September 17, 2025 • 46 mins
How do you build PR platforms that move culture? For Erin Hawker, it meant starting with grit, finding the white spaces in fashion, and turning visibility into value.
As the founder of Agentry PR, Erin has shaped campaigns across fashion, lifestyle, and entertainment since 2010. She’s also the creator of New York Men’s Day, a showcase built to spotlight emerging designers and bring new energy to the menswear calendar. Her work combines authenticity, cultural engagement, and a commitment to building opportunities for others.
In this episode, Erin shares her journey from the early days of PR (complete with fax machines and persistence) to building one of fashion’s most talked-about platforms. She explains why engagement must align with identity, how authenticity outlasts hype, and why consistency and values are the cornerstones of influence.
From career lessons to cultural insights, Erin’s story is both practical and inspiring. If you’re in fashion, branding, or simply curious about how platforms shift culture, this is an episode you won’t want to miss.
Erin's Bio
Erin Hawker is a fashion communications leader and entrepreneur at the intersection of style, culture, and media. She is the founder of Agentry PR, a New York–based, full-service agency known for elevating designers and building brand momentum through sharp strategy, integrated storytelling, and influencer/VIP programming. Prior to launching Agentry in 2010, Erin led high-impact initiatives for Donna Karan, Vertu, and Diesel North America, and as a VP at LaForce & Stevens worked across major accounts including Target, Sperry, Reebok, Judith Leiber, and Perry Ellis.
Erin is also the founder of New York Men’s Day, a platform that spotlights emerging designers and opens each season with industry support from major sponsors and partners. A builder of stages as much as stories, she continues to shape how fashion engages audiences—creating authentic moments that connect creativity, community, and commerce.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Rich (00:00):
What does it take to lead a PR firm that builds authentic
relationships between designersand brands and the community
they serve?
For Aaron Hawker, it's aboutturning influence into
infrastructure, creatingplatforms, not just placements.
Today, we unpack the modernfashion communication stack how
to find white space and build astage for emerging talent, why
(00:21):
consistency of voice outlastshype, what it really takes to
earn coverage in anaffiliate-driven media world,
and how to design moments thatpeople actually want to share.
I'm Rich Honeybaugh and I'mco-hosting today with Judy
Segeni, a recent George MasonUniversity graduate, who brings
a fresh student's eyeperspective to the conversation.
In today's episode, we arejoined by Erin Hawker, the owner
(00:43):
and founder of Agentry PR.
A journalism major from theUniversity of Wisconsin-Madison,
she made her way to New Yorkthe scrappy way Lobby stakeouts
at Fairchild and a near start atDNR before choosing a higher
paying agency role that set hercourse In the pre-digital era.
She literally faxed releasesand called editors from
payphones, a grind that forgedher bias for action and
(01:06):
relationship-driven work.
Erin went on to leadhigh-impact programs for Donna
Karan, served as the global headof communications for Virtu and
as the head of publicity forDiesel North America.
As a VP at LaForge Stevens, sheworked on major accounts
including Target, sperry, reebokand Perry Ellis, crediting
James LaForse as an early mentorwho sharpened her writing.
(01:26):
In 2010, she launched Agency PR, a full-service fashion,
lifestyle and entertainmentagency spanning brand direction,
media outreach, influencer andVIP program and creative
partnerships.
Seeing a gap for menswear, erinalso launched New York Men's
Day, a showcase that has grownwith major sponsors and gives
(01:48):
emerging designers a platform atthe start of each season.
Recognized for blending brandbuilding with cultural
engagement, she continues toshape how fashion intersects
with identity, authenticity andcommerce.
On this episode of RetailRelates, you'll hear the
mechanics behind platformbuilding, from spotting
opportunities to securingsupport, and the practical craft
(02:08):
of modern PR sharpening yourpitch list, matching partners to
values and creating experiencesthat advance both culture and
commerce.
So, whether you're an emergingprofessional or leading a brand,
this conversation is a fieldguide to consistency,
credibility and momentum.
Excited to be back here foranother episode of Retail
(02:30):
Relates.
Judy, how are you today?
Judy (02:32):
I'm good.
How are you?
Rich (02:33):
I'm doing great, and I'm doing great because I have the
opportunity to introduce you andour listeners to Erin Hawker,
the owner and founder of AgentryPR.
Erin (02:44):
Thanks for having me.
I'm so excited to be here.
Rich (02:47):
Oh, it is absolutely our pleasure.
I'm excited because and Judywill know this, having been a
participant on the other end ofthe podcast in the retail course
at George Mason and hearingfrom the experts and the
industry leaders, but we didn'thave anybody from a PR
perspective in that first season, so very excited to have you in
(03:09):
here today.
Great, me too.
So let's get started.
We read your bio.
We're going to put it in theshow notes.
You have a very impressive bio.
What I want to do, though, isstart with something that gets
to know you a little bit, alittle bit more personally, a
little bit more deeply.
So think about the threepivotal moments that have
happened and it can be personal,it can be professional that
(03:31):
have happened to you, that havebrought you to where you are
right now.
Erin (03:35):
Okay, so I would have to say the three pivotal moments.
One is sort of the dream to getto New York City.
So it was sort of.
I grew up in Wisconsin and itwas sort of a bright lights, big
city dream and you know, Ididn't know how I was going to
do it and I really wanted towork in the fashion industry.
So all it took was, you know, asmall move.
(03:57):
After graduating journalismschool at Madison University,
wisconsin-madison, I moved toChicago as a quick stepping
stone and then it was the era ofNew York City when you couldn't
really find an apartment easy.
So basically, you know, I hadwritten I don't know 50 letters,
you know, pen to paper, 50letters to different brokers in
(04:19):
New York and one of them wroteback to me and took pity on me
and he made up my whole resumefor me and just kind of fudged
it so I could get an apartmentin the West Village and I was
off and running and my first joboffer really was I wanted to be
in fashion.
So I was always reading theWomen's Wear Daily job postings.
(04:40):
So it was actually when it wasin newspaper form and I, you
know, so I would go up to 7 West34th Street, and sit in their
lobby and read the newspaper forfree every day and I would find
jobs.
And then finally one day theywere like you can't sit here
anymore.
So I was like, well, I justwant to work at Women's Wear.
So lo and behold, I did applyand I got this position as the
(05:04):
men's editorial assistant.
So I did not last long at thatfirst job because there was
another job at a smalladvertising and PR agency that I
had also applied to but offeredme the job, which was actually
for $7,000 more.
So I ended up taking that joband that's how I really parlayed
(05:24):
into PR and at that time PRreally was not the way PR is
today.
So you know, we had to faxpress releases, we had to look
up contacts in bound bookscalled Cision, and you would
look up these contacts.
They were never up to date.
I wasn't allowed to make longdistance phone calls, so I would
(05:47):
go to the pay phone on thecorner in Soho and I would dial
411 to get all the differentphone numbers for different
editors.
So that was, that was a pivotalmoment, I would have to say.
The second pivotal moment in mycareer was actually starting
agentry PR, which I did in 2010.
I had worked my way up throughthe fashion industry, working on
(06:09):
the agency side as well asin-house, for many, many years.
I was on the event side for anonprofit called Fashion Group
International where we did about40 events, all related to the
fashion industry.
I did that for a few years andthen I got my big break at Donna
Karan as global PR director forDKNY and for Donna, and that
was pre and post LVMH, and myjob was really to create hype
(06:35):
and buzz for the DKNY name andreally create a lot of
excitement at, you know, at thein-store level, which was a lot
of fun.
I think you know one of my mostproud moments when I was
working at Don and Karen waswhen they shut down Madison
Avenue and it becomes a shoppingnight and all the different
(06:55):
stores compete with each otherto outdo each other with
different events, and the themefor that Madison Avenue bid was
New York City 1980s.
So I ended up booking Run DMCto perform in the store and
there were like lines ofthousand people outside to get
in.
It was really amazing.
So, and then I got recruited byNokia, believe it or not, to
(07:18):
join the communications team asthe global head of
communications for the luxurydivision called Virtu, and Virtu
were mobile phones that were$35,000 for solid yellow gold,
white gold phones for $18,000,and then stainless steel for
(07:39):
$5,400.
And that was a pretty amazingexperience because we were
really my job was to create pullmarketing, so I drove the hype
for global sales essentially outof New York and London and we
weren't really actually activelyselling the phones necessarily
in the US.
Our core customer was reallythe Middle East, russia and, of
(08:04):
course, asia.
So my job was to give the phoneto really exciting people, so
Madonna, gwyneth Paltrow,pharrell Williams and I got to
meet all of them, I got to hangout with them and really just
drove press coverage throughproduct placement essentially.
And then I moved on to Diesel,where I was the head of
(08:24):
communications for Diesel NorthAmerica from 2005 to 2010.
And those were the most amazingtimes.
One of my favorite moments everat Diesel was celebrating our
25-year anniversary.
We came up with a concept tostart in Tokyo and we did 25
hours of parties around theworld, so it was 25, and then it
(08:48):
counted down to 24, moved fromTokyo to Dubai, dubai to Berlin,
berlin to London, all aroundthe world and then ended up
mashups.
So we had Chaka Khan performingwith NARD.
We had Hot Chip performing withTI.
(09:13):
Mia was performing.
It was terrific.
There was a lot of crazy.
That happened, I think.
Mia came out and she waspregnant.
Nobody knew that she waspregnant, so that went viral in
itself.
Ti was going to jail the nextday to serve a sentence and I
was on my headset saying where'sTI?
(09:33):
Where's TI?
I need him on the red carpetright now and everyone's like
he's at McDonald's, at thedrive-in getting chicken
McNuggets because he wanted toget those before he went to jail
.
So it was.
You know, the fashion industryhas got some pretty exciting
things that happen and it's alot of fun, I would say.
