The Brandinc PR Podcast

Women are still taught to be humble about money and modest about wins. Mel Carr put “six figures” right in the title of a book series and built a movement around saying it out loud.Mel is the founder of Cloversy, a 100% women-led, U.S.-based executive virtual assistant agency helping entrepreneurs and executives streamline operations and scale. She’s the creator of the Six-Figure Chicks book series, now in its ninth volume, a movement that gives high-achieving women a platform to own their success unapologetically. She’s also the force behind Her Write to Rise, a nonprofit helping young people ages 18 to 26 heal, grow, and rise through storytelling, mentorship, and scholarships.Dr. Brandi Sims and Mel get into:The moment that sparked Cloversy, and when the bigger vision revealed itselfWhy naming the number matters, and the reaction Mel got when the series launchedWhere human executive support still wins, and where AI actually helps your teamHow a Six-Figure Chicks volume comes together, from choosing authors to launch dayWhat separates a collaborative book that builds real authority from one that’s just a business card with a spineThe first three steps to put your story to work, whether it’s a book chapter, a media pitch, a speaking gig, or a LinkedIn postHow Her Write to Rise connects authors with young people through mentorship, confidence, and financial literacyThe one thing to start doing today so what you’re building outlasts youWhether you’re a founder drowning in your inbox, a woman with a powerful story and no idea how to turn it into visibility, or a communicator building something meant to last, this episode is for you.Connect with Mel CarrWebsite: sixfigurechicks.comInstagram: @thesixfigurechicksLinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/melcbusinessYouTube: @sixfigurechicksmovementConnect with Dr. Brandi Sims and Brandinc PRWebsite: brandincpr.comInstagram: @brandincprLinkedIn: Dr. Brandi Sims (@brandisimspr) and Brandinc PRFollow the Brandinc PR Podcast on Spotify so you never miss a new episode.New episode of the Brandinc PR Podcast — listen now.RESOURCES + LINKSBook Your PR Power Hour Session — If you're ready to cut through the noise and get a clear, strategic PR plan tailored to your brand, this 1:1 intensive session is the fastest way to work with Brandi. Start Here. LIMITED TIME: Pitch Kit — $47 (Valued at $497) Get the exact tools, templates, and frameworks you need to position your brand for media opportunities and stand out in a crowded landscape here. Get Brandi’s AI-Powered Tool For Pitching Media ⁠Right Here⁠. Use code BIPR to get $50 off your first month! Revamp Your Business Foundation with our exact automation tool that streamlines communications from prospects to media bookings in minutes. ⁠Start For Free⁠.⁠Sign Up for Our Free Weekly Newsletter⁠ and get bi-weekly insights on brand strategy, PR trends, and business growth.Drop us a review and we’ll send you our 5 Things You Must Have to Be A Media Magnet FREE (Value $297).

Most personal branding advice is built for a quick hit. Lauren V. Davis learned long ago that lasting brands are built the way a record store builds loyalty: one relationship at a time.Lauren is the founder of Lauren Davis Creative, where she helps experts build memorable personal brands, confident sales, and aligned, sustainable offers. She opened a brick-and-mortar record store at 19 and ran it as a community hub for well over a decade. She went on to build a nonprofit that grew to 1,000 business owners and earned senate recognition, and she hosts The Real Personal Branding Podcast, ranked in the top 2% worldwide. She’s also a featured expert in Reader’s Digest and HuffPost.In this podcast swap, Dr. Brandi Sims returns the favor after joining Lauren’s show, and the two get into:What opening a record store at 19 teaches about building real community and trustWhy “one-hit-wonder” tactics fall flat, and what to do insteadHow Lauren grew a nonprofit to 1,000 business owners and kept them engagedHow to be visible without feeling self-promotional, especially for introverts and expertsAuthenticity vs. performance in an AI-saturated content