February 28, 2025 • 28 mins
In this episode, we sit down with PR powerhouse Heidi Krupp, a master publicist and brand strategist with decades of experience shaping bestselling books and personal brands. From working at ABC’s 20/20 to launching her own successful agency, she shares her journey, the art of storytelling in PR, and what it takes to craft a message that resonates.
We also dive into the current media buzz surrounding the Justin Baldoni & Blake Lively case, breaking down what people get wrong about publicists and the blurred lines in today’s media landscape. Plus, hear the fascinating story of how she started her business with just $5,000—and how that risk turned into a career working with icons like Tony Robbins, Dr. Stephen Covey, and more.
Key Highlights:
✅ Why storytelling, consistency, and relationships are the true keys to building a lasting brand—and how you can apply these principles to your own success.
✅ Lessons learned from interning at ABC’s 20/20 and working with Barbara Walters
✅ The role of a publicist: understanding what the role entails & what the job is
✅ How to turn a book into a brand (and a business!)
✅ The truth about the PR industry and the media’s changing landscape
✅ The surprising way she funded her first business
✅ The impact of mentors and the power of personal branding
Key Links:
Follow Heidi at:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/heidi-krupp/
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Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
So if you're going to walk around thinking it's never
going to work, it will neverwork.
If you have a dream and if youwant to do something, do it.
Look at me.
I'm a little girl fromPittsburgh, pennsylvania, whose
father drove a cab, whose motherworked in a clothing store.
We all came from somewhere.
We all have a backstory that'sgoing to lead us to our business
, our book or our brand, or abeginning or an ending.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Welcome back to the show.
I go way back with our guesttoday.
Heidi Krupp is the founder andCEO of Krupp Communications,
which is a powerhouse PR agency.
She is someone I encounteredearly in her career when I
(00:58):
interned for her when she was atABC and working on 2020.
And she was a producer and apublicist at 2020, working with
people like Barbara Walters onthe show and on publicity.
I can't tell you how much Ilearned from her again early in
her career in a very shortperiod of time, and she went on
to found her own agency, crumpCommunications, where she has
(01:20):
represented people like TonyRobbins and helped make mega
book-selling, best-selling bookslike the South Beach Diet,
which not only became abestseller but also went on to
become a powerhouse brand withfood products that you could buy
in the store.
So what I talk with Heidi aboutis her career, what it's like to
(01:43):
represent some of thepersonalities that she has, and
the role of publicists.
Obviously, there's so much inthe news today about the whole
Blake Lively and Justin Baldonicase if you are familiar with
that and the role of publicistsin that.
So we touch on that and wereally talk about how Heidi
(02:04):
thinks about books andindividuals that she represents
as brands and how to build themout.
I think you will find thisconversation with Heidi so
interesting.
She has had just an amazingcareer and had the chance to do
work with names that you willabsolutely know.
We're going to jump right intoit.
(02:25):
Here we go.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
Hi, welcome to the show.
First of all, you have a show.
I knew you would have a show,oh well, we met on a show.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
We didn't want a show .
2020, when you were early inyour career and I was interning.
I interned at ABC and theyassigned me to 2020.
And I just watched you work andI thought well, this woman
knows what she's doing, so ifI'm smart, I will just absorb
(02:56):
everything she says.
So thank you for teaching me soearly on.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
Thank you.
I mean honestly, I had a mentor.
We don't all have mentors.
I think mentors are soimportant and I had a dream job
working at ABC News 2020 forBarbara Walters.
Who didn't want to be BarbaraWalters or work for Barbara
Walters?
I mean legendary, what struck?
Speaker 3 (03:20):
me about you also in those, you know, when I was
watching and observing as anintern does, as interns should
do.
You know you just had youcarried yourself, you were
confident but you also wouldlisten and I remember being very
struck by that.
Like that you didn't have toknow all the answers, but you
(03:43):
were so clearly confident interms of what you were going to
do.
So could you talk a little bitabout what the role was?
Publicists are in the newsright now.
We can just say we're going totalk about the whole Blake
Lively and Justin Baldoni of itall in a minute.
But what does a publicist do?
Speaker 2 (04:00):
Heidi.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
Yeah, so that's a great question.
It's funny.
I mean there are differentversions of publicists, do Heidi
?
Yeah, so that's a greatquestion.
It's funny.
I mean there are differentversions of publicists.
I mean I believe thatpublicists take a message and
share it with the world, sothere are celebrity publicists,
there's entertainment publicists.
I look at myself as astoryteller and a PR strategist.
My job, as I see it, is to be amirror to my clients, find out
(04:24):
what it is that they might wantto say, much like when we were
at 2020.
As producers, I'm helping themproduce and share the message
that they want and I'm making itpersonal for them Because I
think that public relations yes,it gets out into the public.
And now, even then there wasn'tsocial media, there wasn't all
these parts.
So when I, you know, fell intothis position working for the
(04:49):
assistant to the publicist andalso working with John Stossel,
catherine Cryer, deborah RobertsI mean these were people and a
bunch of the best Emmy awardwinning producers it was
wonderful to be able to go outand tell a story.
I was able to be a producer andthen be a publicist.
The publicist part was tellingpeople what we were doing and
(05:09):
packaging it away.
And as news has evolved and themedia has evolved, there's
blurred lines now between whatused to be news, what is news
now.
We don't know what's fake news,what's real news.
Everybody shares everything andyou have to be so careful in
being a publicist.
(05:30):
Thank you for talking about thegrace and humility and
humbleness that I have.
I grew up.
My father drove a cab, mymother worked in a clothing
store and I just always rememberwhere I came from, and my dad,
when I was younger, had made mego to a Dale Carnegie course so
that I could like stand up andlearn how to speak in front of
people and you know, how to winfriends and influence people.
(05:50):
He made me do it and get thiscertificate because I was afraid
of public speaking.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
What an insightful dad to back then say you know
this is important for you, go,go do it.
I mean it's.
