PR Pros: Rogers & Cowan PMK’s Jasmine Pezeshki On What You Need To Create A Highly Successful Career As A Public Relations Pro
…Never be afraid to use your own voice. Many people are cautious about how they respond to emails or text messages, not wanting to seem too cold, too friendly, or too excited. I use a lot of smiley faces and exclamation points because that’s my voice. Maybe it’s too friendly, but it’s helped me build relationships with people. I’ve heard some people say not to use too many exclamation points or smiley faces because people won’t take you seriously. No one has ever said that to me. I use a lot of smiley faces and exclamation points because I want people to understand that I’m coming from a fun, friendly place. I know we deal with serious matters at times, and trust me, the seriousness will come out when needed. But there’s no reason to be harsh. I want people to help me, and they want me to help them. It’s a team effort, so I try to be friendly…
I had the pleasure of talking with Jasmine Pezeshki. Jasmine is a Senior Account Executive at Rogers & Cowan PMK, a prestigious public relations firm, where she has been working since June 2023. Based in Los Angeles, California, Pezeshki has built a notable career in the entertainment industry, demonstrating a robust blend of skills in public relations, social media, communication, and brand marketing.
Born and raised in Los Angeles, Pezeshki has lived in the same house her entire life, aside from a brief period during college. She attended high school in the Palisades, went to Santa Monica College, and later transferred to UC San Diego, where she studied communications. This academic background laid the groundwork for her career in PR.
Pezeshki’s foray into public relations began at Fingerprint Communications in West Hollywood, where she served as a Junior Account Manager from October 2017 to April 2018. In this role, she gained crucial insights into account management and the intricacies of the entertainment and media landscape.
In September 2018, she joined FYI Brand Group as a Junior Account Coordinator and Executive Assistant. During her tenure until May 2019, she handled office management, executive support, and coordinated various public relations initiatives. This role further solidified her expertise in managing complex projects and supporting high-profile clients.
Simultaneously, from November 2017 to June 2021, Pezeshki worked as a Social Media Coordinator for Pez Farm Rescue on a freelance basis. Her role involved managing social media strategies and campaigns, demonstrating her ability to create engaging content and build online communities, significantly enhancing the visibility of the rescue organization in Greater Los Angeles.
In April 2022, Pezeshki joined The Initiative Group as a Public Relations Account Coordinator, where she worked until June 2023. Her responsibilities included developing and executing PR campaigns, coordinating with media outlets, and managing client accounts. Her tenure at The Initiative Group showcased her problem-solving skills and her ability to work collaboratively in a team environment.
One of Pezeshki’s standout experiences involved handling crisis PR when 21 Savage was detained by ICE just before the Grammys. She coordinated with her team and external organizations, including Black Lives Matter, to manage the situation, demonstrating her capacity to handle high-pressure scenarios effectively.
Additionally, Pezeshki has been a Health and Wellness Coach since August 2021. Through her venture, Jphealthyhealing, she provides guidance and support to individuals seeking to improve their health and well-being, leveraging her leadership skills and passion for helping others.
Her current role at Rogers & Cowan PMK represents a pinnacle in her career. She had long aspired to work at the firm, which was a dream that took years to realize. Her persistence paid off when she finally landed the position, which she describes as a significant milestone.
Throughout her career, Pezeshki has been involved in several high-profile projects. She worked on the Glenn Powell account during the release of “Top Gun” and on Jennifer Coolidge’s campaigns during her time on “White Lotus” and “The Watcher,” moments she recalls with great enthusiasm. Most recently, she played a supportive role in the Emmy campaign for the Beckham documentary on Netflix, which received multiple nominations.
Pezeshki attributes her success to three key traits: patience, understanding, and resilience. She emphasizes the importance of patience in dealing with clients and media, understanding that not all opportunities will align perfectly, and being resilient in the face of setbacks. These qualities have been instrumental in navigating the challenges of the PR industry. Jasmine Pezeshki’s journey reflects her dedication to excellence in public relations and marketing. Her diverse experiences across various roles have equipped her with a broad skill set, making her a valuable asset to any organization.