The third pivotal moment for mewas launching New York Men's Day
(09:56):
.
So in 2014, there was sort of alot of white space in terms of
menswear designers, and I don't.
It wasn't because I specializedin menswear.
It was because a lot ofdiscretionary dollars that large
brands wanted to participate inNew York Fashion Week were
going to women's brands.
Nobody wanted to support men'sdesigners because the bang for
(10:19):
the buck was with women's brands.
So what we decided to do waspair up men's wear designers and
showcase them all at the sametime over a two-hour period.
So we rented a photographystudio that had many different
studios within that big buildingand each designer set up within
their own spaces.
(10:40):
And then we invited, you know,400 buyers, you know media
influencers and everybody kindof floated in between those six
studios.
So it really it took off.
Cadillac saw what we were doingand really wanted to be in the
menswear space, so they came onboard for the next eight seasons
and sponsored New York Men'sDay.
Then we were able to grow thatfrom six designers to 12
(11:02):
designers.
We will be having our 24thseason this coming September.
We are the CFDA partner forEmerging Designer Talent and we
kick off New York Fashion Weekevery single season.
And this season is superspecial because my team that was
at Cadillac is nowMercedes-Benz and so now we are
moving to the new Mercedes-Benzheadquarters in Manhattan and we
(11:26):
will be having eight designers.
We're doing a special showcasewith FIT, which is the Fashion
Institute of Technology in NewYork.
We'll have, I think, 18students each making one look
and doing a showcase together.
So that should be an excitingtime, but it's really a labor of
love we don't make any moneyoff of it or you know it's not
(11:46):
meant to be that.
It's meant to give back to thecommunity.
Rich (11:48):
Normally my follow-up question is is this what you
imagine doing?
But you kind of answered that.
What I really want to know isif I got the order right.
You didn't have a job.
You were focused on getting anapartment.
You got an apartment and thenyou looked for a job.
Erin (12:06):
Yeah, because in New York, especially if you don't have,
it's so hard to get an apartmentin New York, or was so hard to
get in a park.
That was the hurdle Number one.
I wasn't really too worried, Iknew I knew I'd be able to.
To do something was just also.
You know, when you're youngnaive, you know being as naive
as that, you know it sometimesworks in your favor, you don't.
(12:26):
You don't have fear, you don'thave fear.
Rich (12:28):
So yeah, I have a feeling that if something happened in
this podcast and right now, thewords of advice are just take a
damn chance, go to where youwant to go in the lobby of where
you want to work, read the freepapers or tap into the free
Internet and see your dad as yougo.
Erin (12:48):
And listen, not everybody is built that way.
You know, I do, you know andI'm very type A.
Things need to be, andespecially, I think, after
starting Agentry we havecurrently we have 25 clients.
We're a team of 12.
And we work with, you know,huge brands, you know Fortune
500 brands like Abercrombie andFitch and Hollister.
We work, you know again, with alot of emerging designers as
well.
But so there's a lot ofresponsibility, there's a lot of
(13:11):
being on top of it.
You have to be really dedicated, you have to be hardworking,
you have to understand culture,you have to understand pop
culture, you have to understandtrends and movements, and I you
know.
So, all of that aside, I dothink there is something to be
said about really trusting yourinstinct and your gut and taking
(13:31):
a chance on following yourdreams, because it definitely it
can happen.
Judy (13:37):
That's really great to hear, as a newly graduate, that
I should just take chances.
What's a challenge or a setbackthat taught you something
lasting?
Erin (13:44):
I would say for me personally, I think I was born
to do my own thing.
So when I started agentry Iwanted to make sure I had as
much experience as possible.
I wanted to make sure I had,you know, enough industry
experience, enough contacts, andso I think you know, for me
working in the corporate spacewas a necessary evil for me
(14:08):
personally, meaning you know Ihad a lot of ideas about you
know, events or what we shoulddo that would really move the
needle in terms of, like, brandequity and and and share market
share.
But of course you have a lot ofhurdles to get through with
when you work in that sort of inthat sort of box, the the.
The great news is that you knowmostly everybody who hires us
(14:32):
is hiring us for not being in abox.
They're hiring us to becreative and they want sort of
offbeat ideas and they wantthings to move the needle.
So I think, out of learning theropes and learning the how-tos
of how sort of business worksand how industry works was
absolute necessary.
I see a lot of younger peoplewho don't have experience who
(14:55):
start agencies.
You know, for us we've nevergone after new business.
All business has been referredto us and then I attribute to
that to sort of a long career inthis business and knowing
people.
So I will say thatrelationships are key and I
think again like I wouldn't sayit was a setback, but I
definitely think you have tobuild upon layer after layer in
(15:17):
order to be'm not going to haveyou name any- but how do you
approach that situation when youhave this designer and you're
looking at the talent and you'resaying you've got this, but
(15:39):
you've got to lean in on it,otherwise you can't bring them
forward?
Yeah, that's a great questionbecause, listen, a lot of these
young people are starting thesebrands and they're following
their passion, they're followingtheir heart, right.
So they're just going to designwhat comes to them and you know
, a lot of times you're seeingthese amazing creative outfits
(15:59):
and like just absolutelyterrific stuff.
They get a ton of presscoverage but guess what?
The US retailers aren't buyingthem.
So I always ask the youngemerging designers okay, what
really do you want out of thisAre you looking for?
Do you want to be the nextTheory?
Do you want to be the nextUniqlo?
Do you want to be the nextAbercrombie or do you want to be
(16:19):
this cool, like off-white?
You know, like, because what Isee, the, you know what I see,
the biggest struggle is with theactual marketplace in America
not necessarily accepting like alittle bit more avant-garde
fashion.
So in Europe, like inCopenhagen, london, Amsterdam,
even, you know, even I would saya little bit of Milan, but you
(16:44):
know, those really fashionforward cities accept more
avant-garde kind of, you know,like a little bit more I
wouldn't say wild fashion, butyou know and like a little bit
more creative fashion.
You know, obviously, withworking with Abercrombie, fitch,
I know exactly what's sellingright.
So denim is their number one,sell polo shirts, denim.
So if designers want to be thatname and they want to make
(17:07):
money, then they really need togo do their homework.
Go into the retail stores, gointo Bloomingdale's, go into
Saks, go to Nordstrom, find outwhere that white space is and
then design that way.
A lot of young designers don'twant to do that.
They want to like, design whatthey're.
You know what they're feelingin their heart.
Design off the cuff, show theircreativity, but guess what?
It doesn't sell necessarilyhere.
(17:29):
So, without having a businessmanager, a lot of these, you
know I have to follow suit interms of like what the market
actually wants you to do.
Rich (17:57):
And it doesn't mean you have to be copycat, you have to
carve out your space within it.
Erin (18:02):
But Right, we've had several designers recently that
are no longer trying to get intothe American market.
So they get a lot of presscoverage.
They're totally beloved, butthey're going to, they're
starting to showcase overseasnow, meaning like they're doing
Paris market, they're doingCopenhagen Fashion Week, they
are trying to get momentum, youknow, with buyers on that path
(18:23):
instead of necessarily sellingto the American market.
I mean, I will say the oneamazing thing that's changed in
the fashion industry sincesocial media has come to be is
really there's tribes of peopleso direct to consumer.
If you can do it right and ifyou can do it correctly and
speak to that niche audience,then you have a really good
chance of selling.
(18:43):
But crossing over then tomainstream can sometimes be very
hard.
So there might be a cap to yourbusiness size if you're not
able to do some kind ofcrossover.
So I mean, every brand you know, every luxury house in the
entire world, has a very simpleproposition.
They create aspirationalclothing that no one can really
(19:04):
afford.
We all want it.
It gets so much press coverageand then they sell perfume, they
sell handbags and that's howthey make their money.
They're not making their moneyoff of, you know, the look
number five off the runway.
They're making their money onselling a dream.
Rich (19:19):
Thank you, christian Dior.
Exactly Thank you, mr Dior,when you had to hit the phone
book and find the numbers tosocial media.
Now we're contending with AI.
How is that evolving and how doyou feel about it and how are
(19:40):
you adapting to it?
Erin (19:44):
Yeah, it's been interesting.
So PR in general has changedimmensely since the introduction
of the affiliate.
So I will say that theaffiliate for anyone who doesn't
know what affiliate is, soaffiliate was sort of invented,
I want to say it really took off, probably 2012.
Hearst Magazine was sort of oneof the first early pioneers on
(20:06):
affiliate marketing.
So anytime you see a listiclestory which means the top 10
denim trends coming for fall, soI'm like reading this article
there's wide leg denim, there'sskinny jeans, there's capri
pants I click on the capri pants.
I want to buy those capri pants.
Guess what Cookies is trackingme and once you know it tracks
(20:28):
me for a month.
Once I go back and actually buythose capri pants, hearst gets
a percentage of that sale.
So brands will pay to be onthese affiliate platforms.
The brands are actually payingsomewhere, you know, between 10
and 30 percent commission onanything that is bought on that
(20:48):
website.
So that has been an entirelynew experience because those are
oftentimes the number onegenerators of money for all of
these publications.
Now, conde Nast, hearst, bustleGroup, every single publication
Rolling Stone, new York Times,cnn, underscored they're all on
(21:08):
affiliate programs.
All of those shopping storiesare affiliate-based.
So our job is now.
Besides, when we would pitchjust the fashion director, we
would pitch the market editor,we now have to pitch the
commerce editors, be included inthese stories or these features
(21:34):
.
So that's changed a lot.
And having to get clients toget on the affiliate programs
it's easy to get on it, butgetting them to wrap their head
around that they actually haveto pay a commission is
oftentimes not as welcome.
So that but.
And then there's all kinds ofstrategies you can employ using
affiliates.
