Celebrating 19 years of blooming relationships and business

Today is Simon PR’s 19th Anniversary. One of the mainstays of my public relations grounding in Philadelphia has been the Philadelphia Public Relations Association (PPRA.) I’ve belonged for longer than Simon PR has been around and it’s been the place where my love of our profession has been anchored. In the late eighties, employers paid for professional association memberships so I have Earle Palmer Brown & Spiro and Ketchum PR to thank – they both generously picked up the tab for membership and I couldn’t be more appreciative.

After I hung out my shingle and started Simon PR back on June 18, 1990, PPRA became more and more important to me. Simon PR’s first office was one room in the Foremost Building at the corner of 4th and South Street. We (just me) were on the 3rd floor, which was the Building’s most unsavory. Simon PR’s HQ was located in between an escort service and fight promoters and across the hall from a bar tending school and telemarketing firm where the furloughed staff came to work during the day and went back to jail at night. PPRA became an extended professional family, one that took the place of colleagues, staff and bosses.

Quickly, there were more people at the Agency and a few weeks before my son Max was born in 1992, we moved to the Lafayette Building at the corner of 5th and Chestnut where we spent 12 years before moving to our current home in The Bellevue. By this time, I had begun to cultivate mentors, supporters and professional friends, many through PPRA, in the little time I had after killing myself at the business and taking care of my growing family.

By the mid 90s, I started climbing my way up PPRA’s leadership ladder, first as a workshops chair, then membership chair, Gold Medal Award co-chair. I held most every post before my Presidency in 2004-2005 and Chairmanship in 2005-2006. I even led a team that overhauled our bylaws after I was Chair – how necessary, but not exactly the sexiest post! And I still continue to volunteer and lead programs.

As Simon PR’s business became more sophisticated and more stable, many PPRA relationships blossomed into business relationships. In truth, over the years, PPRA members have become wonderful friends of course, but also clients, staff, contractors, vendors and great, generous resources. One day I might even like to buy an agency owned by a fellow member. We hired a terrific new Account Executive this month and the fact that she is a PPRA member made her a stronger candidate than the people she outshined. These were never the reasons for belonging to PPRA, it’s just the way it evolved. And many PPRA members will tell you similar stories.

Just this week, I had lunch with one of my PPRA mentors. She’s recruiting me for a prestigious Philadelphia cultural board and advising me on a number of fronts. Tuesday was the Association’s trip to New York City where we had a once-in-a-lifetime, behind-the-scenes tour of the “CBS Evening News” and met with several high level PR pros, who are implementing innovative programs on a global and national stage. Today we have a workshop on social media, which is being led by two of our impressive young guns. It doesn’t get better than this!

But I guess nothing brings a lump to my throat and warms my heart more than having recently been invited to Sharla Feldscher’s 25th Anniversary celebration on the Moshulu. Finding oneself at the party of a competitor is more proof of the bond that forms among the members of PPRA. And Sharla and her business couldn’t be more impressive. She has accounts now that we used to handle. We have some that might have been hers. She’s referred business to us. We’re sharing an account. We used her daughter to assist us with a project and we’ve been friends and have worked with her first cousin, Marilyn Kleinberg, for more than 22 years. This is just one example. I couldn’t be more positive about PPRA and Philadelphia and what they have meant to Simon PR.

If you read this Blog and would like to celebrate Simon PR’s 19th Anniversary – the drink’s on me. Warning: You may have to withstand some passionate reminiscing with a look to the future. I couldn’t be more optimistic.

– Lisa Simon