landscapeLauren’s five-step framework for building professional influenceWhether you’re an expert who dreads self-promotion, a founder tired of chasing trends, or a communicator building a brand meant to last, this conversation is for you.Connect with Lauren V. DavisWebsite: laurendaviscreative.comInstagram: @ldaviscreativePodcast: The Real Personal Branding Podcast, available wherever you listenConnect with Dr. Brandi Sims and Brandinc PRWebsite: brandincpr.comInstagram: @brandincprLinkedIn: Dr. Brandi Sims (@brandisimspr) and Brandinc PRFollow the Brandinc PR Podcast on Spotify so you never miss a new episode.New episode of the Brandinc PR Podcast — listen now.RESOURCES + LINKSBook Your PR Power Hour Session — If you're ready to cut through the noise and get a clear, strategic PR plan tailored to your brand, this 1:1 intensive session is the fastest way to work with Brandi. Start Here. LIMITED TIME: Pitch Kit — $27 (Valued at $497) Get the exact tools, templates, and frameworks you need to position your brand for media opportunities and stand out in a crowded landscape here. Get Brandi’s AI-Powered Tool For Pitching Media ⁠Right Here⁠. Use code BIPR to get $50 off your first month! Revamp Your Business Foundation with our exact automation tool that streamlines communications from prospects to media bookings in minutes. ⁠Start For Free⁠.⁠Sign Up for Our Free Weekly Newsletter⁠ and get bi-weekly insights on brand strategy, PR trends, and business growth.Drop us a review and we’ll send you our 5 Things You Must Have to Be A Media Magnet FREE (Value $297).

One hundred New York Times bestsellers. That's not luck. That's a system, a standard, and 25 years of doing the work the right way.In this episode of the Brandinc PR Podcast, Dr. Brandi Sims sits down with Heather Adams — Founder and CEO of Choice Media & Communications, 25+ year communications veteran, host of the Make Me Known podcast, founder of The Choice Summit, and the publicist behind more than 100 New York Times bestselling authors. Heather leads an all-female agency, mentors collegiate women, and has been featured on TODAY Parents, Tamron Hall, and Working Mother. Her firm is a Bulldog 100 Honoree — recognized as one of the fastest-growing businesses owned by University of Georgia alumni.This episode is a candid, no-fluff conversation about what book publicity actually looks like behind the scenes — and what separates the authors who hit the list from the ones who don't.In this episode, we cover:What a real, successful book launch looks like behind the scenes — and what most authors don't know until it's too lateWhy the best PR strategy in 2026 stacks legacy media AND new mediaThe uncomfortable truth about authors who hire publicists and don't show up as partnersWhat AI is doing to the publishing world — and what it means for book publicityThe three questions every author should ask themselves before hiring a publicistWhat it actually takes to lead an all-female agency while putting family firstWhether you're an author, a thought leader, a PR professional, or an agency owner building something that lasts — this conversation is required listening.🎙️ New episodes drop weekly. Subscribe, leave a review, and share with an author or communicator who needs to hear this.RESOURCES + LINKSBook Your PR Power Hour Session — If you're ready to cut through the noise and get a clear, strategic PR plan tailored to your brand, this 1:1 intensive session is the fastest way to work with Brandi. Start Here. LIMITED TIME: Pitch Kit — $27 (Valued at $497) Get the exact tools, templates, and frameworks you need to position your brand for media opportunities and stand out in a crowded landscape here. Get Brandi’s AI-Powered Tool For Pitching Media ⁠Right Here⁠. Use code BIPR to get $50 off your first month! Revamp Your Business Foundation with our exact automation tool that streamlines communications from prospects to media bookings in minutes. ⁠Start For Free⁠.⁠Sign Up for Our Free Weekly Newsletter⁠ and get bi-weekly insights on brand strategy, PR trends, and business growth.Drop us a review and we’ll send you our 5 Things You Must Have to Be A Media Magnet FREE (Value $297).