I mean for those who don't knowwho is Dale Carnegie and what
is the-.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
Dale Carnegie was one of the greatest of all great
speakers and best-sellingauthors and had a whole
organization of teaching peopleabout public speaking and
connecting and the ultimate ofmentorship and leadership.
I take this course when I wasyoung and then my very first
client when I started Kruppafter I left ABC, was a doctor
(06:30):
who actually had a book calledSeven Habits of Highly Effective
People, dr Covey.
So I mean, this was one of myvery first projects that was
given to me from my mentor, janMiller, who is my mentor.
So I love you talk of me.
I like literally talk of Janthe same Like.
I remember her walking into theroom and having all this
gravitas and being like, oh, Iwant to be like her.
(06:50):
And how do I learn how to dothat?
How do I model that behavior?
I think in some ways I have.
Lately she's been telling me oh, you're like, you've surpassed
certain things.
I'm like not exactly, but youknow, it's great to be able to
have people that are role modelsthat you can learn from.
Speaker 3 (07:06):
You started your company before a lot of people,
a lot of women, were startingagencies.
So can you talk about that leapA hundred?
Speaker 1 (07:16):
percent.
I did not think about startinga business.
I just had this wonderful womanthat was best friends with
Catherine Cryer, who I was theassistant for at the time, as
well as the assistant to thepublicist.
And this woman, her name is JanMiller and she has most of the
best authors Tony Robbins, whobecame my client that she
introduced me to.
She has Maria Shriver and herdaughter and I mean you name it
(07:39):
like Dr Phil and you know, joelOsteen and Bishop Jakes.
She has so many of the greatest, great, great greats of all
time.
And anyway, she had said to me,you should come work for me.
I said, well, I work at ABCNews 2020.
Like, I'm at ABC.
And she said, well, you know,if ever you want to, you can.
(08:03):
So I fast forward.
I was, I was looking because atthe time, pr at ABC, you had to
be in the union, and so I didnot.
I wasn't in the union, I hadn'tbeen.
I was young, I was like in my20s and I didn't have the
experience, but I had theinsight and I had the intuition,
but I didn't have the courageand I certainly wasn't looking
(08:24):
to start a business and I leftABC to go work at a PR company
and as I was at the PR companyRutherford at the time, they had
a book division called PlanTelevision Arts and I'd opened
this book and it said to myagent, jan Miller.
So I called Catherine and Isaid is this the same person?
And she calls me on the phoneand says listen, now you're on
your own but I will meet withyou.
(08:44):
All you need is $5,000 cash tostart a business.
I was like, well, easy for herto say, like I don't even have
$5,000.
Like I own a Toyota Celicaconvertible that's like 1989,
that I bought when mygrandmother died, with the
inheritance I owe probably like$5,000 on it and a lot of
parking tickets.
And my parents, like you know,took care of me but didn't
really have.
I'm self-made, like I didn't,you know, but at the time, like
(09:07):
I, I didn't have anybody to goto for money.
She said all you need is $5,000.
And it was so funny becauseshe's done this to me my whole
career.
Now I do it to my staff, I doit to my clients.
She it was like a manifestationand an intention.
So I walk into the store andthis woman says to me I love
your car at this little clothingstore in Hoboken and I say it's
(09:27):
yours for $5,000 cash.
She says let me think about it.
She calls me the next day.
She buys my car.
I sold my car and here.
Speaker 3 (09:36):
I am.
That's who you got the capitalto start your business.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
Yeah, that's the only capital I got like to this day.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
That's amazing because you have worked on Crop
Communications, your, your, youragency.
You have worked on some of themost like, amazing, amazing
books, like the South Beach Diet.
Right, you've you.
Tony Robbins is a client.
I did Tell me how, tell me 30years, almost.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
I'm sorry, it's almost 30 years.
Tony Robbins, yes, tony Robbins, not anymore.
Not anymore.
We're friends.
He's like my forever friend.
Yes, but I worked with him fordecades.
Speaker 3 (10:13):
So okay.
So so, in terms of what yourcompany does now and you work
with, like you, you are like thebest seller maker.
That's how I think of you thatyou take these, you take, you
understand when someone has atalent and that they have
something to tell and somethingthat that that can be made into
(10:37):
a much bigger message, and thenyou help kind of craft the
message and the plan for that tohappen.
Speaker 1 (10:45):
Here's the truth we look at the book as a brand, so
we look at the book as thevehicle to a brand.
And now, not only do we promoteand for many years we promoted
brands, and then various peoplecame to us.
One of the first was a friend,who's still a friend and I love
so much, and she was one of myfirst people that I did literary
agency for, and it's ToriJohnson, who you see regularly
(11:07):
on Good Morning America.
Speaker 3 (11:09):
Yes, Deals and steals right.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
So Tori had this incredible idea she was going,
she was really wanting to workon her health and so she had a
mindset shift.
She had this idea to write thisbook called the Shift.
And again, like you talk aboutmentors and she sat with me and
said, well, why wouldn't yousell it?
I said, well, because that'snot what I do.
She goes.
Well, you can do it.
And she literally pushed me todo it, I kid you not.
(11:32):
And we did it and it was anumber one bestseller,
unbelievable Out of the gate.
So at the time I was kind like,oh my gosh, I don't know if I
could get into literary agency.
My mentor was a literary agent.
I felt like I didn't want toget into the world of what other
people get into.
But as I've continued to evolvein the industry, I understand
(11:54):
that PR and what I do and what Iknow and how I understand like
we not only can help you ideatea book now, which we do we can
help you come up with your.
You know what is your story,what is your legacy, what do you
want to leave, whether it's abook that we sell to a publisher
, whether it's a legacy book,whether it's an in-person book,
(12:16):
whether it's something for afamily office, whatever it might
be, I believe that everybodyhas a book in them.
So now that I know how topromote them and do them, I can
also help you ideate them and bea matchmaker with the right
writer and then help you come upwith a business around it and
turn it into something, not justa book, because, yes, it's
(12:37):
beautiful to have books, butmany people and many people
don't have the appetite to domore than just like I have the
book, but some people look atthe book and they want to
skyrocket a business.
I mean the South Beach DietDoctor.
