kate Marlys: 1:20

Thank you. That was quite an intro. I'm totally blushing. Like,

Jennifer Logue: 1:26

I was like, wow, you've accomplished so much over the last 10 years. It's incredible.

Kate Marlys: 1:32

It's crazy. It feels longer than 10 years, you know, but at the same time, it feels like just yesterday. I met you probably year one of me starting Philly PR girl. So you've, you've seen my journey? Oh my gosh, I

Jennifer Logue: 1:45

think how do we first meet? Was it Twitter?

Kate Marlys: 1:50

It probably was because I always make a joke that Twitter launched my company. Because, you know, I started off as a blog, you know, our, we were like the OG bloggers, which I really honestly think the the OG bloggers like us like that was like the influencers of back in the day. And to promote my blog, I got a Twitter account. I knew nothing about social media. So I started connecting with a lot of people on Twitter, and I think that's when we met.

Jennifer Logue: 2:21

Yeah, I think you asked me to be part of a Twitter chat. Yeah, I thought it was the coolest thing. And like, wow, look, good idea. Yeah, it was really fun.

Kate Marlys: 2:34

I should bring them back. I haven't done a Philly PR girl Twitter chat in a while, but I love doing them. But actually, during the pandemic we launched on the stoop, which was like Instagram, you know, kinda like a Instagram like live. And I just sat on my stoop because I had nowhere to go. Know that on my stoop in South Philly. And in a way, that's like the new you know, the new Twitter chat.

Jennifer Logue: 3:01

Oh, my gosh, keeping that filly brand alive. So even in the pandemic got represented.

Kate Marlys: 3:08

Exactly.

Jennifer Logue: 3:09

So let's go way back, Kate. I love to learn about people's early life, their beginnings. Who inspired you when you you were growing up? And what did you want to be when you were a kid?

Kate Marlys: 3:26

That's a it's a hard question. Honestly, I really think my mom inspired me. She was raising three kids. And you know, my dad worked a lot. And I saw how hard she worked. And she, you know, went back to work and started a career when we were older. So I always kind of looked up to her and still do. I have a lot of dream job. You know, when I was younger, I love love, love the music industry. And I actually started my internship was at a venue, I worked at a radio station. In college, I was the president of like, our concert planning, you know, association. So I think my dream job, I always say was to be the tour manager for Jimmy Buffet. Because I couldn't I couldn't think of anything more fun than that. But in general, I always saw myself going on tour with a band.

Jennifer Logue: 4:28

Cool. I didn't know about your musical beginnings.

Kate Marlys: 4:30

Yeah, yeah. I you know, I love music and I still do I love I think it's the live aspect of it, you know, get planning events and doing what I do now. There's nothing like going into like a major music venue for me like I get chills. I did like a behind the scenes tour of the grand old Opry one time and I was like, Oh, I love this. You know, so yeah, that was kind of where I got my start.

Jennifer Logue: 4:56

Cool. This inspired you and the events that you put on now. in Philly. Okay, yeah, beyond.

Kate Marlys: 5:01

Yeah, 100% it always has, I always like to when I throw an event to pick a really cool venue, I always try to look for something that just opened that people have never been to. Because then it gives them like, yeah, they might want to come to this event. But they also might want to check out this venue. So it gives them extra incentive to calm. And I've always done that for 10 years.

Jennifer Logue: 5:24

It's a really cool idea. Do you remember the first thing you ever created? As a kid? It could be anything.

Kate Marlys: 5:32

Oh. I loved writing. So for me, you know, writing is a creative aspect. But like when I was like, young, young, I was a Girl Scout. So we used to create a lot of stuff.

Jennifer Logue: 5:49

Oh my gosh, okay.

Kate Marlys: 5:53

But yeah, writing definitely goes hand in hand with creativity. And what what I do today? For sure.