So, for instance, when we werelaunching Abercrombie Fitch's
YPB, which stands for yourpersonal best sort of their
athleisure brand, we actuallywould go to.
(21:56):
We went to the commerce editorand we said, hey, listen, we're
going to offer you 30%commission for the month of
March.
You're going to make 30% morethis month on anything YPB that
sells.
And they said, ok, great, well,you know we'll accept that.
And then we went to theeditorial side and we said, hey,
your e-commerce team justsigned off on a 30% commission.
(22:17):
You need to help support andsell this by way of editorial.
So there's all kinds of likelittle strategies you know we're
employing constantly.
And then the other pointed thingthat happened was obviously
social media.
So I was working at Diesel atthe time in 2008, when the first
social media stars were sittingfront row at the runway shows
(22:40):
Tommy Tan, it was unheard of,like we were still paying
celebrities to sit in our frontrow.
And now you're telling me Ihave to pay an average Joe Schmo
who has like 100,000 followers.
I have to pay him $15,000 tosit front row.
I mean, and those were fees atthe time.
Now it's even a crazierbusiness.
But social media, you know therise of the influencer kind of
(23:03):
knocked a lot of the editors outof their trees.
You know meaning their kingdoms.
So the whole truth about theDevil Wears Prada and those
glory days of fashion were alltrue.
They weren't the nicest of theindustries.
There was a lot of truth toeverything you heard and read
about it.
But then, once the social mediastars started knocking people
down a bit, fashion got a littlebit nicer.
(23:25):
So that's been interestingbecause there's just now
Substack is coming to be.
Everybody's on Substack.
Now we're pitching Substackeditors.
So not only is our job morecomplicated because there's more
channels, it's been pretty wildbecause now you're having to
track down every single person'sSubstack and then pitching
those people directly as well.
(23:46):
It's definitely been a differentchange.
I think what's been happeningin general is that most of the
publishing houses have gottenmore vertical.
So it used to be when you wouldgo to Conde Nast it was at Four
Times Square.
It was like the most amazingbuilding, every single floor.
One was Vogue, one wasArchitectural Digest, one was
(24:06):
Conde Nast Traveler, one was GQ.
They have this beautiful, youknow Frank Gehry building
cafeteria.
You know it was fascinating.
You go into the cafeteria andthey all had their like lunch
tickets and they were like youcan get whatever you want.
We'd be like this is great.
And now when you go to CondéNast at One World Trade, they're
(24:26):
all on one floor.
So it's a vertical.
It's turned completely verticaland you have sort of one
fashion director overseeingmultiple publications at this
point.
So it's just, it's definitelyshrinking.
It's definitely a bit of adifferent hustle and a lot of
the publications don't want tonot to diminish this, but
(24:49):
instead of having to pay fullsalaries and benefits etc.
They now freelance a lot ofthis, a lot of the articles you
know, to stringers.
So on top of trying to maintainwho's at which publication full
time, you have to constantlypitching.
Our pitch list is 700 peoplenow.
You just never know if Isabellain Michigan, who freelances for
(25:13):
Condé Nass, traveler, andRobert Port and Forbes, if she's
writing a story on rimlesseyewear or not.
So you have to include all ofthese different people on these
pitch lists all of the time.
So it just it's made our jobfrom.
I mean, I think the youngerpeople who are on my team don't
understand what I see,necessarily, and how much it's
(25:35):
changed, and they're adaptingvery well because they don't
know it any other way.
I think with AI, it's going toget really interesting in terms
of writing.
I know a lot of writers that Iwork with are very nervous in
general about their jobs.
Writers that I work with arevery nervous in general about
their jobs.
I think there's always going tobe, you know, people who are
(25:56):
mega talents, who are writingfor the New Yorker, who are
writing for the Wall StreetJournal, who are writing for the
New York Times.
They're not going anywhere.
You know that can't really bereplaced.
What I do see as being replacedis sort of these shopping
stories, trend-driven shoppingstories, because a lot of these
people are cranking out five ofthese shopping stories in a day
(26:16):
and it's like a cog on a wheeland it's not fulfilling for them
.
It's not necessarilysustainable, if that makes sense
for one person long term.
Rich (26:26):
You mentioned Substack.
I have to dig into it becauseit's something.
It's yet another platform andevery time that there's a new,
it seems like there's five orsix or seven new platforms that
everybody's raving about, andthen one seems to have some
staying power and right now itfeels like Substack is having
that version of blogging.
Erin (26:51):
But the amazing thing is, anybody can create one and you
can charge money so I can get anupgraded subscription base.
You know, let's say, let's sayso.
For instance, I follow AmyO'Dell.
Amy O'Dell was a famous editorfrom the New York Magazine time.
She has this really awesomecutting edge sub stack.
(27:12):
It's it talks about thebackdoor fashion.
You know, every week sheupdates it.
You get a little teaser andthen I can pay I don't know
thirty nine dollars for a yearsubscription to her for her sub
stack.
So you're getting these amazingreporters who do these side
hustles.
So you know anyone anyone againwho's not not under contract has
(27:33):
these, you know, and it's inevery category.
It could be cooking, it couldbe wine, it could be about dogs,
it can be about fashion.
So Substack is sort of the wayto go, because it empowers one
person to be able to generateincome for themselves, and so
it's how much you can hustle andhow many followers you get.
I think it's sort of the way ofthe future.
(27:54):
It was funny when Terry Moranleft ABC.
He immediately started a substack and he's got like a
million people already sofollowing him.
So it's just, I think sub stackis going to be sort of the new
era for alternate news and youdon't have an editor.
Yeah, and you know, it's like Ihave a sub stack, I don't have
an editor.
(28:14):
I can basically talk whatever Iwant and no one's going to say,
no, you need to edit this.
You're like your own king.
Rich (28:23):
No, I've been watching it and it's fascinating.
I'm actually looking at it froma nonprofit perspective,
because it can also be a sourceof revenue from a nonprofit
perspective.
And when you talk about AI, Idon't want to paraphrase your
words, but you kind of intimateto this that those that are
really skilled and that havetalent are still going to be
there.
It takes out some of themundane and those that were
(28:46):
creating the mundane are goingto have to find something else.
Erin (28:50):
Yeah, and, frankly, that could be where Substack steps
into for a lot of these peopleBecause, again, if you've built
up depending on how well youhustle, like if you have been
successful building up yoursocial media profile, I think
it's a lot the same of buildingup your Substack profile.
So you know, there is a chanceto make real money Rich.
(29:13):
I'll actually send well, I'llsend you an article after we get
through with this which kind ofsums up Substack in a nutshell.
That just came out.
It's pretty fascinating.
Judy (29:20):
I downloaded Substack to follow Nora Smith on there and
it was really cool what shewrote.
But then the paywall got me in.
Erin (29:28):
That's the funny thing.
It hooks you in because youknow paywall got me.
And that's the funny thing.
It hooks you in because youknow you get these tidbits and
then you then all of a suddenyou've got, you know, a paywall
just pulling you back.
You want more.
Judy (29:39):
Exactly yeah, and that was when she was announcing her
pregnancy and I was like, wait,I need to see what.
What else did he say about this?
Is there a brand, past orpresent, that personally
inspired you as a gold standardfor what a brand should be, and
why does it stand out?
Erin (29:55):
Yeah, I mean I, you know personally, there's a lot of
brands doing a lot of good stuffand I have to say Abercrombie
Fitch is pretty amazing on howthey've turned the brand around.
I mean, fran Horowitz took thereins in 2017.
And she recruited many, manypeople from New York City, moved
them to Columbus, ohio.
They are pretty cutting edge interms of you know, they were a
(30:17):
first.
You know like first fastfashion to F1.
You're going to see some bigannouncements for sports
partnerships coming out laterthis fall To run an $8 billion
company like that and do a lotof good, I mean, and such a
turnaround story as well, thepast era of how it was run and I
won't say who, by whom.
(30:38):
It's the gift that keeps givingevery day in the headlines when
you're reading stories.
So I will say yeah, I will sayAbercrombie Fitch is pretty
amazing.
And then that team kind of tookover Hollister and we've been
slowly working on reshaping thatbrand and it's been amazing
From when we started working onit about two and a half years
ago.
The amount of press coveragethat we now derive is night and
(31:01):
day from when we first startedworking on it.
Judy (31:03):
Those are two of my favorite stores, honestly.
I love Abercrombie, fitch andSt, and I love Hollister's.
I just love their PJs.
Erin (31:10):
They're so comfy, oh good, everyone loves the PJs,
everyone loves the sweatshirts.
Even I got sucked into aUniversity of Wisconsin at
Hollister sweatshirt.
Rich (31:21):
You've talked about the experience and I don't want one
question to kind of queue up theother one, but I'm going to try
.
But I'm going to try.
What's a misconception?
Erin (31:37):
that either those thinking about PR or those that are
aware of PR but not deeply,would have about PR.
It is not all fun.
I think that people, especiallya lot of young people looking
to get in, they're like butfashion shows are so fun and the
events are so fun and once youkind of get into it you have to
realize like there's a lot ofpressure to to pull.
(32:01):
To pull off these, these, theseevents successfully takes a lot
of planning, a lot of manpowerand a lot of long hours.
I mean for Fashion Week, whenwe were used to, you know, when
I was working on Donna Karan orwhen I was working at Diesel, we
would probably be working forone month straight, I would say
60 hour weeks.
(32:21):
You know, the night, the weekof the actual runway show, we
would be there to 2 am everynight.
And it's changed a lot.
Now it's not as demanding orcrazy no-transcript spend.
(32:59):
So you're going to look at yourJanuary through June spend in
these publications.
You're going to book the media,you're going to negotiate the
rates, you're going to do someTikTok, some content around that
and once you spend the money,once you book the thing, your
job is sort of done.