He did not realize in writingthat book what was going to
happen and my little changingthe way America eats, which we
came up with when, when aprocessed food company came
(13:00):
knocking, turned that into likea global brand.
Speaker 3 (13:03):
I mean, I mean a consumer packaged goods company,
right?
Speaker 1 (13:06):
Exactly, and then for us, I love that.
That was like one of my, thatwas one of my major successes.
A I loved it because I mymentor didn't give me that piece
of business.
It was something I fully did onmy own.
She would give me credit foreverything I fully did on my own
, but often it was easier tothink that I worked for her
(13:28):
versus working for myself, whichwe all go through as women when
you start a business, and Iwould say, like the first like
decade or so of being in thebusiness, I did look at myself
as the skilled producer, not abusiness owner, because I just
loved the work.
I still love the work, by theway.
I love the work.
I love to be in the thick of it.
(13:49):
I love to help a client tell astory.
We have a book that we haven'tannounced yet that I'm super
excited with, with a billiondollar global brand, a person
with an incredible story andthis is her first book and you
see her in all the retailers andshe's beloved by many
celebrities and it's a greatimmigrant American story of
(14:09):
someone who has just changed ourfaces and the way we see
ourselves.
I can't wait to share it withyou.
Speaker 3 (14:17):
Let's talk a little bit about for a publicist, for a
producer I know you've kind ofworn both hats yeah, publicist
hat, producer hat.
Bringing them together is sucha great like it's such a smart
mix right.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
Because it's the of the media mindset.
Yes, you can think like them.
You make it easier for them.
Speaker 3 (14:38):
Yeah Well, and it's also brand building right.
When you do it well, like youdid with the South Beach Diet,
like you've done with a lot ofthe clients you've worked with,
it's brand building at its bestform.
So, when you think about howpeople view publicists today now
we started kind of brieflytalking about this before we
(14:59):
started, but I was saying to youabout this before we started,
but I was saying to you gosh, Ifeel like I'm hearing so much
about publicists because of theJustin Baldoni, blake Lively
situation, because theirpublicists were kind of pulled
into the whole thing, like theywere very involved.
What do people get wrong aboutpublicists?
(15:21):
And what do we?
What should we know about thereality of what it is to work as
a publicist?
Speaker 1 (15:28):
That's a great question.
I think what people don't knowabout publicists is they're
usually the last to knoweverything.
But everyone tries to make itlike they're the first to know
everything.
Often they're not the first toknow everything.
Honestly, I mean, there are somany layers.
It depends on what organizationstructure so like when it's
(15:50):
celebrities and entertainmentpublicists you know they have a
team of people, they have agents, they have managers, they have
assistants and all of that.
And I think that you know,unless a publicist goes rogue
which some might, you know, Idon't know, I can't say if they,
we don't.
But if somebody ever did, youknow, I can't imagine that any
(16:14):
publicist would go and do andspin and say something that
others would, especially ifthey're representing somebody
wouldn't know about.
And so this whole case is veryfascinating and it's really
troubling on so many levels.
I mean, you have, you know, youhave a reputable newspaper that
(16:36):
you know covered a story andyou know, and we're talking
about a woman that felt acertain.
I'm a woman, you're a woman,you know, and we're talking
about a woman that felt acertain.
I'm a woman, you're a woman,aliza, you know that felt a
certain way.
Something happened likehorrifying that we would even
have to like pick that apart anddefend it.
I mean, granted, we saw theAmber Heard, johnny Depp, that
all happened too, and it's soupsetting that, like if someone
(17:01):
actually has these things happento them that they're having to
defend themselves at like thatlevel as a woman, it's just very
upsetting.
Number one, yeah, two.
I think like blaming thepublicists on all parts is
outrageous.
Speaker 3 (17:18):
You know I mean like Right Right, Because, to your
point, publicists don'ttypically go rogue it's.
You know you're part of aconversation with your clients,
who and you're crafting amessage together.
Yes, You're crafting a message.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
It's not the client that goes rogue of water.
You can't make a drink Right,and I think oftentimes
publicists want to always toprotect their client.
I mean, there's a joke in myhouse, you know there were many,
many things that, like, I knewabout in various ways with
various clients throughout theyears, that my husband still
doesn't know to this day.
(17:57):
And it's because why would I?
And it's not because I trust myhusband, I just I worked at
2020.
At least we were news people,like there are things that you
just don't share and you have,and it's like, it's like an oath
to me, you know, it's likeholding somebody's personal here
and so and it's not that I'mdoing anything disingenuous and
(18:21):
I'm not trying to lie or at allor hurt on anyone's behalf I
think what we're watching,though, with all of this, with
the suing of this PR person andthat one, and then that one's
doing this one, and I mean it'sunbelievable when you see so
many other PR people in theindustry, we already have a bad
(18:41):
rap.
I mean PR, I say and I've beensaying this even before this
happened needs a new branding.
I mean seriously, yeah, it does.
And it's really not publicrelations, it's really personal
relations and personalrelationships matter, and your
personal relationship with yourclient and operating on their
(19:04):
behalf is critical.
Speaker 3 (19:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:07):
That's like number one.
Yeah, like you just have tomake sure that you're doing what
.
You're their mirror, you'retheir representative, you're
trying to help them.
I think it's really sad.
Actually it's very it's.
The whole thing is veryupsetting and troubling and
bully-like.
Even in social media there's somany people that are popping in
(19:30):
and telling the story andtrying to recast it and glomming
onto it to then have their fiveminutes of having a
conversation.
You have all these differentYouTubers and TikTokers.
It's like is this where we?
Speaker 3 (19:43):
are now.
The thing that strikes me aboutwhat publicists are so good at
is you, and you learn to be sogood at this, I'm sure, given
the job, is crisis managementRight, and in today's day and
age with social media, oh yeah.
And how an innocent post canget you to, can get you all
(20:06):
sorts of attention that youdidn't intend.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
Let's say yeah, not all publicity is good publicity,
that is for sure.
I think that we all have tounderstand that anything you say
or share or post now will beheld against you.