Jennifer Logue: 6:01

Awesome. And what did you study in college,

Kate Marlys: 6:04

I was a marketing major while business business with a concentration in marketing. Fun fact, I never took a PR class. And I went back because I used to tell people that like, I'm completely self taught. So I think was last year I went back and I was like, I'm gonna pull my transcript transcript from college and make sure I'm telling the truth when they say I never took the art class, and I haven't I hadn't. So I'm completely self taught. But I, you know, it's funny, because I was a business major, but I never thought I would own a business. Yeah. Here I am. 10 years later, sorry. That's Coco. Coco doesn't like when I'm, you know, the center of attention. We want to be the center of attention.

Jennifer Logue: 6:48

Hey, if she wants to be me interview, she's welcome.

Kate Marlys: 6:52

I mean, I only took her to doggy daycare today to run around. So she chose Oregon this interview, but there's Coco. So next

Jennifer Logue: 7:00

question. When did you know you wanted to start your own public relations firm?

Kate Marlys: 7:06

Oh, that's a really interesting question. And it goes into my background. Because I didn't know. I started a blog. And I named it really a PR girl. And it was never my master plan to turn that into a firm. I say like, it was happening to me whether I wanted it to happen or not. I started this blog started through a networking event. You I'm sure came to many of them. And I loved it. I loved bringing people together and connecting people. And it was one of my very first networking events. Someone came up to me and wanted to hire me to run the red carpet for their event. Like, Well, I do event planning with nonprofits. You know, like, I guess I could do a little PR and figure it out. So I said yes. And it was the very first New Year's Eve party at Lincoln Financial Field, it was a huge event. I had no idea what I was doing. completely figured it out all by myself. And after that event was kind of like that was New Year's Eve. So this time, 10 years ago, wow, I was getting my LLC because I was about to run my first event, you know, by myself. So after that, I kind of just thought, well, I could do this, you know, like, part time I had a million other jobs and a lot going on. And then and then it just became more than part time.

Jennifer Logue: 8:41

Yeah. When did you always work for yourself? Or did you transition into owning your own dog?

Kate Marlys: 8:50

I transitioned, it was really scary, too. Because now as the executive director of nonprofits, so I had a very good job, a good salary of 401 K health insurance. And I lived by myself, you know, at the time I had a condo and I thought what am I doing, like if I leave this very secure job and go work for myself? Scary, you know, I was single and I thought there's no one to look back to. But I kind of thought like, Alright, I'm gonna give it a try. And then you know, see what happened. It's funny. I don't tell too many people this but I'll tell you, I left. And then a month later I almost chickened out. Well, I kind of did chickened out. I took another job. Yeah, like, oh, we'll do Philly, PR girl on the side. You know, I still love it. And then, like about two months after that, I was like, What am I doing? Like, I know this was the right move. So I almost like, in a way I was second guessing my decision. But I talked myself out of it. And I was like I know this is the right thing for me.

Jennifer Logue: 9:56

Thank you for sharing that because I feel like we We all see the results. We don't see the fear like that the right before you take that step of faith into what you know you're supposed to be doing, even though it's scary, like most people don't take that step. They just stay where it's safe. And it's so much could have happened. Had they taken a nap? So

Kate Marlys: 10:23

yeah, and I think people see like, Oh, I do have a very successful business now. And they see that they don't realize that the 10 years that came to be that this, you know, and there was many scary moments in the beginning, for sure. But I loved it so much that and I still do that I knew no matter what, I'm gonna make this work.

Jennifer Logue: 10:46

Yes, you're so passionate what you do, like you're in your zone. And it's just you were born to do this.

Kate Marlys: 10:54

It's crazy. Because, you know, I think I really was born to do this, like, even looking back, like in high school. I was the person that like, threw parties all the time. Not because I was like, you know, the cool girl throwing parties because I love to plan things. Yeah. And I love to be that planner, and that up and then clean up, you know, all that stuff that goes into hand in hand, like what I do today.

Jennifer Logue: 11:21

It's like, even your turkey tailgate that you do every year. You know, it's just part of you.