With PR there's always a newperson to meet, because this is
(33:21):
such a rolling ball with allthese different channels, with
Substack, with social media,with even celebrities and with
product placement and featurestories.
Because of the way of theindustry now, literally there's
always.
There's 10 people every day youmight meet that are totally new
to the game, so you're alwayshaving to be on your toes.
(33:41):
I mean, we update our medialists probably every single week
.
We're editing them, we'rechanging them up, we're adding
people, we're taking people off.
It's definitely a very fluidindustry and it's not one for
idle.
I will say, too, thatrelationships are everything.
For instance, like our team, wehave senior people who work for
us and then there's some juniorpeople.
(34:02):
You know, when the juniorpeople are inviting editors to,
you know, a sit down dinner for30 people and they can't get
responses.
Guess who's going to have to dothe texting at the end of the
day?
It's me, so you know, and theycan't get responses.
Guess who's going to have to dothe texting at the end of the
day?
It's me, so you know, and I canget an answer in five minutes.
But if I didn't have thoserelationships, it's sort of like
the younger people, you're notgetting any response.
In PR there's a lot of no andit's a lot of rejection as well.
(34:22):
But I will say relationshipsare everything in this business.
Like as many people, as manyfavors as you can call in, you
definitely need to tap intothose.
Rich (34:32):
Well, and that was one of the things that I learned from
you when we worked together manyyears ago is, I think my
perception of PR at the time wasthe relationships and the
expertise, and we hire an agency, which we did, and you have the
context and I have the product,and there it goes, and what I
learned and you've talked aboutit today is that it was as much
(34:54):
about the quality of therelationship and the connection
that you can make, but it's alsoabout the experience that you
would help us craft, and I wantto dig into that a little bit,
because it's something thatretailers and brands right now
are really discovering about GenZ is that authenticity and that
(35:15):
connection and that experienceoften matters more than what
your brand reputation is.
When you were working with us,it wasn't just I'm going to
introduce you to Stan, it waswhen you meet him.
These are the things that helikes and this is what he's
going to be interested in, andthis is the kind of event that
we want to set up and and it wasauthentic and it was connective
(35:36):
and it was wonderful when itworked.
So talk about where you seebrands getting that right and
wrong today.
Erin (35:42):
I truly believe everything comes full circle.
So every 20 years you're goingto see like it was so funny that
in the show we part of ouroffice.
We're based in Chelsea in NewYork City.
On 8th and 26th Half of ouroffice is a showroom space and
somebody was shooting,photographing looks to send out
to an editor and I was like geez, I think I wore that 20 years
(36:04):
ago, that exact same outfit.
I was like this is crazy.
So I mean, as fashion trendsfollow this cycle, so do a lot
of the experiences right.
So there was a wave of in-storeevents that you know, people,
you know we all wanted to go tothese in-store events and they
were.
Every brand was upping theother brand for experiences in
(36:25):
the store and then it kind ofdied out.
Everyone got tired of it andthe new generation came today
and they want in-storeexperiences.
So and it's pretty incrediblegot tired of it and the new
generation came today and theywant in-store experiences.
So, and it's pretty incredibleand you know, the other thing is
, too is now we're seeing a lotof younger generation people
don't drink.
So we did Saucony is one of ourclients and we did sort of a
meetup, like it was.
(36:45):
They're really into communitybuilding, so they take over
these coffee shops.
We had a sort of a charm barset up in the coffee shop.
Everybody loves these charmbars.
They go and they pick outcharms, they're going to create
things.
And then we had espressomartinis and we only had one
bartender and I was like, listen, we just, you know, pre-batch
as many as possible, set themout on the bar.
(37:06):
No one drank any.
So having a non-alcoholicalternate now I think is pretty
important.
So I guess the point of thestory is everything that we did
20 years ago Galentine's Dayevent, where we had like
different little vignettes setup and like it was interactive.
(37:34):
You could go and do socialmedia posts from this side, you
could go to the candy table andbuild these, build candy bags,
you could go to a charm bar, andthat kind of interactive was
like highly successful.
I think I don't know there'slike at least 90 posts from that
event in one night.
It was kind of crazy.
But yeah, I think not doing anexperience is completely the
(37:55):
wrong way at this point now foranybody.
I do think too, like if you'rea marketer, don't just jump on
the train because everybody elseis doing it.
So I've been watching everyoneelse try to tie into F1.
And I'm like this is so wrongfor you, like this, I mean it
was.
There's a brand that I wasworking with sort of on some
(38:15):
one-off projects and themarketing director was like she
was very in on the F1 and I'mlike, listen, you're selling $40
jeans.
This is not a luxury, you know.
This is.
It doesn't really make sensefor you guys to be there.
So I do think just because yousee things on TikTok doesn't not
(38:35):
necessarily mean it's right foryour brand.
So think about that as well.
Judy (38:40):
I did see the F1 merch at Hollister.
I have to say I do love thatone, though.
What is a belief sorry, goahead.
I was gonna say or approachthat has shaped how you take on
projects today.
Erin (38:52):
Listen, we're not just taking things on for money.
So we're taking things on if wereally feel like we can help
the brand.
Because, you know, I came Iworked on the agency side prior
to starting my own agency atanother agency.
It was very much a cog in thewheel and it literally like I
knew we couldn't do anythingwith this brand and nobody.
Much a cog in the wheel and itliterally like I knew we
(39:13):
couldn't do anything with thisbrand and nobody was going to
pull the brand, no one was goingto care about the brand, no one
was going to shoot the brandand I just felt really bad about
taking these people's moneybecause maybe PR wasn't the
right approach for them.
Maybe investing money in D2C andinvesting money into social
that way was probably thesmarter and more prudent way to
(39:35):
you know, for that brand toactually succeed.
So we always take a very stronglook at the brand.
If we feel like we can helpthem, then we'll work with them.
If there's no chance that wethink that the editors are going
to pull it, then I don't wantto spin wheels, I don't want to
waste their money and my teamalso feels bad when they don't
get responses or they don't geteditorial coverage.
(39:57):
So it's a lose, lose, losealtogether.
Rich (40:01):
So you've given great advice that we're going to pull
from this.
But before I pivot to the rapidfire, is there a quality that
you think is underrated when youare looking to hire somebody or
work with someone today?
Erin (40:19):
Yeah, I think I mean honestly you have to.
You know you don't think PR isa writing job, but it is.
It is a communications job.
It is 80% writing.
I have probably, on average,500 emails a day, but all we're
doing is we're pitching.
(40:39):
We pitch probably every singleone of our brands two to three
times a week.
We're constantly creatingcommunications materials, right.
So being a strong writer issuper, super important and I
really have to say beingcreative, because, honestly, the
only way that I see us movingthe needle a lot of times,
(41:05):
unless you have a lot of moneyto spend, like the brands that
can spend a gazillion dollars,of course you know it's much
more easy, but a lot of brandsthat don't have that marketing
spend, they rely on us to becreative.
And creative like just meansyou know it just means how are
you going to sell?
(41:25):
You know the way I look at italways is I.
At the end of the day, theeditors are my consumers.
So what are the editors goingto think is cool?
And once I kind of get a graspon that, like in terms of, like
planning dinners or planningexperiences, if it sounds like
fun, if we think that it hasn'tbeen done by another brand, then
we're pretty much a go and wecan sell it into the client, but
(41:48):
it's.
I mean, it's really, reallyimportant not to do cookie
cutter kind of stuff, but again,like if you're in pharmacy,
like if you're in pharma or ifyou're in, maybe, automotive, it
might be more cookie cutter andthere's a way things are done.
But in these more creativefields I would say, like
especially in fashion,especially, you know, in like
(42:09):
beauty, for instance, you, themore creative you can be, the
better.
Rich (42:13):
So transition that to somebody just graduating from
college or someone just startingoff in their career.
How do they stand out today?
Erin (42:22):
Yeah, don't come in empty handed.
Always bring your resume.
So you know, I mean honestly,like if I was going in, I had my
own portfolio when I startedout and I didn't even have any
experience, I didn't evenunderstand how to write pitches,
but I definitely had.
You know.
I came around with a portfolioof you know brands I loved and
(42:43):
admired, and but I think foranyone starting out, you should
try sampling some pitches.
Don't ever come empty handed.
You should come prepared with alist of publications that you
read, and here are my favoritewriters.
So I mean, you would impressanybody if you were able to.
You know, I mean just assumingthat somebody has your resume
and they're going to print.
(43:03):
It doesn't work that way.
You should always send a thankyou now too.
Rich (43:08):
All right, that is a perfect answer and it actually
aligns with the entire theme ofthe podcast.
So now I'm going to roll into arapid fire round.
Three questions.
Don't think throw out theanswer.
Favorite comfort food Spaghetti, just spaghetti.
Erin (43:24):
Spaghetti and pizza.
Rich (43:26):
Spaghetti and pizza.
Either one I like that.
Erin (43:29):
Either one Every day.
Rich (43:31):
Okay, perfect.
All right, Judy, you're up.
Judy (43:34):
What's a superpower that you wish you had?
Erin (43:36):
Oh, I'd like to be a fly on the wall.
I wish I could be invisible andlisten in on all these crazy
conversations.
Rich (43:43):
Are you sure you'd want to ?
Erin (43:45):
Yeah, no, that's exactly true.
Rich (43:50):
All right.
So this one might seem like afairly kind of basic question,
but I am really curious what'syour walk on song?
What's your hype song?
Erin (43:59):
I would say the Go-Go's Vacation.
Rich (44:02):
I like that.
Erin (44:03):
Yeah, I think, I think it's definitely the Go-Go's.
Rich (44:06):
I could see that I can.
I don't know that I ever wouldhave guessed that, but that's
perfect, all right, well,perfect.
Hey, we really appreciate thetime.
This has been fantastic.
We had a chance to worktogether many years ago and I've
learned a lot just in thisconversation.