What does it actually take to lead at the intersection of creativity and business — and win at both?In this episode of the Brandinc PR Podcast, Dr. Brandi Sims sits down with Joseph Nother — Chief Creative Officer, Co-CEO, Emmy Award winner, AIGA Hall of Fame inductee, and co-founder of Designsensory, an award-winning branded content production company. Joseph has spent his career solving complex challenges for global brands through the intersection of strategy, design, and technology — and his work has earned recognition from the American Advertising Federation, AIGA, and multiple Emmy Awards.This episode is a masterclass in what visionary creative leadership actually looks like — and what it demands from the people who do it well.In this episode, we cover:​How Joseph leads as both Chief Creative Officer and Co-CEO simultaneously​The biggest shift in how brands approach storytelling and creative strategy today​Behind the scenes of Tennessee Valley Uncharted — the branded content project that changed his approach to storytelling​Where the irreplaceable human element lives in an age of AI-generated content​What a first conversation with a brand that has no creative strategy actually looks like​What visionary creative leadership will require five years from nowWhether you're a PR pro, a brand strategist, a creative leader, or a communicator trying to build work that actually wins — this episode gives you the framework to think bigger.🎙️ New episodes drop weekly. Subscribe, leave a review, and share with a creative leader who needs to hear this.RESOURCES + LINKSBook Your PR Power Hour Session — If you're ready to cut through the noise and get a clear, strategic PR plan tailored to your brand, this 1:1 intensive session is the fastest way to work with Brandi. Start Here. LIMITED TIME: Pitch Kit — $27 (Valued at $497) Get the exact tools, templates, and frameworks you need to position your brand for media opportunities and stand out in a crowded landscape here. Get Brandi’s AI-Powered Tool For Pitching Media ⁠Right Here⁠. Use code BIPR to get $50 off your first month! Revamp Your Business Foundation with our exact automation tool that streamlines communications from prospects to media bookings in minutes. ⁠Start For Free⁠.⁠Sign Up for Our Free Weekly Newsletter⁠ and get bi-weekly insights on brand strategy, PR trends, and business growth.Drop us a review and we’ll send you our 5 Things You Must Have to Be A Media Magnet FREE (Value $297).

At 29, a client asked Hallie Seltzer if she had a company. She didn't. She said yes anyway — and Pinpoint Productions was born in that sentence. 👀This week on the Brandinc PR Podcast, host Dr. Brandi Sims sits down with Hallie Seltzer, Founder & Principal of Pinpoint Productions, a woman-owned live events agency that has spent 20 years turning big ideas into moments that actually matter — for brands like Google, Netflix, Squarespace, and Dior.But this isn't a conversation about step-and-repeats and swag bags.Hallie takes us inside the Google.org event built around a $10 million youth mental health commitment — the one where a global pop star showed up and you could watch the lights turn on in the room. She breaks down why her team designed nine separate regional events with Feeding America instead of one national moment, because what matters in Mesa, Arizona looks nothing like what matters anywhere else. And she explains why the "micro events" trend the industry just declared a defining theme for 2026 is something Pinpoint has been quietly doing for over a decade.Then things get honest.Hallie doesn't dodge the greenwashing conversation — the travel, the builds, the swag headed straight to a landfill — and she's blunt about what real sustainability costs a client who actually means it. She also goes there on hustle culture, the 18-hour event day the industry glorifies, and the boundaries she had to learn the hard way after years of answering clients at all hours.For the PR pros and brand builders listening: Dr. Sims pushes on the question nobody asks early enough — when should communicators and event producers actually be in the room together, so the press moment, the content capture, and the experience get designed as one thing instead of bolted on at load-in?In this episode:🎤 How a career that started in acting — with stops at Dior and Ketchum — became 20 years in live production🎤 The difference between purpose baked into an event and purpose slapped on as decoration🎤 Why "strategic partner" beats "vendor" — and what earning that seat actually takes🎤 Where a small brand with a modest budget should spend every dollar first🎤 What great post-event follow-up looks like, and the measurement conversation that goes beyond headcountEvents aren't the afterthought in your communications strategy. They might be the whole strategy.🎧 Listen now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts & YouTube.🔗 Connect with Hallie: pinpoint-productions.com | LinkedIn🔗 Follow the show: @brandincprRESOURCES + LINKSBook Your PR Power Hour Session — If you're ready to cut through the noise and get a clear, strategic PR plan tailored to your brand, this 1:1 intensive session is the fastest way to work with Brandi. Start Here. LIMITED TIME: Pitch Kit — $27 (Valued at $497) Get the exact tools, templates, and frameworks you need to position your brand for media opportunities and stand out in a crowded landscape here. Get Brandi’s AI-Powered Tool For Pitching Media ⁠Right Here⁠. Use code BIPR to get $50 off your first month! Revamp Your Business Foundation with our exact automation tool that streamlines communications from prospects to media bookings in minutes. ⁠Start For Free⁠.⁠Sign Up for Our Free Weekly Newsletter⁠ and get bi-weekly insights on brand strategy, PR trends, and business growth.Drop us a review and we’ll send you our 5 Things You Must Have to Be A Media Magnet FREE (Value $297).