Kate Marlys: 11:28

It's crazy, you know, a little fun tailgate event that myself and O'Hara home team created. We wanted to do like a tailgate event for charity. And here we are seven years later, like it's crazy. We have 400 people at this last one. Cool. I was donated. I think it was close to $5,000 The Big Brothers Big Sisters.

Jennifer Logue: 11:48

Oh beautiful.

Kate Marlys: 11:51

Any signature events that Philly PR girl does does have a charitable component to it. That's really important to me giving back so that's that's an event that I'm really proud of.

Jennifer Logue: 12:01

Yes, no every time like at least these Eagle seasons. I've decided now's the time. I'm giving up while I'm reducing my caffeine intake. Yeah, I mean, not.

Kate Marlys: 12:17

You're drinking tea. I'm thinking to myself, is it caffeinated? Or not? Like I don't even know what I'm drinking it anyway.

Jennifer Logue: 12:25

I'm mean. It's a crazy idea. Anyway, here I am. So if Eagles Lord evil, Jen get get it straight. Oh my gosh, I am from Philadelphia. People. Don't think about it. Me. Okay. So do you remember the day you got the idea? For Philly PR girl? Just the name the blog. The website? Was there like a lightbulb moment for you?

Kate Marlys: 12:56

I was sitting at my desk Oh, Coco. Yeah, I was sitting at my desk at my nonprofit job. And I wanted to do something more creative, more fun. And I think honestly, like myself, and my coworker just came up with it. You know, Philly PR girl. Oh, that's kinda like me. You know, I'm out and about. I wasn't in PR at the time. So I don't even know like to be honest with you like why I called the blog, silly PR girl. best decision I've ever made 100% I remember a couple years into my career. Mike Jerrick. Fox 29 said, what us mark decision naming your company's silly PR girl. And for someone so like, celebrated in the industry to say that to me. It is. So but yeah, so that's just honestly sitting at sitting at my desk. I was really like, burnt out at my full time job at the time. And I just thought this fun, creative outlet blog, you know, back in the day, that was like new bloggers, you know. So I thought, Okay, I'll create this blog. I'll write about events and what's happening in the city of Philadelphia, I was that person that all my friends and my family would ask what's going on in the city this weekend? You know, where's a good place to go for my bachelorette party or my birthday. So that was literally why I created the blog. To this day, we have a blog that comes out every single Monday, called This Week in Philly. I call it like the backbone of the brand, because that blog post has been done every Monday since I started the company 10 years ago. Incredible. Yeah, and it takes a lot of work. It's more than me. Now I have a team. But I always tell the person working on that blog like this is my baby like Guy love this blog. I read it, you know, I want to know what's going on in the city that I love so much. That's kind of how it all got started.

Jennifer Logue: 15:08

Oh, that's so cool. I didn't know that story. Yeah. So I asked this question of every guest, because it's creative space, you know? Yeah, we're exploring creativity from every possible angle. How do you define creativity?

Kate Marlys: 15:29

I think it's really about creating something from scratch. So it's starting from nothing. Starting from a very small idea, and building it to something that, you know, you could create in your wildest dreams, right. So maybe you don't know what it is, in the beginning. Maybe you're not sure where this idea is going. But starting from nothing is kind of

Jennifer Logue: 15:55

kind of where I think it starts. Yeah, blank page.

Kate Marlys: 15:59

Yeah, absolutely. It could be anything, it could be a paper, it could be an event. It could be a press release. You know, for me, anyway. Yeah.

Jennifer Logue: 16:10

I mean, I think it's the backbone of our lives. Yeah, it extends beyond every definition. It's just like, it's the juice of life, you know, like how we live our lives? And how we touched on this a little bit, but how does creativity come into play? When you're running Philly PR girl.