I know that our audience willand we need to find another
(44:28):
excuse to have you come back,but really appreciate it.
Thank you very much.
Erin (44:33):
Yes and Rich.
Also, if anyone ever wants toemail and wants advice or
anything, they can always feelfree to share my email address
as well.
Rich (44:42):
Absolutely love that and I think that's one of the cool
things about what we're doingand meeting the Aaron Hawkers of
the world, because you meanthat.
Erin (44:51):
Yeah, I do mean it.
I do mean it.
I might not always have themost time in the world, but I
definitely like helping people.
Rich (44:58):
All right.
Well, thank you very much.
This has been a fantasticepisode of Retail Relates, or at
least I think so.
Appreciate Aaron Hawker forjoining us.
Judy, as always, great to seeyou.
Erin (45:10):
Thank you so much, Thank you Judy, Thank you Rich.
What does it take to lead a PR firm that builds authentic
relationships between designersand brands and the community
they serve?
For Aaron Hawker, it's aboutturning influence into
infrastructure, creatingplatforms, not just placements.
Today, we unpack the modernfashion communication stack how
to find white space and build astage for emerging talent, why
(00:21):
consistency of voice outlastshype, what it really takes to
earn coverage in anaffiliate-driven media world,
and how to design moments thatpeople actually want to share.
I'm Rich Honeybaugh and I'mco-hosting today with Judy
Segeni, a recent George MasonUniversity graduate, who brings
a fresh student's eyeperspective to the conversation.
In today's episode, we arejoined by Erin Hawker, the owner
(00:43):
and founder of Agentry PR.
A journalism major from theUniversity of Wisconsin-Madison,
she made her way to New Yorkthe scrappy way Lobby stakeouts
at Fairchild and a near start atDNR before choosing a higher
paying agency role that set hercourse In the pre-digital era.
She literally faxed releasesand called editors from
payphones, a grind that forgedher bias for action and
(01:06):
relationship-driven work.
Erin went on to leadhigh-impact programs for Donna
Karan, served as the global headof communications for Virtu and
as the head of publicity forDiesel North America.
As a VP at LaForge Stevens, sheworked on major accounts
including Target, sperry, reebokand Perry Ellis, crediting
James LaForse as an early mentorwho sharpened her writing.
(01:26):
In 2010, she launched Agency PR, a full-service fashion,
lifestyle and entertainmentagency spanning brand direction,
media outreach, influencer andVIP program and creative
partnerships.
Seeing a gap for menswear, erinalso launched New York Men's
Day, a showcase that has grownwith major sponsors and gives
(01:48):
emerging designers a platform atthe start of each season.
Recognized for blending brandbuilding with cultural
engagement, she continues toshape how fashion intersects
with identity, authenticity andcommerce.
On this episode of RetailRelates, you'll hear the
mechanics behind platformbuilding, from spotting
opportunities to securingsupport, and the practical craft
(02:08):
of modern PR sharpening yourpitch list, matching partners to
values and creating experiencesthat advance both culture and
commerce.
So, whether you're an emergingprofessional or leading a brand,
this conversation is a fieldguide to consistency,
credibility and momentum.
Excited to be back here foranother episode of Retail
(02:30):
Relates.
Judy, how are you today?
Judy (02:32):
I'm good.
How are you?
Rich (02:33):
I'm doing great, and I'm doing great because I have the
opportunity to introduce you andour listeners to Erin Hawker,
the owner and founder of AgentryPR.
Erin (02:44):
Thanks for having me.
I'm so excited to be here.
Rich (02:47):
Oh, it is absolutely our pleasure.
I'm excited because and Judywill know this, having been a
participant on the other end ofthe podcast in the retail course
at George Mason and hearingfrom the experts and the
industry leaders, but we didn'thave anybody from a PR
perspective in that first season, so very excited to have you in
(03:09):
here today.
Great, me too.
So let's get started.
We read your bio.
We're going to put it in theshow notes.
You have a very impressive bio.
What I want to do, though, isstart with something that gets
to know you a little bit, alittle bit more personally, a
little bit more deeply.
So think about the threepivotal moments that have
happened and it can be personal,it can be professional that
(03:31):
have happened to you, that havebrought you to where you are
right now.
Erin (03:35):
Okay, so I would have to say the three pivotal moments.
One is sort of the dream to getto New York City.
So it was sort of.
I grew up in Wisconsin and itwas sort of a bright lights, big
city dream and you know, Ididn't know how I was going to
do it and I really wanted towork in the fashion industry.
So all it took was, you know, asmall move.
(03:57):
After graduating journalismschool at Madison University,
wisconsin-madison, I moved toChicago as a quick stepping
stone and then it was the era ofNew York City when you couldn't
really find an apartment easy.
So basically, you know, I hadwritten I don't know 50 letters,
you know, pen to paper, 50letters to different brokers in
(04:19):
New York and one of them wroteback to me and took pity on me
and he made up my whole resumefor me and just kind of fudged
it so I could get an apartmentin the West Village and I was
off and running and my first joboffer really was I wanted to be
in fashion.
So I was always reading theWomen's Wear Daily job postings.
(04:40):
So it was actually when it wasin newspaper form and I, you
know, so I would go up to 7 West34th Street, and sit in their
lobby and read the newspaper forfree every day and I would find
jobs.
And then finally one day theywere like you can't sit here
anymore.
So I was like, well, I justwant to work at Women's Wear.
So lo and behold, I did applyand I got this position as the
(05:04):
men's editorial assistant.
So I did not last long at thatfirst job because there was
another job at a smalladvertising and PR agency that I
had also applied to but offeredme the job, which was actually
for $7,000 more.
So I ended up taking that joband that's how I really parlayed
(05:24):
into PR and at that time PRreally was not the way PR is
today.
So you know, we had to faxpress releases, we had to look
up contacts in bound bookscalled Cision, and you would
look up these contacts.
They were never up to date.
I wasn't allowed to make longdistance phone calls, so I would
(05:47):
go to the pay phone on thecorner in Soho and I would dial
411 to get all the differentphone numbers for different
editors.
So that was, that was a pivotalmoment, I would have to say.
The second pivotal moment in mycareer was actually starting
agentry PR, which I did in 2010.
I had worked my way up throughthe fashion industry, working on
(06:09):
the agency side as well asin-house, for many, many years.
I was on the event side for anonprofit called Fashion Group
International where we did about40 events, all related to the
fashion industry.
I did that for a few years andthen I got my big break at Donna
Karan as global PR director forDKNY and for Donna, and that
was pre and post LVMH, and myjob was really to create hype
(06:35):
and buzz for the DKNY name andreally create a lot of
excitement at, you know, at thein-store level, which was a lot
of fun.
I think you know one of my mostproud moments when I was
working at Don and Karen waswhen they shut down Madison
Avenue and it becomes a shoppingnight and all the different
(06:55):
stores compete with each otherto outdo each other with
different events, and the themefor that Madison Avenue bid was
New York City 1980s.
So I ended up booking Run DMCto perform in the store and
there were like lines ofthousand people outside to get
in.
It was really amazing.
So, and then I got recruited byNokia, believe it or not, to
(07:18):
join the communications team asthe global head of
communications for the luxurydivision called Virtu, and Virtu
were mobile phones that were$35,000 for solid yellow gold,
white gold phones for $18,000,and then stainless steel for
(07:39):
$5,400.
And that was a pretty amazingexperience because we were
really my job was to create pullmarketing, so I drove the hype
for global sales essentially outof New York and London and we
weren't really actually activelyselling the phones necessarily
in the US.
Our core customer was reallythe Middle East, russia and, of
(08:04):
course, asia.
So my job was to give the phoneto really exciting people, so
Madonna, gwyneth Paltrow,pharrell Williams and I got to
meet all of them, I got to hangout with them and really just
drove press coverage throughproduct placement essentially.
And then I moved on to Diesel,where I was the head of
(08:24):
communications for Diesel NorthAmerica from 2005 to 2010.
And those were the most amazingtimes.
One of my favorite moments everat Diesel was celebrating our
25-year anniversary.
We came up with a concept tostart in Tokyo and we did 25
hours of parties around theworld, so it was 25, and then it
(08:48):
counted down to 24, moved fromTokyo to Dubai, dubai to Berlin,
berlin to London, all aroundthe world and then ended up
mashups.
So we had Chaka Khan performingwith NARD.
We had Hot Chip performing withTI.
(09:13):
Mia was performing.
It was terrific.
There was a lot of crazy.
That happened, I think.
Mia came out and she waspregnant.
Nobody knew that she waspregnant, so that went viral in
itself.
Ti was going to jail the nextday to serve a sentence and I
was on my headset saying where'sTI?
(09:33):
Where's TI?
I need him on the red carpetright now and everyone's like
he's at McDonald's, at thedrive-in getting chicken
McNuggets because he wanted toget those before he went to jail
.
So it was.
You know, the fashion industryhas got some pretty exciting
things that happen and it's alot of fun, I would say.
The third pivotal moment for mewas launching New York Men's Day
(09:56):
.
So in 2014, there was sort of alot of white space in terms of
menswear designers, and I don't.
It wasn't because I specializedin menswear.
It was because a lot ofdiscretionary dollars that large
brands wanted to participate inNew York Fashion Week were
going to women's brands.
Nobody wanted to support men'sdesigners because the bang for
(10:19):
the buck was with women's brands.
So what we decided to do waspair up men's wear designers and
showcase them all at the sametime over a two-hour period.
So we rented a photographystudio that had many different
studios within that big buildingand each designer set up within
their own spaces.
(10:40):
And then we invited, you know,400 buyers, you know media
influencers and everybody kindof floated in between those six
studios.
So it really it took off.
Cadillac saw what we were doingand really wanted to be in the
menswear space, so they came onboard for the next eight seasons
and sponsored New York Men'sDay.