It's like what I used to say tomy team.
They all were like, oh, you'resuch good friends with this
media person.
I'm like, yes, and they'restill media.
(20:32):
They are my friends, but ifthere is something or someone
that I'm representing and theywant to tell a story about
whatever it is, that that clientdid or didn't do, they're going
to want to do what they'regoing to want to do.
You have to really know whereto draw the boundary line and
the neutral line thing.
(20:53):
You have to.
But, like, our job is toprotect and our job is to
support and our job is to comeup with the right angles and to
share the narrative.
And, honestly, PR person's bestjob is to give the media an
amazing story to be able to tellthat will enroll and engulf
their readers or make compellingtelevision or give them
(21:17):
information and insight andeducation into something that
they didn't know before.
I mean to me like that's like agreat win, Like if you get a
great human interest story ofsomething you wouldn't have
known about or like like.
We have a mutual friend, TamsynFidel.
I mean I love Tamsyn.
I mean here she is, this anchorturned advocate.
She's trying to help women andshe did not even have a plan or
(21:40):
a strategy.
She had her own personal painand going through menopause and
passing out on, you know, as ananchor on air couldn't read her
teleprompter.
That painful moment has turnedinto purpose for her and I love
that and take like a moment intime and turn a pivot into a
possibility and a purpose likehome run.
Speaker 3 (22:03):
Yeah, and a purpose like home run, yeah, I mean, and
I love that example because Ithink that is when you get to
tell the really good stories andwhen I think about right, you
have helped over generate over ahundred bestsellers in the work
in the time that you have beendoing what you do.
What is that Like?
(22:24):
How do you do that?
What is the secret togenerating a?
Speaker 1 (22:27):
bestseller.
Oh my gosh, we don't haveenough time for you.
Just give us one secret.
Well, here's the thing, alizaHard work, I mean.
Writing a book is not easy.
Promoting it and breakingthrough into the clutter.
It takes commitment, it takesfocus, it takes you have to look
(22:51):
at the book as a business,operate it like a business and
you have to come up withwhatever its content, strategy
is, who its customer is.
We have the five C's in it.
You want to know what theculture tension is, how you're
going to create community, whereyou're going to collaborate,
and how it literally drawsitself into commerce, which
would obviously be to sell thebook.
And then, if that book issomething and can turn into a
(23:13):
course, a company, anorganization, a podcast, a
television show, whatever itmight become, there's always
something that it can be.
I think that's the part thatexcites me about the book
business, because I've neverworked in a publishing house.
I'm like this person that'slike.
I'm like this accidentalbestselling book publicist that
(23:36):
like never worked in apublishing house.
Speaker 3 (23:38):
But, but that's what I.
That's.
The thing is that you bring.
You know it's interesting, youbring this.
When you said before that youhad the production part of what
you did at your first role atABC and you had the PR publicist
part of what you did there, itmakes so much sense to me.
(24:00):
I married them.
You can bring those two thingstogether to do this so well.
Thank you, aliza.
If somebody was listening tothis.
They have built, let's say,some sort of social media
following and they want to makeit bigger into a brand, maybe
have a book, maybe do the things.
What advice would you give themabout how to think about what's
(24:25):
coming?
Speaker 1 (24:29):
I would tell them just to do it.
I know it sounds so silly.
I think people get reallyafraid and caught up in being
stuck and they want to makethings perfect and I think you
know, perfect is paralyzation,honestly, and I think that so
many people just don't just jumpand they think about it and I
think if they have a passion andthey have a story and they have
(24:53):
something that they want toshare and they feel like it
would resonate with somebody, Ithink they have to start
somewhere, whether it's a blog,whether it's on social, whether
it's an article, whether it'slike having little dinner people
are having dinners these days.
I'm so excited.
I'm working with somebody she'sincredible, mona, and she has a
(25:13):
podcast called Motivation andshe is absolutely adorable
female talking about cleaneating and clean dining and she
has these clean dinners.
They're super cool.
I mean she's so smart, smartand she has like the best of
people talking about it.
I mean, meet with people like,test your idea.
I mean I was very privileged.
I work on a book by the founderof Netflix, the CEO, the first
(25:35):
CEO of Netflix, the co-founder.
His name is Mark Randolph.
Talk about a masterclass.
I mean, I have to say, one ofmy favorite people that I've
ever met and worked with becausehe is so humble and he would
just say no idea is bad.
Like he was told Netflix wouldnever work, the book's called
That'll Never Work.
He was told that Like.
(25:56):
So if you're going to walkaround thinking it's never going
to work, it will never work,but if you try it and you get
out there, you'll do it.
So, like for me, I think, what'snext?
Keep learning and digesting andlistening to positive podcasts
from people and places andthings and just keep wanting to
(26:18):
be curious.
Give up on whatever your dreammight be.
If you have a dream and if youwant to do something, do it.
Look at me.
I'm a little girl fromPittsburgh, pennsylvania, whose
father drove a cab, whose motherworked in a clothing store.
I have met some of the coolestpeople I think about like my
life, and I think we all camefrom somewhere.
(26:40):
We all have a backstory that'sgoing to lead us to our business
, our book or our brand, or abeginning or an ending or
whatever, but it's somethingthat I think is so important to
share and not be afraid to share.
Speaker 3 (27:00):
Well, that is such great advice.
And, heidi, if people want tofollow you, because who wouldn't
really Thank you, where is thebest way for them to do that?
Or, krupp, like, what's thebest way for people to keep up
with what you're doing?
Speaker 1 (27:15):
So my social media, you know at Krupp, heidi Krupp,
at Krupp PR Agency, and I'm alsoon the Krupp Agency as our
website.
I'm on LinkedIn.
I'm also on the Krupp agency asour website.
I'm on LinkedIn.
I'm so funny, I'm the publicistthat doesn't promote herself.
Don't talk to me, aliza, thatis so.
Speaker 3 (27:34):
it's so true, though it is so true.
Oh no, I don't do it.
Speaker 1 (27:37):
I had to do it for other people.
I do no PR for myself.