Kate Marlys: 16:32

So much of it, you have to be creative, there's so much writing in public relations that I think a lot of people don't realize or don't know. And every writing piece that we do is completely different. So press releases, usually very fact driven, but also creative, right? The pitch to media has to be more entertaining, the blog needs to be written in a completely different way than the press release. So it's really just, you know, creativity in PR is this huge, it's like everything that we do. And even without, you know, the writing part of it, if you move over to what else we do, which is events in digital media, that is a whole nother level of creativity, right there, you know, planning an event, coming up with an idea executing the idea. And then also, the social media and digital media is a huge part of our brand and our company now. And I think that that is, you know, of course, a whole nother level, you know, creating the content, coming up with the ideas, writing and producing, you know, producing the content. So it's definitely a lot of creativity and PR.

Jennifer Logue: 17:45

So this is something I wanted to ask you, you do so much, you have so many projects going on? How do you decide the project is right for you?

Kate Marlys: 17:57

That's a great question. You have to, you know, when you're taking on a client or a project, you have to really think about like, is it something I'm passionate about? Am I going to enjoy this, because it comes through like people can, people can read right through that. In a way publicists are, like, they're promoting, you know, whatever, it is a business a person. So it's kind of sales like we're selling them. And I feel like if we don't believe in what we're talking about, or what we're, you know, selling, it's not, we're not going to do the job. So for me, I really only work with businesses that I either connect with, or admire, or have some sort of passion for connection with, you know, which is a lot of the nonprofit's that I've worked with over the years, you know, I'm connected with them in some way, shape, or form.

Jennifer Logue: 18:56

How do you stay balanced with running your business? And it's just a lot of hats to wear and even with a team?

Kate Marlys: 19:04

Yeah. Yeah, it's a lot. I have a great support system. You know, my mom's basically my therapist. And so it was my best friend. But I also find time for myself, and self care and travel. Because when I travel is when I can really disconnect. Yeah, so that's something that I've always done. And I'm doing a lot, you know, in the next probably the last two years I've done a lot to kind of slow down a little bit but firstly, the last year but coming up, I plan to travel more

Jennifer Logue: 19:44

cool. Any places on your list?

Kate Marlys: 19:47

Yeah, I'm gonna I think I'm gonna go to Ireland. Very nice. Yeah, my bucket list. So I think that's happening. Summer 2023 will say thanks.

Jennifer Logue: 20:00

citing I love Ireland, oh my gosh, it's been a while but love, love, love 10 years affiliate PR girl, it's such an accomplishment. It's so cool. It's really been a joy seeing you grow and seeing the company grow and go strong all this time. What has been the greatest challenge you've had to overcome in building Philippe? Er girl?

Kate Marlys: 20:26

Wow, greatest challenge. Let's say, I would say, you know, finding that work life balance, like we were just talking about has not been easy for me. I'm very open about it. Whenever people ask me about that, when I'm doing like speaking engagements, I always make a good joke. Like, can you ask the experts? Because I don't have the best advice because I, you know, I know what I'm good at. I know what I'm not good at. So I think I think that has been my challenge. And calming. Or getting over the imposter syndrome, which a lot of people talk about, you know, a lot of entrepreneurs and business owners talk about that, like, be like, Wait, am I really successful? Am I doing a good job, you know, like, it's a weird concept to wrap your head around that, you know, you you're so in it. And you're working, working, working, sometimes you have to take a step back. And really kind of think about, like, what, what your peers are saying, and you know, what your clients are saying if they're happy and taking that step back and looking at the big picture.

Jennifer Logue: 21:35

And that's where support system comes into play to to remind you that the outside of yourself,

Kate Marlys: 21:43

yeah, but when it's people that you're close with, you're like, well, they got to say that they're my friends or you know, like, so sometimes, you know, it is nice to hear it from someone else. Like, oh, wow, like, that's true.

Jennifer Logue: 21:59

That's awesome. What has been your greatest accomplishment? So far? I

Kate Marlys: 22:05

say, can I say making it to 10 years? Because honestly, and my wildest dreams, I never thought I would be doing this this long. I actually just when I started the blog 10 years ago, okay, ah, don't quit this after like six months, that'll be embarrassing. Because I think I was starting a lot. I always have like, a lot of ideas, as a lot of entrepreneurs do. Still, artists. Yeah, exactly. You've done a lot in your life too. So I always have a lot of ideas. And I and you know, I always did back then as well. So my goal was to just not start Philly PR girl and quit. You know, so the fact that I'm here 10 years later, and there is no quitting and site and there's no stopping this insight like that. 100% is my greatest accomplishment.