Yitzi: Jasmine, it’s a delight and an honor to meet you. Before we dive in deep, our readers would love to learn about your personal origin story. Can you share the story of your childhood and how you grew up?
Jasmine: Sure. I was born and raised in Los Angeles. I’ve lived in the same house my entire life, aside from when I moved away for college for a couple of years. I went to high school in the Palisades, attended Santa Monica College for a couple of years, and then moved to San Diego to go to UC San Diego. I studied communications, and then I came back and got started in PR.
I originally started in lifestyle and hospitality PR, but after about a year, I realized it wasn’t my true calling. I knew I wanted to stick with PR, and I was lucky enough to find a job with an entertainment publicity company. I got my start there working with talent like rappers and athletes. We also worked with a lot of high-level fashion brands, which was really exciting. It was difficult for someone starting out, but I learned a lot.
For personal health reasons, I had to leave the company and of course, timing was not on my side. Right as I was ready to jump back in, COVID hit, and all the job interviews I had lined up were canceled because everyone realized they could get by with smaller teams. I took a bit of a hit there, but I was able to pursue another passion during COVID and I became a certified holistic health coach. During that time, I dealt with my personal health issues, and I used my training to also help my friends and my family.
One day, I decided it was time to try jumping back into PR and I got really lucky. I found a job with a company called The Initiative Group, which is where I first worked with you. That was more on the actor side of talent. I learned so much there. One thing I love about PR is that there’s always more to learn. I made great connections, and after about a year and a half, I wanted to try the corporate side of entertainment PR.
I applied to one place. I had applied multiple times throughout the years but was never lucky. I told myself, if it happens, it happens. I applied to Rogers & Cowan PMK, and the timing just happened to be right. I’ve been here for a little over a year now. It was always a dream of mine, as a young girl starting in PR, to end up here. At the time, it was two different companies, Rogers & Cowan and PMK BNC, which merged right at the beginning of COVID. I was never given the chance before, but I gave it one more shot and finally landed it.
Yitzi: You probably have some amazing stories, working with some amazing people, maybe amazing locations. Can you share with our readers one or two of your favorite anecdotes or memories from your professional life?
Jasmine: I’ve done a lot. I feel like people think it’s all glitz and glamour. It’s definitely not. I’ve dealt with my fair share of crisis PR. One memory that will never leave my mind is when 21 Savage was detained by ICE, I think a week before the Grammys, for really no fault of his own. He was basically a citizen at the time. I think it was a Super Bowl Sunday, I was driving to brunch, and my phone started going crazy. Everyone started talking about it. I spent all of brunch, which was for my friend’s birthday, on the phone with my boss and coworkers trying to figure it out. Black Lives Matter got involved, and we started a whole coalition. We were buying out billboards across the street from the Grammys. That was definitely something that always stays in my mind.
I’ve been very lucky to have bosses with great talent on their rosters and I’ve been lucky enough to work on those teams. In my last position, I was able to work on the Glenn Powell account during Top Gun, which was such a moment for him. I also worked with Jennifer Coolidge during her time on White Lotus and The Watcher, which was a really big time for her. She won her first Emmy. All of that is always exciting to be a part of.
Yitzi:You were part of Jennifer Coolidge’s new stardom and Glenn Powell becoming a star.
Jasmine: I definitely wouldn’t say I’m a part of them becoming stars, but it’s exciting to see it happen! I’ve loved Jennifer Coolidge forever. I grew up on Legally Blonde. I still hear her voice talking about hot dogs in my head all the time. But it’s a different era of Jennifer Coolidge now. I feel like it was the year of Jennifer Coolidge, and just to think that I was a small part of her team at that time is incredible. I can’t take any credit, of course; she wasn’t my client, I just happened to be on the team. But it’s fun to think about sometimes. God willing, much later in the future, I’ll look back on it and it will probably still blow my mind.
Yitzi: Those are amazing stories. Thank you. It’s been said that sometimes our mistakes can be our greatest teachers. Do you have a story about a humorous mistake that you made when you were first starting in PR and the lesson that you learned from it?