Then we were able to grow thatfrom six designers to 12
(11:02):
designers.
We will be having our 24thseason this coming September.
We are the CFDA partner forEmerging Designer Talent and we
kick off New York Fashion Weekevery single season.
And this season is superspecial because my team that was
at Cadillac is nowMercedes-Benz and so now we are
moving to the new Mercedes-Benzheadquarters in Manhattan and we
(11:26):
will be having eight designers.
We're doing a special showcasewith FIT, which is the Fashion
Institute of Technology in NewYork.
We'll have, I think, 18students each making one look
and doing a showcase together.
So that should be an excitingtime, but it's really a labor of
love we don't make any moneyoff of it or you know it's not
(11:46):
meant to be that.
It's meant to give back to thecommunity.
Rich (11:48):
Normally my follow-up question is is this what you
imagine doing?
But you kind of answered that.
What I really want to know isif I got the order right.
You didn't have a job.
You were focused on getting anapartment.
You got an apartment and thenyou looked for a job.
Erin (12:06):
Yeah, because in New York, especially if you don't have,
it's so hard to get an apartmentin New York, or was so hard to
get in a park.
That was the hurdle Number one.
I wasn't really too worried, Iknew I knew I'd be able to.
To do something was just also.
You know, when you're youngnaive, you know being as naive
as that, you know it sometimesworks in your favor, you don't.
(12:26):
You don't have fear, you don'thave fear.
Rich (12:28):
So yeah, I have a feeling that if something happened in
this podcast and right now, thewords of advice are just take a
damn chance, go to where youwant to go in the lobby of where
you want to work, read the freepapers or tap into the free
Internet and see your dad as yougo.
Erin (12:48):
And listen, not everybody is built that way.
You know, I do, you know andI'm very type A.
Things need to be, andespecially, I think, after
starting Agentry we havecurrently we have 25 clients.
We're a team of 12.
And we work with, you know,huge brands, you know Fortune
500 brands like Abercrombie andFitch and Hollister.
We work, you know again, with alot of emerging designers as
well.
But so there's a lot ofresponsibility, there's a lot of
(13:11):
being on top of it.
You have to be really dedicated, you have to be hardworking,
you have to understand culture,you have to understand pop
culture, you have to understandtrends and movements, and I you
know.
So, all of that aside, I dothink there is something to be
said about really trusting yourinstinct and your gut and taking
(13:31):
a chance on following yourdreams, because it definitely it
can happen.
Judy (13:37):
That's really great to hear, as a newly graduate, that
I should just take chances.
What's a challenge or a setbackthat taught you something
lasting?
Erin (13:44):
I would say for me personally, I think I was born
to do my own thing.
So when I started agentry Iwanted to make sure I had as
much experience as possible.
I wanted to make sure I had,you know, enough industry
experience, enough contacts, andso I think you know, for me
working in the corporate spacewas a necessary evil for me
(14:08):
personally, meaning you know Ihad a lot of ideas about you
know, events or what we shoulddo that would really move the
needle in terms of, like, brandequity and and and share market
share.
But of course you have a lot ofhurdles to get through with
when you work in that sort of inthat sort of box, the the.
The great news is that you knowmostly everybody who hires us
(14:32):
is hiring us for not being in abox.
They're hiring us to becreative and they want sort of
offbeat ideas and they wantthings to move the needle.
So I think, out of learning theropes and learning the how-tos
of how sort of business worksand how industry works was
absolute necessary.
I see a lot of younger peoplewho don't have experience who
(14:55):
start agencies.
You know, for us we've nevergone after new business.
All business has been referredto us and then I attribute to
that to sort of a long career inthis business and knowing
people.
So I will say thatrelationships are key and I
think again like I wouldn't sayit was a setback, but I
definitely think you have tobuild upon layer after layer in
(15:17):
order to be'm not going to haveyou name any- but how do you
approach that situation when youhave this designer and you're
looking at the talent and you'resaying you've got this, but
(15:39):
you've got to lean in on it,otherwise you can't bring them
forward?
Yeah, that's a great questionbecause, listen, a lot of these
young people are starting thesebrands and they're following
their passion, they're followingtheir heart, right.
So they're just going to designwhat comes to them and you know
, a lot of times you're seeingthese amazing creative outfits
(15:59):
and like just absolutelyterrific stuff.
They get a ton of presscoverage but guess what?
The US retailers aren't buyingthem.
So I always ask the youngemerging designers okay, what
really do you want out of thisAre you looking for?
Do you want to be the nextTheory?
Do you want to be the nextUniqlo?
Do you want to be the nextAbercrombie or do you want to be
(16:19):
this cool, like off-white?
You know, like, because what Isee, the, you know what I see,
the biggest struggle is with theactual marketplace in America
not necessarily accepting like alittle bit more avant-garde
fashion.
So in Europe, like inCopenhagen, london, Amsterdam,
even, you know, even I would saya little bit of Milan, but you
(16:44):
know, those really fashionforward cities accept more
avant-garde kind of, you know,like a little bit more I
wouldn't say wild fashion, butyou know and like a little bit
more creative fashion.
You know, obviously, withworking with Abercrombie, fitch,
I know exactly what's sellingright.
So denim is their number one,sell polo shirts, denim.
So if designers want to be thatname and they want to make
(17:07):
money, then they really need togo do their homework.
Go into the retail stores, gointo Bloomingdale's, go into
Saks, go to Nordstrom, find outwhere that white space is and
then design that way.
A lot of young designers don'twant to do that.
They want to like, design whatthey're.
You know what they're feelingin their heart.
Design off the cuff, show theircreativity, but guess what?
It doesn't sell necessarilyhere.
(17:29):
So, without having a businessmanager, a lot of these, you
know I have to follow suit interms of like what the market
actually wants you to do.
Rich (17:57):
And it doesn't mean you have to be copycat, you have to
carve out your space within it.
Erin (18:02):
But Right, we've had several designers recently that
are no longer trying to get intothe American market.
So they get a lot of presscoverage.
They're totally beloved, butthey're going to, they're
starting to showcase overseasnow, meaning like they're doing
Paris market, they're doingCopenhagen Fashion Week, they
are trying to get momentum, youknow, with buyers on that path
(18:23):
instead of necessarily sellingto the American market.
I mean, I will say the oneamazing thing that's changed in
the fashion industry sincesocial media has come to be is
really there's tribes of peopleso direct to consumer.
If you can do it right and ifyou can do it correctly and
speak to that niche audience,then you have a really good
chance of selling.
(18:43):
But crossing over then tomainstream can sometimes be very
hard.
So there might be a cap to yourbusiness size if you're not
able to do some kind ofcrossover.
So I mean, every brand you know, every luxury house in the
entire world, has a very simpleproposition.
They create aspirationalclothing that no one can really
(19:04):
afford.
We all want it.
It gets so much press coverageand then they sell perfume, they
sell handbags and that's howthey make their money.
They're not making their moneyoff of, you know, the look
number five off the runway.
They're making their money onselling a dream.
Rich (19:19):
Thank you, christian Dior.
Exactly Thank you, mr Dior,when you had to hit the phone
book and find the numbers tosocial media.
Now we're contending with AI.
How is that evolving and how doyou feel about it and how are
(19:40):
you adapting to it?
Erin (19:44):
Yeah, it's been interesting.
So PR in general has changedimmensely since the introduction
of the affiliate.
So I will say that theaffiliate for anyone who doesn't
know what affiliate is, soaffiliate was sort of invented,
I want to say it really took off, probably 2012.
Hearst Magazine was sort of oneof the first early pioneers on
(20:06):
affiliate marketing.
So anytime you see a listiclestory which means the top 10
denim trends coming for fall, soI'm like reading this article
there's wide leg denim, there'sskinny jeans, there's capri
pants I click on the capri pants.
I want to buy those capri pants.
Guess what Cookies is trackingme and once you know it tracks
(20:28):
me for a month.
Once I go back and actually buythose capri pants, hearst gets
a percentage of that sale.
So brands will pay to be onthese affiliate platforms.
The brands are actually payingsomewhere, you know, between 10
and 30 percent commission onanything that is bought on that
(20:48):
website.
So that has been an entirelynew experience because those are
oftentimes the number onegenerators of money for all of
these publications.
Now, conde Nast, hearst, bustleGroup, every single publication
Rolling Stone, new York Times,cnn, underscored they're all on
(21:08):
affiliate programs.
All of those shopping storiesare affiliate-based.
So our job is now.
Besides, when we would pitchjust the fashion director, we
would pitch the market editor,we now have to pitch the
commerce editors, be included inthese stories or these features
(21:34):
.
So that's changed a lot.
And having to get clients toget on the affiliate programs
it's easy to get on it, butgetting them to wrap their head
around that they actually haveto pay a commission is
oftentimes not as welcome.
So that but.
And then there's all kinds ofstrategies you can employ using
affiliates.
So, for instance, when we werelaunching Abercrombie Fitch's
YPB, which stands for yourpersonal best sort of their
athleisure brand, we actuallywould go to.
(21:56):
We went to the commerce editorand we said, hey, listen, we're
going to offer you 30%commission for the month of
March.
You're going to make 30% morethis month on anything YPB that
sells.
And they said, ok, great, well,you know we'll accept that.
And then we went to theeditorial side and we said, hey,
your e-commerce team justsigned off on a 30% commission.
(22:17):
You need to help support andsell this by way of editorial.
So there's all kinds of likelittle strategies you know we're
employing constantly.
And then the other pointed thingthat happened was obviously
social media.
So I was working at Diesel atthe time in 2008, when the first
social media stars were sittingfront row at the runway shows
(22:40):
Tommy Tan, it was unheard of,like we were still paying
celebrities to sit in our frontrow.
And now you're telling me Ihave to pay an average Joe Schmo
who has like 100,000 followers.