Ask ChatGPT who the best agency in your category is. If your client's name doesn't come up… that's the whole episode.Dr. Brandi Sims sits down with Chris Rodgers, Founder & CEO of CSP Agency, the Human-First, AI-Enhanced™ firm behind $300M+ in organic client revenue — and just weeks removed from launching his proprietary Human-First GEO Framework™.Search didn't die. It got a personality. AI engines are forming opinions, making recommendations, and answering your buyer's question before they ever hit your website. Chris breaks down what Generative Engine Optimization actually is (no jargon, we promise), why 89% of B2B buyers are now researching through AI, and the uncomfortable truth about optimizing for a system that may never send you the click.Plus — the question every publicist needs the answer to: is a great media placement now a GEO asset?In this episode:→ GEO in plain English — and why it's not "SEO with extra steps"→ What happens when the gatekeeper deciding your brand's mention is a machine→ How E-E-A-T turns earned media into AI visibility→ 3 moves any comms team can make this quarter — no new budget required→ Inside the Human-First GEO Framework™Because visibility isn't about ranking anymore. It's about being part of the answer.🎙️ The Brandinc PR Podcast — where we go beyond the press release.Connect with Chris Rodgers: csp.agencyConnect with Brandinc PR: brandincpr.comRESOURCES + LINKSBook Your PR Power Hour Session — If you're ready to cut through the noise and get a clear, strategic PR plan tailored to your brand, this 1:1 intensive session is the fastest way to work with Brandi. Start Here. LIMITED TIME: Pitch Kit — $27 (Valued at $497) Get the exact tools, templates, and frameworks you need to position your brand for media opportunities and stand out in a crowded landscape here. Get Brandi’s AI-Powered Tool For Pitching Media ⁠Right Here⁠. Use code BIPR to get $50 off your first month! Revamp Your Business Foundation with our exact automation tool that streamlines communications from prospects to media bookings in minutes. ⁠Start For Free⁠.⁠Sign Up for Our Free Weekly Newsletter⁠ and get bi-weekly insights on brand strategy, PR trends, and business growth.Drop us a review and we’ll send you our 5 Things You Must Have to Be A Media Magnet FREE (Value $297).

She didn't want to start an agency. She did it anyway — and made her investment back in 30 days.Fabiana Meléndez Ruiz is the co-founder and CEO of Refuerzo Collaborative, the Latina-owned Austin agency built on one idea her mother repeated every single day: cada cabeza es un mundo — everyone's head is their own world.In this episode, Dr. Brandi Sims sits down with a friend and fellow Austin founder for a conversation that goes way past the highlight reel. Fabiana fled Venezuela as a child, became the only Latina in nearly every agency room she walked into, and got so tired of watching the industry treat Spanish-speaking communities like an afterthought that she built the alternative herself. Four months after launch, she was representing her clients at the United Nations.We get into it:🎙️ Why "translating the campaign" is not multicultural PR — and what actually is🎙️ The two decisions that made Refuerzo profitable in month one🎙️ Landing 197 million media impressions in under a year — for a civil engineering firm🎙️ What agencies quietly walked back after 2020, and what it cost her to keep going🎙️ The ethics conversations our industry still refuses to have out loudShe's a 2026 Austin Under 40 finalist, an HPRA ¡BRAVO! Award winner, a multi-year Austin Woman Changemaker — and at 30 years old, she's just getting started.Pull up a chair. This one's personal. 🎧Connect with Fabiana: refuerzocollab.comConnect with Brandinc PR: @brandincpr on Instagram, LinkedIn & Facebook | brandincpr.comNew episodes of the Brandinc PR Podcast — a Feedspot Top 70 PR podcast — drop every week. Subscribe, rate, and share with a communicator who needs to hear this.RESOURCES + LINKSBook Your PR Power Hour Session — If you're ready to cut through the noise and get a clear, strategic PR plan tailored to your brand, this 1:1 intensive session is the fastest way to work with Brandi. Start Here. LIMITED TIME: Pitch Kit — $27 (Valued at $497) Get the exact tools, templates, and frameworks you need to position your brand for media opportunities and stand out in a crowded landscape here. Get Brandi’s AI-Powered Tool For Pitching Media ⁠Right Here⁠. Use code BIPR to get $50 off your first month! Revamp Your Business Foundation with our exact automation tool that streamlines communications from prospects to media bookings in minutes. ⁠Start For Free⁠.⁠Sign Up for Our Free Weekly Newsletter⁠ and get bi-weekly insights on brand strategy, PR trends, and business growth.Drop us a review and we’ll send you our 5 Things You Must Have to Be A Media Magnet FREE (Value $297).