I mean, literally people saylike why aren't you speaking?
Why aren't you doing it?
Where's your book?
Maybe it'll come, because Ikeep being asked how do I make a
bestseller or how do I turn mybook into something?
And I am thinking about it.
Speaker 3 (27:52):
Oh, let's manifest that Manifest and thank you for
being such a great role model.
It's so important for women tobe able to see other women,
especially when I was startingto see you know that, a young
woman like you.
You were early in your career.
I started the business at 30.
(28:14):
Yeah, so I could relate.
I could say, oh, wow, there'ssomeone I can relate to who's
doing it.
So thank you for being a rolemodel.
So if you're going to walk around thinking it's never
going to work, it will neverwork.
If you have a dream and if youwant to do something, do it.
Look at me.
I'm a little girl fromPittsburgh, pennsylvania, whose
father drove a cab, whose motherworked in a clothing store.
We all came from somewhere.
We all have a backstory that'sgoing to lead us to our business
, our book or our brand, or abeginning or an ending.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Welcome back to the show.
I go way back with our guesttoday.
Heidi Krupp is the founder andCEO of Krupp Communications,
which is a powerhouse PR agency.
She is someone I encounteredearly in her career when I
(00:58):
interned for her when she was atABC and working on 2020.
And she was a producer and apublicist at 2020, working with
people like Barbara Walters onthe show and on publicity.
I can't tell you how much Ilearned from her again early in
her career in a very shortperiod of time, and she went on
to found her own agency, crumpCommunications, where she has
(01:20):
represented people like TonyRobbins and helped make mega
book-selling, best-selling bookslike the South Beach Diet,
which not only became abestseller but also went on to
become a powerhouse brand withfood products that you could buy
in the store.
So what I talk with Heidi aboutis her career, what it's like to
(01:43):
represent some of thepersonalities that she has, and
the role of publicists.
Obviously, there's so much inthe news today about the whole
Blake Lively and Justin Baldonicase if you are familiar with
that and the role of publicistsin that.
So we touch on that and wereally talk about how Heidi
(02:04):
thinks about books andindividuals that she represents
as brands and how to build themout.
I think you will find thisconversation with Heidi so
interesting.
She has had just an amazingcareer and had the chance to do
work with names that you willabsolutely know.
We're going to jump right intoit.
(02:25):
Here we go.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
Hi, welcome to the show.
First of all, you have a show.
I knew you would have a show,oh well, we met on a show.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
We didn't want a show .
2020, when you were early inyour career and I was interning.
I interned at ABC and theyassigned me to 2020.
And I just watched you work andI thought well, this woman
knows what she's doing, so ifI'm smart, I will just absorb
(02:56):
everything she says.
So thank you for teaching me soearly on.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
Thank you.
I mean honestly, I had a mentor.
We don't all have mentors.
I think mentors are soimportant and I had a dream job
working at ABC News 2020 forBarbara Walters.
Who didn't want to be BarbaraWalters or work for Barbara
Walters?
I mean legendary, what struck?
Speaker 3 (03:20):
me about you also in those, you know, when I was
watching and observing as anintern does, as interns should
do.
You know you just had youcarried yourself, you were
confident but you also wouldlisten and I remember being very
struck by that.
Like that you didn't have toknow all the answers, but you
(03:43):
were so clearly confident interms of what you were going to
do.
So could you talk a little bitabout what the role was?
Publicists are in the newsright now.
We can just say we're going totalk about the whole Blake
Lively and Justin Baldoni of itall in a minute.
But what does a publicist do?
Speaker 2 (04:00):
Heidi.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
Yeah, so that's a great question.
It's funny.
I mean there are differentversions of publicists, do Heidi
?
Yeah, so that's a greatquestion.
It's funny.
I mean there are differentversions of publicists.
I mean I believe thatpublicists take a message and
share it with the world, sothere are celebrity publicists,
there's entertainment publicists.
I look at myself as astoryteller and a PR strategist.
My job, as I see it, is to be amirror to my clients, find out
(04:24):
what it is that they might wantto say, much like when we were
at 2020.
As producers, I'm helping themproduce and share the message
that they want and I'm making itpersonal for them Because I
think that public relations yes,it gets out into the public.
And now, even then there wasn'tsocial media, there wasn't all
these parts.
So when I, you know, fell intothis position working for the
(04:49):
assistant to the publicist andalso working with John Stossel,
catherine Cryer, deborah RobertsI mean these were people and a
bunch of the best Emmy awardwinning producers it was
wonderful to be able to go outand tell a story.
I was able to be a producer andthen be a publicist.
The publicist part was tellingpeople what we were doing and
(05:09):
packaging it away.
And as news has evolved and themedia has evolved, there's
blurred lines now between whatused to be news, what is news
now.
We don't know what's fake news,what's real news.
Everybody shares everything andyou have to be so careful in
being a publicist.
(05:30):
Thank you for talking about thegrace and humility and
humbleness that I have.
I grew up.
My father drove a cab, mymother worked in a clothing
store and I just always rememberwhere I came from, and my dad,
when I was younger, had made mego to a Dale Carnegie course so
that I could like stand up andlearn how to speak in front of
people and you know, how to winfriends and influence people.
(05:50):
He made me do it and get thiscertificate because I was afraid
of public speaking.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
What an insightful dad to back then say you know
this is important for you, go,go do it.
I mean it's.
I mean for those who don't knowwho is Dale Carnegie and what
is the-.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
Dale Carnegie was one of the greatest of all great
speakers and best-sellingauthors and had a whole
organization of teaching peopleabout public speaking and
connecting and the ultimate ofmentorship and leadership.
I take this course when I wasyoung and then my very first
client when I started Kruppafter I left ABC, was a doctor
(06:30):
who actually had a book calledSeven Habits of Highly Effective
People, dr Covey.
So I mean, this was one of myvery first projects that was
given to me from my mentor, janMiller, who is my mentor.
So I love you talk of me.
I like literally talk of Janthe same Like.
I remember her walking into theroom and having all this
gravitas and being like, oh, Iwant to be like her.