I have to pay him $15,000 tosit front row.
I mean, and those were fees atthe time.
Now it's even a crazierbusiness.
But social media, you know therise of the influencer kind of
(23:03):
knocked a lot of the editors outof their trees.
You know meaning their kingdoms.
So the whole truth about theDevil Wears Prada and those
glory days of fashion were alltrue.
They weren't the nicest of theindustries.
There was a lot of truth toeverything you heard and read
about it.
But then, once the social mediastars started knocking people
down a bit, fashion got a littlebit nicer.
(23:25):
So that's been interestingbecause there's just now
Substack is coming to be.
Everybody's on Substack.
Now we're pitching Substackeditors.
So not only is our job morecomplicated because there's more
channels, it's been pretty wildbecause now you're having to
track down every single person'sSubstack and then pitching
those people directly as well.
(23:46):
It's definitely been a differentchange.
I think what's been happeningin general is that most of the
publishing houses have gottenmore vertical.
So it used to be when you wouldgo to Conde Nast it was at Four
Times Square.
It was like the most amazingbuilding, every single floor.
One was Vogue, one wasArchitectural Digest, one was
(24:06):
Conde Nast Traveler, one was GQ.
They have this beautiful, youknow Frank Gehry building
cafeteria.
You know it was fascinating.
You go into the cafeteria andthey all had their like lunch
tickets and they were like youcan get whatever you want.
We'd be like this is great.
And now when you go to CondéNast at One World Trade, they're
(24:26):
all on one floor.
So it's a vertical.
It's turned completely verticaland you have sort of one
fashion director overseeingmultiple publications at this
point.
So it's just, it's definitelyshrinking.
It's definitely a bit of adifferent hustle and a lot of
the publications don't want tonot to diminish this, but
(24:49):
instead of having to pay fullsalaries and benefits etc.
They now freelance a lot ofthis, a lot of the articles you
know, to stringers.
So on top of trying to maintainwho's at which publication full
time, you have to constantlypitching.
Our pitch list is 700 peoplenow.
You just never know if Isabellain Michigan, who freelances for
(25:13):
Condé Nass, traveler, andRobert Port and Forbes, if she's
writing a story on rimlesseyewear or not.
So you have to include all ofthese different people on these
pitch lists all of the time.
So it just it's made our jobfrom.
I mean, I think the youngerpeople who are on my team don't
understand what I see,necessarily, and how much it's
(25:35):
changed, and they're adaptingvery well because they don't
know it any other way.
I think with AI, it's going toget really interesting in terms
of writing.
I know a lot of writers that Iwork with are very nervous in
general about their jobs.
Writers that I work with arevery nervous in general about
their jobs.
I think there's always going tobe, you know, people who are
(25:56):
mega talents, who are writingfor the New Yorker, who are
writing for the Wall StreetJournal, who are writing for the
New York Times.
They're not going anywhere.
You know that can't really bereplaced.
What I do see as being replacedis sort of these shopping
stories, trend-driven shoppingstories, because a lot of these
people are cranking out five ofthese shopping stories in a day
(26:16):
and it's like a cog on a wheeland it's not fulfilling for them
.
It's not necessarilysustainable, if that makes sense
for one person long term.
Rich (26:26):
You mentioned Substack.
I have to dig into it becauseit's something.
It's yet another platform andevery time that there's a new,
it seems like there's five orsix or seven new platforms that
everybody's raving about, andthen one seems to have some
staying power and right now itfeels like Substack is having
that version of blogging.
Erin (26:51):
But the amazing thing is, anybody can create one and you
can charge money so I can get anupgraded subscription base.
You know, let's say, let's sayso.
For instance, I follow AmyO'Dell.
Amy O'Dell was a famous editorfrom the New York Magazine time.
She has this really awesomecutting edge sub stack.
(27:12):
It's it talks about thebackdoor fashion.
You know, every week sheupdates it.
You get a little teaser andthen I can pay I don't know
thirty nine dollars for a yearsubscription to her for her sub
stack.
So you're getting these amazingreporters who do these side
hustles.
So you know anyone anyone againwho's not not under contract has
(27:33):
these, you know, and it's inevery category.
It could be cooking, it couldbe wine, it could be about dogs,
it can be about fashion.
So Substack is sort of the wayto go, because it empowers one
person to be able to generateincome for themselves, and so
it's how much you can hustle andhow many followers you get.
I think it's sort of the way ofthe future.
(27:54):
It was funny when Terry Moranleft ABC.
He immediately started a substack and he's got like a
million people already sofollowing him.
So it's just, I think sub stackis going to be sort of the new
era for alternate news and youdon't have an editor.
Yeah, and you know, it's like Ihave a sub stack, I don't have
an editor.
(28:14):
I can basically talk whatever Iwant and no one's going to say,
no, you need to edit this.
You're like your own king.
Rich (28:23):
No, I've been watching it and it's fascinating.
I'm actually looking at it froma nonprofit perspective,
because it can also be a sourceof revenue from a nonprofit
perspective.
And when you talk about AI, Idon't want to paraphrase your
words, but you kind of intimateto this that those that are
really skilled and that havetalent are still going to be
there.
It takes out some of themundane and those that were
(28:46):
creating the mundane are goingto have to find something else.
Erin (28:50):
Yeah, and, frankly, that could be where Substack steps
into for a lot of these peopleBecause, again, if you've built
up depending on how well youhustle, like if you have been
successful building up yoursocial media profile, I think
it's a lot the same of buildingup your Substack profile.
So you know, there is a chanceto make real money Rich.
(29:13):
I'll actually send well, I'llsend you an article after we get
through with this which kind ofsums up Substack in a nutshell.
That just came out.
It's pretty fascinating.
Judy (29:20):
I downloaded Substack to follow Nora Smith on there and
it was really cool what shewrote.
But then the paywall got me in.
Erin (29:28):
That's the funny thing.
It hooks you in because youknow paywall got me.
And that's the funny thing.
It hooks you in because youknow you get these tidbits and
then you then all of a suddenyou've got, you know, a paywall
just pulling you back.
You want more.
Judy (29:39):
Exactly yeah, and that was when she was announcing her
pregnancy and I was like, wait,I need to see what.
What else did he say about this?
Is there a brand, past orpresent, that personally
inspired you as a gold standardfor what a brand should be, and
why does it stand out?
Erin (29:55):
Yeah, I mean I, you know personally, there's a lot of
brands doing a lot of good stuffand I have to say Abercrombie
Fitch is pretty amazing on howthey've turned the brand around.
I mean, fran Horowitz took thereins in 2017.
And she recruited many, manypeople from New York City, moved
them to Columbus, ohio.
They are pretty cutting edge interms of you know, they were a
(30:17):
first.
You know like first fastfashion to F1.
You're going to see some bigannouncements for sports
partnerships coming out laterthis fall To run an $8 billion
company like that and do a lotof good, I mean, and such a
turnaround story as well, thepast era of how it was run and I
won't say who, by whom.
(30:38):
It's the gift that keeps givingevery day in the headlines when
you're reading stories.
So I will say yeah, I will sayAbercrombie Fitch is pretty
amazing.
And then that team kind of tookover Hollister and we've been
slowly working on reshaping thatbrand and it's been amazing
From when we started working onit about two and a half years
ago.
The amount of press coveragethat we now derive is night and
(31:01):
day from when we first startedworking on it.
Judy (31:03):
Those are two of my favorite stores, honestly.
I love Abercrombie, fitch andSt, and I love Hollister's.
I just love their PJs.
Erin (31:10):
They're so comfy, oh good, everyone loves the PJs,
everyone loves the sweatshirts.
Even I got sucked into aUniversity of Wisconsin at
Hollister sweatshirt.
Rich (31:21):
You've talked about the experience and I don't want one
question to kind of queue up theother one, but I'm going to try
.
But I'm going to try.
What's a misconception?
Erin (31:37):
that either those thinking about PR or those that are
aware of PR but not deeply,would have about PR.
It is not all fun.
I think that people, especiallya lot of young people looking
to get in, they're like butfashion shows are so fun and the
events are so fun and once youkind of get into it you have to
realize like there's a lot ofpressure to to pull.
(32:01):
To pull off these, these, theseevents successfully takes a lot
of planning, a lot of manpowerand a lot of long hours.
I mean for Fashion Week, whenwe were used to, you know, when
I was working on Donna Karan orwhen I was working at Diesel, we
would probably be working forone month straight, I would say
60 hour weeks.
(32:21):
You know, the night, the weekof the actual runway show, we
would be there to 2 am everynight.
And it's changed a lot.
Now it's not as demanding orcrazy no-transcript spend.
(32:59):
So you're going to look at yourJanuary through June spend in
these publications.
You're going to book the media,you're going to negotiate the
rates, you're going to do someTikTok, some content around that
and once you spend the money,once you book the thing, your
job is sort of done.
With PR there's always a newperson to meet, because this is
(33:21):
such a rolling ball with allthese different channels, with
Substack, with social media,with even celebrities and with
product placement and featurestories.
Because of the way of theindustry now, literally there's
always.
There's 10 people every day youmight meet that are totally new
to the game, so you're alwayshaving to be on your toes.
(33:41):
I mean, we update our medialists probably every single week
.
We're editing them, we'rechanging them up, we're adding
people, we're taking people off.
It's definitely a very fluidindustry and it's not one for
idle.
I will say, too, thatrelationships are everything.
For instance, like our team, wehave senior people who work for
us and then there's some juniorpeople.
(34:02):
You know, when the juniorpeople are inviting editors to,
you know, a sit down dinner for30 people and they can't get
responses.
Guess who's going to have to dothe texting at the end of the
day?
It's me, so you know, and theycan't get responses.
Guess who's going to have to dothe texting at the end of the
day?