PR professionals have been asked to prove ROI for decades. Most of them have been handing executives vanity metrics and hoping nobody asks too many questions. Michael Emerton decided to actually solve the problem. 👀This week on the Brandinc PR Podcast, host Dr. Brandi Sims sits down with Michael Emerton, Co-Founder and CEO of BridgeView Marketing — a boutique, metrics-based PR and digital marketing agency that just won a Hermes Creative Gold Award and a 2026 Communicator Award for its AI-enabled PR attribution platform, PR Rosetta Stone™ — alongside honorees like Disney, PepsiCo, and Marriott. Michael has spent two decades guiding technology companies through every major industry shift from the dot-com crash to the AI era. He also served as acting press secretary for Voice of the Faithful during the 2002 Boston Globe clergy abuse crisis, and worked with the Commission on Presidential Debates during the 2000 election controversy.In this episode, Michael and Brandi get into:🔹 Why advertising value equivalency and impressions are failing executives — and what replaces them🔹 How PR Rosetta Stone™ connects individual earned media placements directly to website traffic, AI visibility, and revenue outcomes🔹 What navigating two of the most high-stakes communications crises in modern history taught him about PR under pressure🔹 Why boutique agencies have a structural advantage over large firms in the AI era🔹 What he tells PR agency owners who are still afraid to talk about ROI with their clientsIf you're a PR professional, agency founder, or communications strategist who has ever struggled to prove the value of your work in a boardroom — this episode was made for you.🎙️ New episode of the Brandinc PR Podcast — listen now.RESOURCES + LINKSBook Your PR Power Hour Session — If you're ready to cut through the noise and get a clear, strategic PR plan tailored to your brand, this 1:1 intensive session is the fastest way to work with Brandi. Start Here. LIMITED TIME: Pitch Kit — $27 (Valued at $497) Get the exact tools, templates, and frameworks you need to position your brand for media opportunities and stand out in a crowded landscape here. Get Brandi’s AI-Powered Tool For Pitching Media ⁠Right Here⁠. Use code BIPR to get $50 off your first month! Revamp Your Business Foundation with our exact automation tool that streamlines communications from prospects to media bookings in minutes. ⁠Start For Free⁠.⁠Sign Up for Our Free Weekly Newsletter⁠ and get bi-weekly insights on brand strategy, PR trends, and business growth.Drop us a review and we’ll send you our 5 Things You Must Have to Be A Media Magnet FREE (Value $297).

