Aloha All!
At first glance, one might think that this is a blog about something kinky (that’s another blog I do, but we’ll chat later), but actually the “Pleasure Dome” is what I jokingly refer to when greeting certain colleagues (ok, senior pr colleagues who have been doing this just as long as I have) who walk into the door of an event that I’ve just executed on behalf of a client… riiiight before mayhem is about to break lose. It always get a good chuckle because pr pros know what the heck you’ve gone through for the last six weeks in order to get that promotion to look effortless.
Think about it for a sec. You see, when you go to an event, people walk in and see the obvious venue space, the ambience, the background music, the servers, the props, the gift bags, the wine, and the tray passed appetizers. What they don’t see is the behind the scenes stuff. You know, the stuff like the many weeks of planning to the nth degree to make the place look like that. Or the many phone calls to confirm the delivery times of props and equipment. Or the hours of research to put together juuuuust the right invitation list of movers and shakers. And, what they don’t see is the chaos that can sometime ensue [visual: A few days ago when driving to a gig to prep for guest arrivals, yours truly got a flat tire.] Ahhh, the life of a supermodel (I joke). But, I digress…
The point of this is that my life mission has always been to help others with their communication needs. For example, I’ve been writing for as long as I could hold a pen, which has led to tons of journals safeguarded in a closet on O’ahu (thanks Mom). When I was is in the 5th grade, the kids all decided to throw our teacher a birthday party. Guess who organized the entire thing including invitations, props, and background music? Ah, it was my first promotion. I think the elementary school faculty thought I was nuts, but were amused by my tenacity. When I was in my 20’s, I connected an up-and-coming vocalist named Nohelani, to sing the new radio jingle we were pitching for Miller Beer, on spec. We got the account, the singer got the gig, and her voice was on the way to becoming famous.
The point is that everyone is brought into the world with a job to do. For me, I believe I was born to do this and to help others. Call it kismet. Call it fate. Call it destiny. Call it Aloha. Sometimes I call it “the pleasure that gives me pain” and sometimes, vice verse. Whether it is advising folks on how to develop grass root pr campaigns, or how to concept/execute events from small to large, or how to art direct a photo shoot that will yield the perfect publicity photo- that is what my passion is. Overall, my goal is to help those who want to know how to best get the word out about what they do, or what their product or service is, or to raise their profile for their company, or… (fill in the blank here).
There are many ways to slice the “pr pie” and my job is to bring the ginzu knife, cut that sucker open, and dish out a nice serving to those who are interested in learning (or, honing in on) the skill set. And believe me, there is a finesse to communicating. Those who do it well, make it look so easy. Those who don’t do it well… well, they look sorta crazy. I don’t want you to look crazy, because quite frankly- its not a hot look.
There are a lot of juicy tricks and tips in the PRsenal kit just waiting to be unleashed. Come my pretties! The spin doctor is in.
Aloha, Tracy.
Tracy (or Trace, as friends call her) Larrua lives and works between Hawaii and L.A. A seasoned pr/marcom specialist with a knack for helping out the little guy, she also secretly moonlights as a Maroon 5 groupie and has an extreme love for handbags. When not glued to her sassy MacBook, you can find her hiking, swimming, dancing, or laughing really loud with friends.