Jennifer Logue: 22:56

You've created a whole like vibe around Philly PR girl. Like there's an energy to it. It has like a life. It's a living, breathing brand. You know,

Kate Marlys: 23:06

it's funny, people are always like, you guys look like it's so much fun on Instagram. And I'm like we do like we do. We do have fun. But don't get me wrong, and myself. And my team worked very hard. And even creating reels and doing funny tiktoks Like that someone had to come up with that concept and write the scripts and figure out you know, who's gonna tape it, who's going to be in it, all that stuff, even the fun stuff is hard work.

Jennifer Logue: 23:36

Now, on that note of social media, I have to ask you, how have you seen the media landscape, the entertainment landscape evolve over the last 10 years? Because we started out in the beginning, blogging was a big thing. But now we're like in this tick tock world. And, you know, from your perspective, how have things evolved?

Kate Marlys: 24:00

Oh, wow, it's changed so much. We're in a huge change right now to that I think a lot of people don't even realize like, influencers are changing the landscape of everything that we do. You know, I do some media buying as well. And the other day, I'm like, right, I'm doing this influencer buying and I have a lot of clients that want to work with influencers. So again, like that wasn't a thing when I started, you know, them charging was not a thing. Now they are charging for almost every single post which is totally warranted and deserved, depending on the content and you know, what they're what they're doing. So, adding influencer marketing into my core services for my PR firm, was something I had to do in the last two years. There wasn't a thing back in the day, that's for sure. So as far as your question goes, like, what's changing everything is tick tock is a huge part of what we do. Of course, you know, when it comes to PR TV, print radio, still the biggest thing that you can do, and we can get our clients, but this digital landscape has really created a whole new level of our work and our creativity and coming up with like, really authentic campaigns and ideas for our clients.

Jennifer Logue: 25:22

Yeah, it's just there's so many influencers now, it's, it's a full time job to keep up with everyone, you know, you go to different social media channel, and it's like, oh, my gosh, like, this person is like, huge, and I never heard of them until now.

Kate Marlys: 25:37

No, there is so many. And you know, it's crazy. Like, they could be like a little micro influencer and just as influential as a big one, the big one, unless you know what you're looking for. They could have bought those followers, you know, and they might not be as influential. So we do like a really good job at like, kind of doing our research before we decide who to work with. And that's why we end up working with a lot of the same influencers over and over, because once they produce good results for our client of ours, I have that, like, knowledge. And now I can pass that on to other clients, like I know, their reels are seen. And I know that that reel that went out that went viral, brought people to a small business in Philadelphia, from DC from Virginia, this is like a true story. This, you know, new business opened, probably 2021 The reel went viral from an influencer that we brought in, and she had customers come to her business from all over. Why because of that, because that Instagram real and that Tiktok that's incredible

Jennifer Logue: 26:45

to for the city, to have that power has opened doors to people from all over. And it's like, it's just someone has the audience. Yeah. And it's a powerful, you're right. It's incredible. And it's definitely changed things over the years. Like, you know, there's so much more than like reading a story now. Or, like, now you work with influencers to like,

Kate Marlys: 27:13

you, they're creating, like short videos, like commercials for your brand. So a lot of influencers, I think get like a bad rap. And then they don't people don't realize that they think they're just going out there taking you know, cute pictures. You know, the ones that do it full time. It's way more work than I think any of us even realize.

Jennifer Logue: 27:33

They're like little agencies unto themselves. Yes.

Kate Marlys: 27:36

Yeah. And they have managers. It's funny whenever we have, we work with someone that's like, Oh, can you now go to my manager? I'm like, oh, no, no, your rates gonna be so much higher than it was before. Wow. And I'm not sure that my client can afford you anymore. I mean, I'm lucky because I do have great relationships with influencers in the city and beyond. So I know that they give me good deals, but they know that it comes back to them because I will work with them over and over and over.

