Public relations · Media relations · Creator partnerships

Knowing both sides of the story

As a journalist, editor, creator, and PR partner, I’ve worked on both sides of a launch. I founded Aperture Users Network to support Apple’s professional photography community, then co-founded PixelShift, Sony’s U.S. agency of record for Alpha cameras, Xperia smartphones, and Airpeak drones.

3Sony divisions: Alpha, Xperia, Airpeak

200+media outlets in active rotation

50+new channels onboarded

14sponsors for international Aperture training seminars

PR & media relations

PR built on experience in the newsroom.

Good media relations starts with understanding what journalists and creators need. I’ve built that support for Apple’s Aperture community and for Sony’s camera, smartphone, and drone divisions.

01 / Apple

Aperture Users Network

Apple forwarded press and user-support requests to my company. I worked with the professional photo press and technology outlets, led media walkthroughs, and served as an external public face of Aperture.

I wrote and taught the curriculum for international training seminars, arranged sponsorship partnerships with 14 companies, and worked with Apple at two Olympic Games, training photojournalists on Aperture and its ecosystem.

02 / Sony

PixelShift

As co-founder and VP, I managed relationships with around 200 outlets and creators, from emerging channels to major technology publications and YouTube channels with more than a million subscribers.

With our sister event-production company, I ran media experiences during Sony product launches: selecting press, running briefings and breakout sessions, writing press materials, and supporting hands-on testing.

At both Aperture Users Network and PixelShift, I brought media feedback to engineering, marketing, and executive teams to help shape product development. I also supported crisis communications when issues needed a clear, timely response.

One six-month period, Sony Alpha division

289pieces of earned coverage: online, print, and social

272Mcombined audience of the outlets that ran it

5.47Mestimated lifetime views of the coverage

Source: PixelShift earned-media report for Sony Alpha, six-month period. Engagements 176K; average domain authority of covering outlets 66.

The work was the whole media operation.

Launch messaging built with product management, Sony's engineering teams in Japan, and U.S. marketing; press briefings and product-loan logistics for more than 200 outlets; and press experiences designed to show what a specific camera could do in the real world rather than on a spec sheet.

The part I'm proudest of is the reporting that went the other direction. Before and after every launch I wrote market-analysis reports — media sentiment, competitive positioning, audience reception — and translated the U.S. press's technical feedback into something engineering could act on. Journalists tell PR people what's wrong with a product. I made sure the people who could fix it heard.

Knowing both sides has made me a better editor. I can tell when a brief is hiding something, I know what a good embargo looks like, and I know how to ask for the thing a manufacturer doesn't want to give.

→Product launch messaging and positioning, developed with product management and engineering
→Press briefings, embargo management, and hands-on press experiences for new cameras, phones, and drones
→Product-loan logistics across a 200-outlet media list; 50+ YouTube creators and digital outlets onboarded
→Pre- and post-launch market-analysis reports: sentiment, competitive positioning, audience reception
→Media-feedback reports translating U.S. press findings into product-development input for Japan

Events & education

From breakout rooms to keynote halls.

At Photo District News, I helped organize PhotoPlus and WPPI trade-show speakers, seminars, and sessions. I ran classes and award shows and appeared on television on behalf of the shows. That experience carried into international training for Apple’s Aperture users and hands-on launch events with Sony.

Selected relationships

Brands, newsrooms, and creators.

A selection of the brands I’ve represented and the media outlets and creators I’ve worked with in PR and media relations.

Brands and divisions I’ve represented

Apple / Aperture
Sony Alpha
Sony Xperia
PhotoPlus Expo
WPPI Expo
K&F Concept
Nikon Japan

Selected media and creator relationships

Gizmodo
The Verge
Engadget
Wired
CNN
The New York Times
Outdoor Photographer
Digital Photo Pro
Fro Knows Photo
Tony and Chelsea Northrup
PetaPixel
Imaging Resource
DPReview
PCMag
Peter McKinnon
Mark Smith
CNET
TechRadar
Mashable
Tom’s Guide
Digital Trends
Fstoppers
CineD

These names describe professional relationships, not endorsements. Media outlets and creators are listed separately from the brands I’ve represented. All marks belong to their respective owners.