Powerful and Persuasive Friends

Everyone who knows me understands I’m big on trends.

Latest trend: Folks I know are serious power players. They’ve earned it and it feels good to know them

Back in my reporting days at the St. Petersburg (FL) Times, my good friend Laurie Hollman Brutch and I tried to interject trends into stories we covered about Dunedin, Clearwater and north Pinellas County. She had I are both now in education; she in Pennsylvania and me here at The City College of New York. It feels good to use our love of writing, research and interviewing skills to pass info on to the next generation.

[Side trend: St. Pete is now all the rave and a haven for artists. They’re positioning it as the next Miami. I don’t think so, but we’ll see!]

For me, small town reporting was the BEST training a communications professional could receive. It stands me in good stead to this day. Writing is a core competency and something that has helped me achieve my goals over the years. As others taught me, I try to pass this skill on to others.

I was privileged to have great editors like Joe Childs, Bonnie Limbach and Paul Tash. Other colleagues are leading journalists such as Denver Post Editor Greg Moore (a mentor from my internship days at the Cleveland Plain Dealer), Washington Post Editors Vanessa Williams, Marcia Slacum, USA Today Editor Jackie Green, Philadelphia News Editor Karin Berry, New York Times columnist and MSNBC contributor John Harwood (check out his new book Pennsylvania Avenue: Profiles in Backroom Power) and Daily Press Sports Editor David Squires, who pines away in my hometown of Hampton VA. The Daily Press happens to a former employer of (the late) White House Press Secretary, Tony Snow.

To borrow a line from John McCain, the world, MY FRIENDS, is very small. I submit there are a mere three degrees of separation, instead of six.

Often, it’s hard to believe my reporting days were more than 25 years ago. We worked hard. We played hard. We learned from each other. We developed lasting friendships. We’re part of a generation who had access to our “dream jobs” and were afforded the opportunity to excel. We grabbed the brass ring with brash gusto and went for the gold. I chose the PR path; others like Judy Brennan went on to a successful career on the West Coast covering the business side of the entertainment industry, and then on to screenwriting.

For all of us, writing and a genuine “curiosity” about people is at the core of all we do.