Jennifer Logue: 28:07

Yeah. Well, it's important to have relationships for everything. Yeah,

Kate Marlys: 28:11

absolutely.

Jennifer Logue: 28:13

That's so interesting. Thank you for sharing that. I was wondering, I'm like that would be interesting question to ask Kate. Because she's been in this for the last 10 years. And just the evolution has been incredible. Do you see anything that's coming up next. In terms of social media, like do you have any addictions, something coming

Kate Marlys: 28:31

up next, if you want to know what's coming up next, just figure just go look and see what the high schoolers are on. It usually starts at high school, then goes to college, then it'll come to an adult. It's crazy. Like I'll be like, Oh, I'm not getting on that app. And next year now. There I am on Snapchat, learning it for my clients, you know, there I am on Instagram.

Jennifer Logue: 28:58

I made a mistake with tick tock I didn't grab my handle on time. I was like I'm not doing tick tock No, I just can't I can't do it. And I was like, this is one channel I can skip right now I have an underscore like the underscore but you know,

Kate Marlys: 29:17

I do do I have an underscore for Philly PR girl and it's always it always used to drive me crazy because the the person who took like just Philly PR girl with no underscores doesn't post you're not using it just give it to me.

Jennifer Logue: 29:34

The girl who has mine doesn't post anything and they started it like before I mean, like a long time ago. I think what it was still tick tock was something else support that singing up.

Kate Marlys: 29:48

Oh, yeah. There's always something out there.

Jennifer Logue: 29:51

So what have been for you the top three highlights of the last 10 years affiliate PR girl and like mad Take moments you're like, yeah.

Kate Marlys: 30:02

Oh my god, that's so hard because I could like I can't even tell you top three from from this year. But I would say like to generalize it a little bit, I would say the first highlight would be helping launch women owned businesses. Meaning I have really worked with so many amazing women entrepreneurs over the years. So it you know, I was thinking about it, like, your one I worked with Hope Chest and the bronze B. And they both like won Best to Philly. And I was like, This is crazy. Like, I can't believe I'm working with such amazing businesses and women that work so hard. And to this day, I'm still working with like Daniel Massey, at the woman's collective. I helped launch sugar bar in Rittenhouse last year, and she won best affiliate too. And it was like these women like are getting the recognition they deserve. And I see what goes on behind the scenes for them to get that and for them to launch the business in general. So it's really cool. The women on business part I think is is really big for for me and definitely always a highlight. But I would say the second one would be again, kind of generalizing it, working with nonprofits that I love. And the one that I always kind of give as an example is because it means a lot to me is the National MS Society. So my grandmother has MS. And an event was created. And I was brought on very early on in the creation called Preakness of the piazza. And Preakness ran for six years and all the money went back to the MS Society. And that was an event that I you know, people still mentioned that to me all the time. We did the PR, we did some of the planning, and we did the social media. So we really helped spread the word about what an awesome and fun event that was, but also got to raise a lot of money for the animal society. Because that one was something that was totally a highlight for me six years in a row. Lastly, I think I'm starting to work more recently, or last couple years with like professional athletes and professional organization. And I'm such a sports sports fan. This is like crazy for me like to this day. The fact that like, right now I work with Hassan Redick from the Philadelphia Eagles, like working with an elite player was always a dream of mine. Last year I worked this year, yeah, this year, I worked with the Philadelphia Union and their foundation and help with their gala. And that was just again, so amazing working with you know them and I've done things here and there with, with honestly, every single team, the Sixers, the flyers, and you know the Phillies. Throughout the years, you know, SmartLook of the small campaigns are helping invite people to an event. So working with the professional teams has been really exciting. Oh,

Jennifer Logue: 33:15

that's awesome. So what advice would you give to an entrepreneur starting from scratch,

Kate Marlys: 33:23

on entrepreneurs reading I would say to entrepreneurs, be be ready. And what I mean by that is be ready for anything that can come your way. So be ready to work hard, be ready to succeed, be ready to fail. Because you can fail and then later on you can succeed you know, you just really never know. And make sure you're passionate about what you're doing your life and your career. And I think that if you are going to be doing this full time, you should have some passion about it. You know, that's kind of what I say about my clients. I mean, I'm obviously passionate about PR Philadelphia and like the love of of what I do and the love of my city. But I'm also passionate about my clients for sure.