Jasmine: I still make mistakes. Like I said before, I think there’s always new things to learn when you work in PR, especially with how technology changes all the time. Now we have AI and everything at our fingertips. I have some colleagues who don’t use their laptops; everything they do is on their phone. With so much constantly changing, it’s sometimes hard to keep up, and it’s very easy to make mistakes.
I’ve definitely sent emails to the wrong person, sent the wrong notes to the wrong people, and accidentally let things fall through the cracks. But these experiences teach you to double, triple, and quadruple check everything. And it’s OK to make mistakes. Sometimes it might seem like it’s not OK, but it is.
I started to accept that it’s OK in certain cases when I heard something that really stuck with me. I think I heard it on TikTok, funny enough: “It’s PR, not the ER.” Once I got that ingrained in my head, I became more OK with the majority of the mistakes. I don’t make too many now, thank God, but every once in a while, it happens. And I just remind myself, “It’s PR, not the ER.” You can fix it. I just try to fix it as fast as I can.
Yitzi: So as I understand it, you’re a successful publicist. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? And if you could, can you share an example for each?
Jasmine: I think it’s very important to be patient. We pitch to a lot of people and different clients, and sometimes we forget that the people we’re pitching to are also receiving tons of pitches. They’re dealing with booking, scheduling, their own personal lives, and whatever else they have to do. So patience is key. On the other side, we’re dealing with talent. Sometimes you send them an email, and they can’t answer right away, or a text message might take three or four days to get a response.
Understanding that things aren’t always going to happen just because you have a big name on your roster is crucial. For instance, just because you have Cher on your roster doesn’t mean everyone will want to or be available to speak with her. You might think, “I have this amazing person. Why doesn’t XYZ want to speak with them?” It’s essential to understand that.
Also, you might have a great offer, and maybe the client doesn’t want to do it. You have to be understanding of that.
Yitzi: So are you working on any interesting or exciting projects that you can share with us? Anything that you’re excited about?
Jasmine: Yeah. Well, Emmy nominations just came out and the Beckham documentary on Netflix was nominated for five Emmys. There was a huge Emmy campaign around that, including a Variety cover. So that’s exciting. And again, I played a small part on that team, but it’s still exciting.
Yitzi: Is that how it works? That PR teams are responsible for Emmy nominations? They help push it along?
Jasmine: Jeff Raymond and Jessica Sciacchitano lead the team. I’m just support on it. But, you know, we put a big campaign together. We did the Variety cover, Jimmy Kimmel Live, and GMA. We lined up a bunch of specific press for him over about a week. We did a screening with Anna Wintour in New York and a Netflix screening in L.A., inviting a ton of press and people who had a say in the Emmy nomination voting. We really tried to get him and the documentary on people’s radars. And we succeeded. So that was exciting. Hoping for the win!
Another thing, we recently started working with the Hollywood medium, Tyler Henry. I’m not sure if you’re familiar with him, but he’s been around for a while. He’s had a couple of shows, one on E! and another with Netflix a while ago. We’re working on something exciting that’s still under embargo, so I can’t mention it, but keep your eyes peeled for Tyler Henry to be everywhere and he’s on tour! Yeah, so I’m excited to be working on that account.
Yitzi: OK, so this is the main part of our interview. For the benefit of our readers, can you help articulate what PR is exactly and how it’s different from advertising or regular marketing?
Jasmine: Yeah, PR is kind of… well, specifically for talent, I think of it as two different tiers. First, there’s a person’s public image, which ties back to crisis PR that I mentioned before. Sometimes someone gets caught doing something they shouldn’t, or has to go through a very public divorce, or they say the wrong thing — whether on purpose, by accident, or something gets taken out of context. That’s where PR comes into play. We don’t spin it, but we try to help people understand the real story and not what the media is making it seem like.
Everyone’s familiar with nasty celebrity divorces, for example. Things get taken out of context, and fans from one side try to turn on the other side, making them seem like the bad person. That’s where a publicist steps in to put out a proper statement and hopefully make people believe it.
Then there’s the work side of things. When a client has an exciting project coming up, it’s our job to facilitate and secure interviews or appearances, coordinate them, and try to push the client and the project as much as possible. It’s kind of like advertising, trying to get people interested and make it a big deal.