Edible Arrangements built an empire on chocolate-covered strawberries. So what happens when the same house of brands launches a low-dose THC gummy e-commerce company? You get one of the boldest brand extension plays in recent marketing history — and a CMO conversation you don't want to miss. 👀This week on the Brandinc PR Podcast, host Dr. Brandi Sims sits down with Angela Johnson, newly promoted Chief Marketing Officer of Edible Brands — home to Edible Arrangements, Rōti Modern Mediterranean, freshfruit.com, and edibles.com. With 23+ years in marketing and innovation, Angela has led brand strategy from the agency trenches to the C-suite, including a standout run at Krystal Restaurants where she helped drive double-digit comp sales growth with the launch of Hangover Krystal. Now she's overseeing marketing and product innovation across four wildly different brands, reporting directly to CEO Somia Farid Silber.In this episode, Angela and Brandi get into:🔹 What agency life teaches you that brand-side marketers have to learn the hard way🔹 Why she says "if you're not measuring, evaluating, and evolving — you're dying"🔹 The internal conversations that had to happen before edibles.com got a green light🔹 How she's positioning a cannabis brand as "about health, not high" in a stigmatized market🔹 What it's really like to build Rōti's entire marketing strategy from scratch — blank canvas and all🔹 The 90-day move every marketing leader should make when inheriting a multi-brand portfolioThis episode is for every brand strategist, agency owner, and marketing leader who's ever had to protect a legacy brand and push it somewhere new at the same time.🎙️ New episode of the Brandinc PR Podcast — listen now.RESOURCES + LINKSBook Your PR Power Hour Session — If you're ready to cut through the noise and get a clear, strategic PR plan tailored to your brand, this 1:1 intensive session is the fastest way to work with Brandi. Start Here. LIMITED TIME: Pitch Kit — $27 (Valued at $497) Get the exact tools, templates, and frameworks you need to position your brand for media opportunities and stand out in a crowded landscape here. Get Brandi’s AI-Powered Tool For Pitching Media ⁠Right Here⁠. Use code BIPR to get $50 off your first month! Revamp Your Business Foundation with our exact automation tool that streamlines communications from prospects to media bookings in minutes. ⁠Start For Free⁠.⁠Sign Up for Our Free Weekly Newsletter⁠ and get bi-weekly insights on brand strategy, PR trends, and business growth.Drop us a review and we’ll send you our 5 Things You Must Have to Be A Media Magnet FREE (Value $297).

What does PR actually mean when AI can write the press release, pitch the journalist, and draft the follow-up — and none of it sounds like you? 👀This week on the Brandinc PR Podcast, host Dr. Brandi Sims sits down with Elliot Tomaeno, Founder and CEO of ASTRSK PR — a New York-based agency built for brands that embrace their rebellious side. Since founding ASTRSK in 2012, Elliot has helped launch and support 800+ startups and innovation brands including Groupon, Squarespace, Prime Video, Lemonade, and THINX. He's been named to Business Insider's Top 50 PR Professionals list seven years running, earned Adweek's 30 Under 30 in 2015, and is also an LP investor in Primary Ventures, Female Founders Fund, and Mac Venture Capital.In this episode, Elliot and Brandi get into:🔹 What it really takes to build a PR agency from scratch — and keep it standing for 13+ years🔹 Why ASTRSK bets on "rebellious brands" and what that positioning has meant for their growth🔹 His honest take on what AI is doing to the PR industry — and what it can never replace🔹 The difference between PR that launches a brand and PR that sustains one🔹 What his dual lens as agency founder AND venture investor has taught him about brand strategyIf you're building a PR practice, running a startup, or just trying to figure out where the industry is actually headed — this is the episode you didn't know you needed.🎙️ New episode of the Brandinc PR Podcast — listen now.RESOURCES + LINKSBook Your PR Power Hour Session — If you're ready to cut through the noise and get a clear, strategic PR plan tailored to your brand, this 1:1 intensive session is the fastest way to work with Brandi. Start Here. LIMITED TIME: Pitch Kit — $27 (Valued at $497) Get the exact tools, templates, and frameworks you need to position your brand for media opportunities and stand out in a crowded landscape here. Get Brandi’s AI-Powered Tool For Pitching Media ⁠Right Here⁠. Use code BIPR to get $50 off your first month! Revamp Your Business Foundation with our exact automation tool that streamlines communications from prospects to media bookings in minutes. ⁠Start For Free⁠.⁠Sign Up for Our Free Weekly Newsletter⁠ and get bi-weekly insights on brand strategy, PR trends, and business growth.Drop us a review and we’ll send you our 5 Things You Must Have to Be A Media Magnet FREE (Value $297).