Jennifer Logue: 34:24

That's really important because the passion. That's what keeps you going forward. Oh yeah. Despite challenges and setbacks, you know, because you don't have that passion. It's going to be easy to like, you know, give up.

Kate Marlys: 34:40

Yeah, exactly.

Jennifer Logue: 34:42

So, how are you celebrating your 10 year anniversary? Do you know yet? Is that top secret?

Kate Marlys: 34:49

You know me? I have? I've known for like two years when I'm going to huge party. Lovely a huge party you will be getting an invite It's literally going to be the party in Philadelphia in 2023. Listen, I love I'm all about celebrating successes, right? And it could be the smallest thing, or the biggest thing. It could be someone answering my email. It could be my, one of my co workers booking press. You know, it could be a successful event, or my clients writing a nice email about one of my girls, right? Like, it could be anything we always try to celebrate. So celebrating 10 years, I've known I was going to do this for a while we're renting out to the winery. Yeah, which is actually a client, and they're amazing. And I've just a huge fan of the venue, and wine. I do like my glass of wine every once in a while. So we're running it out. And we're celebrating with our clients and some media friends that you know, I've worked with over the years. The list is very, very long. It's kind of hard, but I'm excited for it. And, again, no matter what you do, you should you should be celebrating your successes.

Jennifer Logue: 36:13

Oh my gosh, that is something else I need to put on my wall somewhere. I think some people are better at it than others.

Kate Marlys: 36:22

I know you and I know you're right. You do you need to.

Jennifer Logue: 36:27

Yeah, it's um, because there's a tendency sometimes to be more self critical, versus the celebrating like little wins. And like, you know, and that mindset shift is so important. If you're no matter what you're creating, like, oh, whether it's a business or so that's, I really what you said really spoke to me about celebrating every success.

Kate Marlys: 36:52

You shut and listen, don't get me wrong, like, in the back of my mind, I always think you know, oh, are people gonna say like, Who does she think she is? Or this party? No, I know, some I'm someone who I worked very hard to get where I'm at. And not only that my team has to. So like we they deserve to celebrate as well. Yeah. And my you know, and being able to say thank you to my clients that I've worked with, and helped me get to where I'm at over the last 10 years. Like I could cry thinking about that. I probably will cry. Yeah, the fact that told everyone that's helping the planet. Do not let me say a speech. Because I am an ugly crier, and there will be no, there will be no speeches from Kay Marley's No, no, no. No speeches.

Jennifer Logue: 37:38

Oh, my gosh. Oh, my gosh, it's so exciting. I'm looking forward. Oh, my gosh. And what's next for you? And the exciting and 2023?

Kate Marlys: 37:50

Yeah, I think that, you know, I've always grown very organically. I've never wanted to be this, like, huge PR firm with like, hundreds of people working for me now like, deserve organic growth. So I think that we will continue to grow. I think 2023 will probably continue to grow a little bit faster. I have some things in the works that I'm you know, hopefully pan out. We have gotten some really exciting and big clients for the next year. That of course, I can't announce yet. But I'm just, I'm just excited. We're in a really good place right now.

Jennifer Logue: 38:31

When you decided to launch a little pup silly. How did that come about?