Yitzi: Amazing. For a young person who is considering PR as a career, where should they start their education? Should they get a degree in communications? Should they consider becoming a journalist first? And maybe if you could explain what you mean.
Jasmine: I think for anyone trying to go into PR, communications is definitely a good start. There are a ton of different branches, and it depends on the school you go to. Some schools have a public relations branch, while others don’t. Some offer journalism, and some don’t. My school was very general with just communications.
You can, of course, get your master’s in PR, but personally, I didn’t do that, and I feel a lot of people don’t. As time passes, we find fewer people needing to get a master’s across the board, to be honest.
In the PR world, it’s more about who you know rather than what you know. It’s a big world of connections. It’s about knowing the right people to secure proper clients and interviews. I don’t want to make it sound like you’re using people, but connections are crucial. Things are always changing in PR, and you’ll never know everything. The connections you make along the way will help you go far.
Yitzi: Can you share any tips for building relationships with editors and journalists? Like, how do you start from a cold list to a working relationship?
Jasmine: When you’re starting out, if you can find an internship or know somebody in the industry, try to learn as much as you can. Do the internship, even if it’s in an area you’re not specifically interested in, like hospitality. I started that way and I’m still in touch with someone from my first job. We’ve both moved on, and now she works at a new agency on the talent side. I often get offers from her for some of my clients or just for our company in general.
Go to as many industry-based events as you can. When you’re out covering clients, be super friendly to everyone you meet. Try to make that connection in person because people will remember your face and how you treated them in person much better than just seeing your name on their computer. They see hundreds of names on their screens every day, but if you leave a good impression, they’ll remember you and hopefully want to help you.
Yitzi: When you decide to work with a certain outlet, what are you looking for? What makes you want to come back and work with them again?
Jasmine: I think it depends a lot on the specific client or project we’re working with. I prefer to focus on quality over quantity. Some people try to gather as many offers as possible for their clients, while others build a list of offers that are really worth the client’s time and the work they’re doing. I think that’s very important.
Yitzi: That’s great, amazing. This is our signature question. Based on your experience, can you share a few things you need to create a highly successful career as a public relations pro and why?
Jasmine: Okay, first one, be patient. It’s going to take time. It takes time to build relationships and to build your roster. I graduated in 2017, so I’m seven years into this and I’m still learning every day. I’m still building every day. So be patient. And like I said before, be understanding.
Another important thing is to never be afraid to use your own voice. Many people are cautious about how they respond to emails or text messages, not wanting to seem too cold, too friendly, or too excited. I use a lot of smiley faces and exclamation points because that’s my voice. Maybe it’s too friendly, but it’s helped me build relationships with people. I’ve heard some people say not to use too many exclamation points or smiley faces because people won’t take you seriously. No one has ever said that to me. I use a lot of smiley faces and exclamation points because I want people to understand that I’m coming from a fun, friendly place. I know we deal with serious matters at times, and trust me, the seriousness will come out when needed. But there’s no reason to be harsh. I want people to help me, and they want me to help them. It’s a team effort, so I try to be friendly.
Yitzi: OK, perfect. This is our penultimate question, our second to last question. So, Jasmine, because of the role you play, you’re by definition a person of great influence. If you could spread an idea or inspire movements that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be?
Jasmine: If I could spread an idea, I would say something that I feel like no publicist should say, but also something every publicist should say. I think everyone should take everything they hear in the media with a grain of salt. People are always spreading false narratives, whether it’s about a person, a country, a group of religious people, or whatever it might be. I see it all day, every day. I think if we all took the time to do our own research and not just believe what we see on the news or read online, the world could potentially be a better place.
Yitzi: So how can our readers continue to follow your work? How can they engage your services? How can they support you in any way?
Jasmine: My socials are all down at the moment. Yeah, I disabled them for mental clarity but I’m on LinkedIn! You can find me there.
Yitzi: Great. Thank you so much for this amazing interview. I wish you continued success.
Jasmine: Thank you so much, you as well.
PR Pros: Rogers & Cowan PMK’s Jasmine Pezeshki On What You Need To Create A Highly Successful… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.