(06:50):
And how do I learn how to dothat?
How do I model that behavior?
I think in some ways I have.
Lately she's been telling me oh, you're like, you've surpassed
certain things.
I'm like not exactly, but youknow, it's great to be able to
have people that are role modelsthat you can learn from.
Speaker 3 (07:06):
You started your company before a lot of people,
a lot of women, were startingagencies.
So can you talk about that leapA hundred?
Speaker 1 (07:16):
percent.
I did not think about startinga business.
I just had this wonderful womanthat was best friends with
Catherine Cryer, who I was theassistant for at the time, as
well as the assistant to thepublicist.
And this woman, her name is JanMiller and she has most of the
best authors Tony Robbins, whobecame my client that she
introduced me to.
She has Maria Shriver and herdaughter and I mean you name it
(07:39):
like Dr Phil and you know, joelOsteen and Bishop Jakes.
She has so many of the greatest, great, great greats of all
time.
And anyway, she had said to me,you should come work for me.
I said, well, I work at ABCNews 2020.
Like, I'm at ABC.
And she said, well, you know,if ever you want to, you can.
(08:03):
So I fast forward.
I was, I was looking because atthe time, pr at ABC, you had to
be in the union, and so I didnot.
I wasn't in the union, I hadn'tbeen.
I was young, I was like in my20s and I didn't have the
experience, but I had theinsight and I had the intuition,
but I didn't have the courageand I certainly wasn't looking
(08:24):
to start a business and I leftABC to go work at a PR company
and as I was at the PR companyRutherford at the time, they had
a book division called PlanTelevision Arts and I'd opened
this book and it said to myagent, jan Miller.
So I called Catherine and Isaid is this the same person?
And she calls me on the phoneand says listen, now you're on
your own but I will meet withyou.
(08:44):
All you need is $5,000 cash tostart a business.
I was like, well, easy for herto say, like I don't even have
$5,000.
Like I own a Toyota Celicaconvertible that's like 1989,
that I bought when mygrandmother died, with the
inheritance I owe probably like$5,000 on it and a lot of
parking tickets.
And my parents, like you know,took care of me but didn't
really have.
I'm self-made, like I didn't,you know, but at the time, like
(09:07):
I, I didn't have anybody to goto for money.
She said all you need is $5,000.
And it was so funny becauseshe's done this to me my whole
career.
Now I do it to my staff, I doit to my clients.
She it was like a manifestationand an intention.
So I walk into the store andthis woman says to me I love
your car at this little clothingstore in Hoboken and I say it's
(09:27):
yours for $5,000 cash.
She says let me think about it.
She calls me the next day.
She buys my car.
I sold my car and here.
Speaker 3 (09:36):
I am.
That's who you got the capitalto start your business.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
Yeah, that's the only capital I got like to this day.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
That's amazing because you have worked on Crop
Communications, your, your, youragency.
You have worked on some of themost like, amazing, amazing
books, like the South Beach Diet.
Right, you've you.
Tony Robbins is a client.
I did Tell me how, tell me 30years, almost.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
I'm sorry, it's almost 30 years.
Tony Robbins, yes, tony Robbins, not anymore.
Not anymore.
We're friends.
He's like my forever friend.
Yes, but I worked with him fordecades.
Speaker 3 (10:13):
So okay.
So so, in terms of what yourcompany does now and you work
with, like you, you are like thebest seller maker.
That's how I think of you thatyou take these, you take, you
understand when someone has atalent and that they have
something to tell and somethingthat that that can be made into
(10:37):
a much bigger message, and thenyou help kind of craft the
message and the plan for that tohappen.
Speaker 1 (10:45):
Here's the truth we look at the book as a brand, so
we look at the book as thevehicle to a brand.
And now, not only do we promoteand for many years we promoted
brands, and then various peoplecame to us.
One of the first was a friend,who's still a friend and I love
so much, and she was one of myfirst people that I did literary
agency for, and it's ToriJohnson, who you see regularly
(11:07):
on Good Morning America.
Speaker 3 (11:09):
Yes, Deals and steals right.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
So Tori had this incredible idea she was going,
she was really wanting to workon her health and so she had a
mindset shift.
She had this idea to write thisbook called the Shift.
And again, like you talk aboutmentors and she sat with me and
said, well, why wouldn't yousell it?
I said, well, because that'snot what I do.
She goes.
Well, you can do it.
And she literally pushed me todo it, I kid you not.
(11:32):
And we did it and it was anumber one bestseller,
unbelievable Out of the gate.
So at the time I was kind like,oh my gosh, I don't know if I
could get into literary agency.
My mentor was a literary agent.
I felt like I didn't want toget into the world of what other
people get into.
But as I've continued to evolvein the industry, I understand
(11:54):
that PR and what I do and what Iknow and how I understand like
we not only can help you ideatea book now, which we do we can
help you come up with your.
You know what is your story,what is your legacy, what do you
want to leave, whether it's abook that we sell to a publisher
, whether it's a legacy book,whether it's an in-person book,
(12:16):
whether it's something for afamily office, whatever it might
be, I believe that everybodyhas a book in them.
So now that I know how topromote them and do them, I can
also help you ideate them and bea matchmaker with the right
writer and then help you come upwith a business around it and
turn it into something, not justa book, because, yes, it's
(12:37):
beautiful to have books, butmany people and many people
don't have the appetite to domore than just like I have the
book, but some people look atthe book and they want to
skyrocket a business.
I mean the South Beach DietDoctor.
He did not realize in writingthat book what was going to
happen and my little changingthe way America eats, which we
came up with when, when aprocessed food company came
(13:00):
knocking, turned that into likea global brand.
Speaker 3 (13:03):
I mean, I mean a consumer packaged goods company,
right?
Speaker 1 (13:06):
Exactly, and then for us, I love that.
That was like one of my, thatwas one of my major successes.
A I loved it because I mymentor didn't give me that piece
of business.
It was something I fully did onmy own.