It's me, so you know, and I canget an answer in five minutes.
But if I didn't have thoserelationships, it's sort of like
the younger people, you're notgetting any response.
In PR there's a lot of no andit's a lot of rejection as well.
(34:22):
But I will say relationshipsare everything in this business.
Like as many people, as manyfavors as you can call in, you
definitely need to tap intothose.
Rich (34:32):
Well, and that was one of the things that I learned from
you when we worked together manyyears ago is, I think my
perception of PR at the time wasthe relationships and the
expertise, and we hire an agency, which we did, and you have the
context and I have the product,and there it goes, and what I
learned and you've talked aboutit today is that it was as much
(34:54):
about the quality of therelationship and the connection
that you can make, but it's alsoabout the experience that you
would help us craft, and I wantto dig into that a little bit,
because it's something thatretailers and brands right now
are really discovering about GenZ is that authenticity and that
(35:15):
connection and that experienceoften matters more than what
your brand reputation is.
When you were working with us,it wasn't just I'm going to
introduce you to Stan, it waswhen you meet him.
These are the things that helikes and this is what he's
going to be interested in, andthis is the kind of event that
we want to set up and and it wasauthentic and it was connective
(35:36):
and it was wonderful when itworked.
So talk about where you seebrands getting that right and
wrong today.
Erin (35:42):
I truly believe everything comes full circle.
So every 20 years you're goingto see like it was so funny that
in the show we part of ouroffice.
We're based in Chelsea in NewYork City.
On 8th and 26th Half of ouroffice is a showroom space and
somebody was shooting,photographing looks to send out
to an editor and I was like geez, I think I wore that 20 years
(36:04):
ago, that exact same outfit.
I was like this is crazy.
So I mean, as fashion trendsfollow this cycle, so do a lot
of the experiences right.
So there was a wave of in-storeevents that you know, people,
you know we all wanted to go tothese in-store events and they
were.
Every brand was upping theother brand for experiences in
(36:25):
the store and then it kind ofdied out.
Everyone got tired of it andthe new generation came today
and they want in-storeexperiences.
So and it's pretty incrediblegot tired of it and the new
generation came today and theywant in-store experiences.
So, and it's pretty incredibleand you know, the other thing is
, too is now we're seeing a lotof younger generation people
don't drink.
So we did Saucony is one of ourclients and we did sort of a
meetup, like it was.
(36:45):
They're really into communitybuilding, so they take over
these coffee shops.
We had a sort of a charm barset up in the coffee shop.
Everybody loves these charmbars.
They go and they pick outcharms, they're going to create
things.
And then we had espressomartinis and we only had one
bartender and I was like, listen, we just, you know, pre-batch
as many as possible, set themout on the bar.
(37:06):
No one drank any.
So having a non-alcoholicalternate now I think is pretty
important.
So I guess the point of thestory is everything that we did
20 years ago Galentine's Dayevent, where we had like
different little vignettes setup and like it was interactive.
(37:34):
You could go and do socialmedia posts from this side, you
could go to the candy table andbuild these, build candy bags,
you could go to a charm bar, andthat kind of interactive was
like highly successful.
I think I don't know there'slike at least 90 posts from that
event in one night.
It was kind of crazy.
But yeah, I think not doing anexperience is completely the
(37:55):
wrong way at this point now foranybody.
I do think too, like if you'rea marketer, don't just jump on
the train because everybody elseis doing it.
So I've been watching everyoneelse try to tie into F1.
And I'm like this is so wrongfor you, like this, I mean it
was.
There's a brand that I wasworking with sort of on some
(38:15):
one-off projects and themarketing director was like she
was very in on the F1 and I'mlike, listen, you're selling $40
jeans.
This is not a luxury, you know.
This is.
It doesn't really make sensefor you guys to be there.
So I do think just because yousee things on TikTok doesn't not
(38:35):
necessarily mean it's right foryour brand.
So think about that as well.
Judy (38:40):
I did see the F1 merch at Hollister.
I have to say I do love thatone, though.
What is a belief sorry, goahead.
I was gonna say or approachthat has shaped how you take on
projects today.
Erin (38:52):
Listen, we're not just taking things on for money.
So we're taking things on if wereally feel like we can help
the brand.
Because, you know, I came Iworked on the agency side prior
to starting my own agency atanother agency.
It was very much a cog in thewheel and it literally like I
knew we couldn't do anythingwith this brand and nobody.
Much a cog in the wheel and itliterally like I knew we
(39:13):
couldn't do anything with thisbrand and nobody was going to
pull the brand, no one was goingto care about the brand, no one
was going to shoot the brandand I just felt really bad about
taking these people's moneybecause maybe PR wasn't the
right approach for them.
Maybe investing money in D2C andinvesting money into social
that way was probably thesmarter and more prudent way to
(39:35):
you know, for that brand toactually succeed.
So we always take a very stronglook at the brand.
If we feel like we can helpthem, then we'll work with them.
If there's no chance that wethink that the editors are going
to pull it, then I don't wantto spin wheels, I don't want to
waste their money and my teamalso feels bad when they don't
get responses or they don't geteditorial coverage.
(39:57):
So it's a lose, lose, losealtogether.
Rich (40:01):
So you've given great advice that we're going to pull
from this.
But before I pivot to the rapidfire, is there a quality that
you think is underrated when youare looking to hire somebody or
work with someone today?
Erin (40:19):
Yeah, I think I mean honestly you have to.
You know you don't think PR isa writing job, but it is.
It is a communications job.
It is 80% writing.
I have probably, on average,500 emails a day, but all we're
doing is we're pitching.
(40:39):
We pitch probably every singleone of our brands two to three
times a week.
We're constantly creatingcommunications materials, right.
So being a strong writer issuper, super important and I
really have to say beingcreative, because, honestly, the
only way that I see us movingthe needle a lot of times,
(41:05):
unless you have a lot of moneyto spend, like the brands that
can spend a gazillion dollars,of course you know it's much
more easy, but a lot of brandsthat don't have that marketing
spend, they rely on us to becreative.
And creative like just meansyou know it just means how are
you going to sell?
(41:25):
You know the way I look at italways is I.
At the end of the day, theeditors are my consumers.
So what are the editors goingto think is cool?
And once I kind of get a graspon that, like in terms of, like
planning dinners or planningexperiences, if it sounds like
fun, if we think that it hasn'tbeen done by another brand, then
we're pretty much a go and wecan sell it into the client, but
(41:48):
it's.
I mean, it's really, reallyimportant not to do cookie
cutter kind of stuff, but again,like if you're in pharmacy,
like if you're in pharma or ifyou're in, maybe, automotive, it
might be more cookie cutter andthere's a way things are done.
But in these more creativefields I would say, like
especially in fashion,especially, you know, in like
(42:09):
beauty, for instance, you, themore creative you can be, the
better.
Rich (42:13):
So transition that to somebody just graduating from
college or someone just startingoff in their career.
How do they stand out today?
Erin (42:22):
Yeah, don't come in empty handed.
Always bring your resume.
So you know, I mean honestly,like if I was going in, I had my
own portfolio when I startedout and I didn't even have any
experience, I didn't evenunderstand how to write pitches,
but I definitely had.
You know.
I came around with a portfolioof you know brands I loved and
(42:43):
admired, and but I think foranyone starting out, you should
try sampling some pitches.
Don't ever come empty handed.
You should come prepared with alist of publications that you
read, and here are my favoritewriters.
So I mean, you would impressanybody if you were able to.
You know, I mean just assumingthat somebody has your resume
and they're going to print.
(43:03):
It doesn't work that way.
You should always send a thankyou now too.
Rich (43:08):
All right, that is a perfect answer and it actually
aligns with the entire theme ofthe podcast.
So now I'm going to roll into arapid fire round.
Three questions.
Don't think throw out theanswer.
Favorite comfort food Spaghetti, just spaghetti.
Erin (43:24):
Spaghetti and pizza.
Rich (43:26):
Spaghetti and pizza.
Either one I like that.
Erin (43:29):
Either one Every day.
Rich (43:31):
Okay, perfect.
All right, Judy, you're up.
Judy (43:34):
What's a superpower that you wish you had?
Erin (43:36):
Oh, I'd like to be a fly on the wall.
I wish I could be invisible andlisten in on all these crazy
conversations.
Rich (43:43):
Are you sure you'd want to ?
Erin (43:45):
Yeah, no, that's exactly true.
Rich (43:50):
All right.
So this one might seem like afairly kind of basic question,
but I am really curious what'syour walk on song?
What's your hype song?
Erin (43:59):
I would say the Go-Go's Vacation.
Rich (44:02):
I like that.
Erin (44:03):
Yeah, I think, I think it's definitely the Go-Go's.
Rich (44:06):
I could see that I can.
I don't know that I ever wouldhave guessed that, but that's
perfect, all right, well,perfect.
Hey, we really appreciate thetime.
This has been fantastic.
We had a chance to worktogether many years ago and I've
learned a lot just in thisconversation.
I know that our audience willand we need to find another
(44:28):
excuse to have you come back,but really appreciate it.
Thank you very much.
Erin (44:33):
Yes and Rich.
Also, if anyone ever wants toemail and wants advice or
anything, they can always feelfree to share my email address
as well.
Rich (44:42):
Absolutely love that and I think that's one of the cool
things about what we're doingand meeting the Aaron Hawkers of
the world, because you meanthat.
Erin (44:51):
Yeah, I do mean it.
I do mean it.
I might not always have themost time in the world, but I
definitely like helping people.
Rich (44:58):
All right.
Well, thank you very much.
This has been a fantasticepisode of Retail Relates, or at
least I think so.
Appreciate Aaron Hawker forjoining us.
Judy, as always, great to seeyou.
Erin (45:10):
Thank you so much, Thank you Judy, Thank you Rich.
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