Kate Marlys: 38:37

So great question. So photo pop was just kind of like how Philly PR girl like a happy accident of the creative outlet for me. So I went to LA in 2017 2018. Actually 2017 And I went to a place called happy place. And I was like this is really cool. Like Philly has nothing like this. I wasn't going to you know, steal someone else's idea. I wanted to make it mine and very silly. So we created, you know, Philadelphia's first interactive, like, pop up museum basically, and supporting local artists, and was really also the core principle of photo pop. So we worked with, I think that first exhibit was about 12 to 15 artists, where they would come in, and I curated the space and came up with a theme and they would create the art. And then what I would do was because I do PR for a living, getting all the presses. The artists would do the press with me. And their name, you know, really became known. Some were already really well known. We worked with these pig lips, which is I'm a huge fan of hers. The fact that she said yes to that incredible story first exhibit was was crazy. And some were just, you know, new and I wanted to I was a fan of them. And I believed in them and I wanted to give them the chance. So Photoshop was probably one of the most creative projects I've done. We had three exhibits. The last one ended in the very, very beginning of 2020 and January 5 2020. And I think some people think we ended up because of the pandemic, but it was time we did. Our first exhibit was red, white, and blue. Our second exhibit was sweet paradise. And then our third was winter wonderland. And it was so much fun. And I loved it so much, and I missed it a lot. But running two businesses is a little out of order.

Jennifer Logue: 40:47

Yeah, how did you do that?

Kate Marlys: 40:50

I'm not well, because I wasn't sleeping. What about self care? Like, I wasn't necessarily taking the best care of myself. But it was my fault. Because I loved it. I wanted to be a photo pop every night and like, see everyone come in and get excited. And, you know, thank God, I had great support system at Philly PR girl. And that photo pop. I had, you know, Andrew, who ran photo pop for me, like when I was not there. And he really helped me, you know, see the vision and get get really creative with it. Now he's running virtual reality at NYU, like how Oh, yeah. And he, you know, as someone that, you know, I like bouncing ideas off of people. And I like getting creative, you know, with people in a group setting. Yes. And I think that's important. You know, some people are more solo. But for me, I love to collaborate.

Jennifer Logue: 41:49

Collaboration is essential. You know, that's, that's something I've learned in advertising in the last few years, like the best ideas come from, and even songwriting, like my best songs have been co writes and advertising these campaigns, like, it's a product of a bunch of really brilliant people coming together. And that magic sauce that is it singular, it happens when you're bouncing ideas off of each other.

Kate Marlys: 42:16

I love it. I totally agree. And I think that's why photo pop was successful. And why we made what your name is, because it wasn't just me. It was collaborating with the amazing, talented artists that are here in Philadelphia.

Jennifer Logue: 42:30

Yeah, and you guys created such an experience, like on social media, like people had so much fun. Yeah, going to the exhibits and stuff. And

Kate Marlys: 42:39

yeah, now there's, there's a couple here in Philly. But I can successfully say that we were the first and that's pretty cool. Yes.

Jennifer Logue: 42:49

You were the first Oh my god. So Well, Kate, thank you so much for taking the time to chat with me in creative space. This is really a pleasure.

Kate Marlys: 43:03

I just have to say, I'm just so proud of you. And I'm so excited that you're doing this podcast. I have always been a fan of you and your work. And I probably tell you this about you know, from your songwriting days to rock on Philly to everything that you've done running at Metro like, you know that I followed your career. So it's an honor to be asked to be on this podcast.

Jennifer Logue: 43:27

Kate that means a lot. Now I'm blushing now. Oh my gosh, no. I'm blushing.

Kate Marlys: 43:32

You made me blush at the beginning. I will make you blush. So yes, yes.

Jennifer Logue: 43:36

It comes full circle. We we couldn't have written this better. Yeah. For more on Kate's visit Philly PR girl.com and follow Philly PR girl on social media. And thank you so much for tuning in and growing in creativity with us. I'd love to know what you thought of today's episode. What you found most interesting what you found most helpful. You can reach out to me on social media at Jennifer Logue or leave review for creative space on Apple podcasts so more people can discover it. I appreciate you so much for being here in the beginning stages of this. My name is Jennifer Logue and thanks for listening to this episode of creative space. Until next time,