She would give me credit foreverything I fully did on my own
, but often it was easier tothink that I worked for her
(13:28):
versus working for myself, whichwe all go through as women when
you start a business, and Iwould say, like the first like
decade or so of being in thebusiness, I did look at myself
as the skilled producer, not abusiness owner, because I just
loved the work.
I still love the work, by theway.
I love the work.
I love to be in the thick of it.
(13:49):
I love to help a client tell astory.
We have a book that we haven'tannounced yet that I'm super
excited with, with a billiondollar global brand, a person
with an incredible story andthis is her first book and you
see her in all the retailers andshe's beloved by many
celebrities and it's a greatimmigrant American story of
(14:09):
someone who has just changed ourfaces and the way we see
ourselves.
I can't wait to share it withyou.
Speaker 3 (14:17):
Let's talk a little bit about for a publicist, for a
producer I know you've kind ofworn both hats yeah, publicist
hat, producer hat.
Bringing them together is sucha great like it's such a smart
mix right.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
Because it's the of the media mindset.
Yes, you can think like them.
You make it easier for them.
Speaker 3 (14:38):
Yeah Well, and it's also brand building right.
When you do it well, like youdid with the South Beach Diet,
like you've done with a lot ofthe clients you've worked with,
it's brand building at its bestform.
So, when you think about howpeople view publicists today now
we started kind of brieflytalking about this before we
(14:59):
started, but I was saying to youabout this before we started,
but I was saying to you gosh, Ifeel like I'm hearing so much
about publicists because of theJustin Baldoni, blake Lively
situation, because theirpublicists were kind of pulled
into the whole thing, like theywere very involved.
What do people get wrong aboutpublicists?
(15:21):
And what do we?
What should we know about thereality of what it is to work as
a publicist?
Speaker 1 (15:28):
That's a great question.
I think what people don't knowabout publicists is they're
usually the last to knoweverything.
But everyone tries to make itlike they're the first to know
everything.
Often they're not the first toknow everything.
Honestly, I mean, there are somany layers.
It depends on what organizationstructure so like when it's
(15:50):
celebrities and entertainmentpublicists you know they have a
team of people, they have agents, they have managers, they have
assistants and all of that.
And I think that you know,unless a publicist goes rogue
which some might, you know, Idon't know, I can't say if they,
we don't.
But if somebody ever did, youknow, I can't imagine that any
(16:14):
publicist would go and do andspin and say something that
others would, especially ifthey're representing somebody
wouldn't know about.
And so this whole case is veryfascinating and it's really
troubling on so many levels.
I mean, you have, you know, youhave a reputable newspaper that
(16:36):
you know covered a story andyou know, and we're talking
about a woman that felt acertain.
I'm a woman, you're a woman,you know, and we're talking
about a woman that felt acertain.
I'm a woman, you're a woman,aliza, you know that felt a
certain way.
Something happened likehorrifying that we would even
have to like pick that apart anddefend it.
I mean, granted, we saw theAmber Heard, johnny Depp, that
all happened too, and it's soupsetting that, like if someone
(17:01):
actually has these things happento them that they're having to
defend themselves at like thatlevel as a woman, it's just very
upsetting.
Number one, yeah, two.
I think like blaming thepublicists on all parts is
outrageous.
Speaker 3 (17:18):
You know I mean like Right Right, Because, to your
point, publicists don'ttypically go rogue it's.
You know you're part of aconversation with your clients,
who and you're crafting amessage together.
Yes, You're crafting a message.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
It's not the client that goes rogue of water.
You can't make a drink Right,and I think oftentimes
publicists want to always toprotect their client.
I mean, there's a joke in myhouse, you know there were many,
many things that, like, I knewabout in various ways with
various clients throughout theyears, that my husband still
doesn't know to this day.
(17:57):
And it's because why would I?
And it's not because I trust myhusband, I just I worked at
2020.
At least we were news people,like there are things that you
just don't share and you have,and it's like, it's like an oath
to me, you know, it's likeholding somebody's personal here
and so and it's not that I'mdoing anything disingenuous and
(18:21):
I'm not trying to lie or at allor hurt on anyone's behalf I
think what we're watching,though, with all of this, with
the suing of this PR person andthat one, and then that one's
doing this one, and I mean it'sunbelievable when you see so
many other PR people in theindustry, we already have a bad
(18:41):
rap.
I mean PR, I say and I've beensaying this even before this
happened needs a new branding.
I mean seriously, yeah, it does.
And it's really not publicrelations, it's really personal
relations and personalrelationships matter, and your
personal relationship with yourclient and operating on their
(19:04):
behalf is critical.
Speaker 3 (19:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:07):
That's like number one.
Yeah, like you just have tomake sure that you're doing what
.
You're their mirror, you'retheir representative, you're
trying to help them.
I think it's really sad.
Actually it's very it's.
The whole thing is veryupsetting and troubling and
bully-like.
Even in social media there's somany people that are popping in
(19:30):
and telling the story andtrying to recast it and glomming
onto it to then have their fiveminutes of having a
conversation.
You have all these differentYouTubers and TikTokers.
It's like is this where we?
Speaker 3 (19:43):
are now.
The thing that strikes me aboutwhat publicists are so good at
is you, and you learn to be sogood at this, I'm sure, given
the job, is crisis managementRight, and in today's day and
age with social media, oh yeah.
And how an innocent post canget you to, can get you all
(20:06):
sorts of attention that youdidn't intend.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
Let's say yeah, not all publicity is good publicity,
that is for sure.
I think that we all have tounderstand that anything you say
or share or post now will beheld against you.
It's like what I used to say tomy team.
They all were like, oh, you'resuch good friends with this
media person.
I'm like, yes, and they'restill media.
(20:32):
They are my friends, but ifthere is something or someone
that I'm representing and theywant to tell a story about
whatever it is, that that clientdid or didn't do, they're going
to want to do what they'regoing to want to do.
You have to really know whereto draw the boundary line and
the neutral line thing.
(20:53):
You have to.
But, like, our job is toprotect and our job is to
support and our job is to comeup with the right angles and to
share the narrative.
