Moya Crowley

I would say largely, in part, definitely my parents. When I was younger, my mom, who came from very little educational background, immediately picked up going to school and getting a job when my father fell out of work due to illness. She had no educational background, no experience really in anything of that sort, but she picked up being the breadmaker and raising two kids. That was really inspiring to me as a woman to show that you can be a go-getter, regardless of the situation that you're put into. I developed a lot of independence because of her, being able to raise my sister to some degree when she was out working. My parents always really pushed me to pursue a career, get my education, and be the best that I could be. Although it was difficult growing up when you don't know what you want to do, when I reached the age of maturity and they saw that I was really pursuing what I wanted to do in a serious way, they were very supportive of me. That includes getting me a car to go out to Los Angeles and supporting me housing-wise while I looked for new housing to move closer to New York to make it easier for me to work in the industry. Just little things like that, they were very helpful.

One of the best pieces of advice I got was from my lovely colleague, Olga Macrias at BTPR, who is also a publicist. She told me that we are not saving lives. It's always good to keep that in mind, that it's not the end of the world if something goes wrong. This really helps me keep perspective in the work that I do.

I would say always be persistent. This is an industry where you're pitching a variety of people every day, and you're always having to follow up, whether it's every two days or every other hour. Always be persistent if you're looking for a job. The person who's the most persistent, they're never going to forget you. I think always be genuine as well. Even though my story comes from a little bit of a teenybop background, it's the truth, it's authentic, it's genuine, and people recognize that. They see how I turned a hobby into a career that I take very seriously. One thing to note is to always expect the unexpected. You can work the same campaign 10 times over, but it's never going to be exactly the same. You never want to make assumptions, you don't want to jump the gun. It's always good just to take a breath and wait for the next step. And remember what my colleague taught me: we are not saving lives, so it's not the end of the world if something goes wrong.

I think it's both a challenge and a blessing, but the one thing that I've had on my radar for years before it really got prominent in the industry is the crossover between public relations, journalism, and digital marketing with content creators and influencers. Before traditional media started dying down, we weren't really exploring avenues in public relations for promotional content with digital creators and these online publications that really only have an Instagram or TikTok presence. Now there's become more of a collaboration between those types of pages and traditional media. A lot of traditional media has pivoted to digital only, just due to the unfortunate change of the landscape. A lot of people in media have been laid off. MTV Music shut down in December, and that was a staple in the industry. A lot of other publications are facing similar challenges. The changing landscape in media and the high turnover of different journalists at a variety of different media companies and outlets has been most challenging. But with that being said, working with digital creators and those digital-only pages has definitely allowed us to bring more visibility to certain clients and events. Nowadays people have a very short attention span, myself included, and you're trying to target different audiences. Everybody's always on their phone, or you see a quick ad on the subway. Things like that have grown to be more popular and are becoming traditional media. So as much as it's a challenge, it's also been opening up a new avenue for different collaborations.

It's important to never let anybody taint your experience in the industry and speak down to you. It's important to stay confident in the industry. Whether you're in LA or New York, it can vary for some people, but it's a common thing to have higher-ups that may not support you in the way that you want to be supported. So it's important to stay true to yourself and not stray far from the end goal, and always see the bigger picture. That's what I always tell people: see the bigger picture, because at the end of the day, that's what's going to keep you driven. I also value authenticity and being genuine. My story comes from a genuine place, and people recognize that authenticity.