And, honestly, PR person's bestjob is to give the media an
amazing story to be able to tellthat will enroll and engulf
their readers or make compellingtelevision or give them
(21:17):
information and insight andeducation into something that
they didn't know before.
I mean to me like that's like agreat win, Like if you get a
great human interest story ofsomething you wouldn't have
known about or like like.
We have a mutual friend, TamsynFidel.
I mean I love Tamsyn.
I mean here she is, this anchorturned advocate.
She's trying to help women andshe did not even have a plan or
(21:40):
a strategy.
She had her own personal painand going through menopause and
passing out on, you know, as ananchor on air couldn't read her
teleprompter.
That painful moment has turnedinto purpose for her and I love
that and take like a moment intime and turn a pivot into a
possibility and a purpose likehome run.
Speaker 3 (22:03):
Yeah, and a purpose like home run, yeah, I mean, and
I love that example because Ithink that is when you get to
tell the really good stories andwhen I think about right, you
have helped over generate over ahundred bestsellers in the work
in the time that you have beendoing what you do.
What is that Like?
(22:24):
How do you do that?
What is the secret togenerating a?
Speaker 1 (22:27):
bestseller.
Oh my gosh, we don't haveenough time for you.
Just give us one secret.
Well, here's the thing, alizaHard work, I mean.
Writing a book is not easy.
Promoting it and breakingthrough into the clutter.
It takes commitment, it takesfocus, it takes you have to look
(22:51):
at the book as a business,operate it like a business and
you have to come up withwhatever its content, strategy
is, who its customer is.
We have the five C's in it.
You want to know what theculture tension is, how you're
going to create community, whereyou're going to collaborate,
and how it literally drawsitself into commerce, which
would obviously be to sell thebook.
And then, if that book issomething and can turn into a
(23:13):
course, a company, anorganization, a podcast, a
television show, whatever itmight become, there's always
something that it can be.
I think that's the part thatexcites me about the book
business, because I've neverworked in a publishing house.
I'm like this person that'slike.
I'm like this accidentalbestselling book publicist that
(23:36):
like never worked in apublishing house.
Speaker 3 (23:38):
But, but that's what I.
That's.
The thing is that you bring.
You know it's interesting, youbring this.
When you said before that youhad the production part of what
you did at your first role atABC and you had the PR publicist
part of what you did there, itmakes so much sense to me.
(24:00):
I married them.
You can bring those two thingstogether to do this so well.
Thank you, aliza.
If somebody was listening tothis.
They have built, let's say,some sort of social media
following and they want to makeit bigger into a brand, maybe
have a book, maybe do the things.
What advice would you give themabout how to think about what's
(24:25):
coming?
Speaker 1 (24:29):
I would tell them just to do it.
I know it sounds so silly.
I think people get reallyafraid and caught up in being
stuck and they want to makethings perfect and I think you
know, perfect is paralyzation,honestly, and I think that so
many people just don't just jumpand they think about it and I
think if they have a passion andthey have a story and they have
(24:53):
something that they want toshare and they feel like it
would resonate with somebody, Ithink they have to start
somewhere, whether it's a blog,whether it's on social, whether
it's an article, whether it'slike having little dinner people
are having dinners these days.
I'm so excited.
I'm working with somebody she'sincredible, mona, and she has a
(25:13):
podcast called Motivation andshe is absolutely adorable
female talking about cleaneating and clean dining and she
has these clean dinners.
They're super cool.
I mean she's so smart, smartand she has like the best of
people talking about it.
I mean, meet with people like,test your idea.
I mean I was very privileged.
I work on a book by the founderof Netflix, the CEO, the first
(25:35):
CEO of Netflix, the co-founder.
His name is Mark Randolph.
Talk about a masterclass.
I mean, I have to say, one ofmy favorite people that I've
ever met and worked with becausehe is so humble and he would
just say no idea is bad.
Like he was told Netflix wouldnever work, the book's called
That'll Never Work.
He was told that Like.
(25:56):
So if you're going to walkaround thinking it's never going
to work, it will never work,but if you try it and you get
out there, you'll do it.
So, like for me, I think, what'snext?
Keep learning and digesting andlistening to positive podcasts
from people and places andthings and just keep wanting to
(26:18):
be curious.
Give up on whatever your dreammight be.
If you have a dream and if youwant to do something, do it.
Look at me.
I'm a little girl fromPittsburgh, pennsylvania, whose
father drove a cab, whose motherworked in a clothing store.
I have met some of the coolestpeople I think about like my
life, and I think we all camefrom somewhere.
(26:40):
We all have a backstory that'sgoing to lead us to our business
, our book or our brand, or abeginning or an ending or
whatever, but it's somethingthat I think is so important to
share and not be afraid to share.
Speaker 3 (27:00):
Well, that is such great advice.
And, heidi, if people want tofollow you, because who wouldn't
really Thank you, where is thebest way for them to do that?
Or, krupp, like, what's thebest way for people to keep up
with what you're doing?
Speaker 1 (27:15):
So my social media, you know at Krupp, heidi Krupp,
at Krupp PR Agency, and I'm alsoon the Krupp Agency as our
website.
I'm on LinkedIn.
I'm also on the Krupp agency asour website.
I'm on LinkedIn.
I'm so funny, I'm the publicistthat doesn't promote herself.
Don't talk to me, aliza, thatis so.
Speaker 3 (27:34):
it's so true, though it is so true.
Oh no, I don't do it.
Speaker 1 (27:37):
I had to do it for other people.
I do no PR for myself.
I mean, literally people saylike why aren't you speaking?
Why aren't you doing it?
Where's your book?
Maybe it'll come, because Ikeep being asked how do I make a
bestseller or how do I turn mybook into something?
And I am thinking about it.
Speaker 3 (27:52):
Oh, let's manifest that Manifest and thank you for
being such a great role model.
It's so important for women tobe able to see other women,
especially when I was startingto see you know that, a young
woman like you.
You were early in your career.
I started the business at 30.
(28:14):
Yeah, so I could relate.
I could say, oh, wow, there'ssomeone I can relate to who's
doing it.
So thank you for being a rolemodel.
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