Today we’d like to introduce you to Brandi Sims.
Hi Brandi, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Of course. My name is Brandi Sims and I am the Founder & CEO of Brandinc PR. We are a full-service boutique public relations agency specializing in media outreach, publicity events and strategic communications for our clientele ranging from non profit to entertainment. I’ve worked in public relations and marketing for 14 years with multiple degrees in communications which I have applied into educating at the college level as well as through speaking engagements across the country. Through my work as a Publicist, I’ve had the pleasure of working with major brands and public figures in the NFL, NBA and more to secure coverage in major publications such as Forbes, The New Yorker, Cosmopolitan, ESPN, CNN, and FOX News. When I’m not running the day to day aspects operating a PR agency, I am serving in the community and have been a part local to national boards, committees and advisory councils. In the new year, I will become the next Chair for the Public Relations Society of America’s (PRSA) Entertainment & Sports Executive Section. I do all of this while being a wife and mom to two beautiful but rambunctious children Obrie & Baby Oscar with my college sweetheart, Oscar and our two dogs, Adriel and Orion.
I would say how I got my start was growing up in an Army household. Both of my parents served in the military and it offered us many opportunities as well as access to resources that benefited our family. Being an Army brat meant that I was never bound by any one area, but rather I had experienced many areas, cultures, and backgrounds that influenced me. For example, by the time I was eight years old, I had already lived in five states due to the frequent military PCsing. So saying that the exposure had a profound influence on me is an understatement. When I got older and met my college sweetheart in Oklahoma, he joined the Navy and we shipped off to our next destination in California. Going from Fort Sill to San Diego was a complete culture shock. Throughout all of these travels, I started interning, freelancing and studying public relations while I was adapting to the military lifestyle and growing my family. The discipline and drive embedded in me at an early age from my parents helped me to apply those skills as I continued to grow in my career. This has always been what set me apart from other professionals, even other agencies. Drive, passion and focus. All of which I apply in my work and personal life. But my story doesn’t end there and is always growing, adapting to new spaces as well as environments. While Nashville is my home and Oklahoma will always have a special place in my heart, I’m excited about this next chapter and growing in Austin.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
In a perfect world, it was smooth sailing to get to this point, but that would be a classic PR spin. It was tough. I dealt with many issues that women, and specifically Black women, face in the workforce. I had always battled against being overqualified for roles but being underpaid, both as a military spouse and after my husband retired. One job after another, I was constantly challenged by the inner dynamics and culture of old views of women’s roles as well as contributions. The final straw was working my last job and learning that I was paid less than my white male counterparts. Hearing the water cooler conversations about pay was one thing, but seeing it was completely different. That lit the spark in me to take a step back and reevaluate my career goals. I woke up one day and was ready to take the leap — do my own thing as an entrepreneur. From there, Brandinc PR was born. I dealt with the early start-up challenges from finding talent to join my team with a limited budget to gathering resources needed to work efficiently. Every project and task was slow, but a gradual step in the right direction. For example, very early on, we had to use very traditional and somewhat old-school methods of gathering media contacts. The process took much longer working from scratch, but it made us scrappy and really showcase our grit. I can’t tell you how great it feels to be valued and appreciated for the work I provide, doing exactly that I love, which is helping others share their narratives in the public. I understood through these experiences what it’s like to not have a voice or to feel like others are telling your story. Through PR, we have a profound role in that we are the storytellers and we help to shape these through our work in the media, through community and within our industries.
As you know, we’re big fans of Brandinc PR. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
Brandinc PR is a full-service public relations agency, and we focus heavily on media outreach, publicity events, and reputation management. Our role primarily deals with how we promote our client’s brands and how we protect them. We’ve dealt with everything from public figures to consumer brands that ranged from nonprofit and advocacy to entertainment and lifestyle. No two brands are the same as well as their individual needs, so we tailor our approach to their brand vision and help to shape it through our strategic communications tactics. We are known for taking small brands and creating big messages with them in the forefront. We’ve got brands with small followings into major publications like Forbes, AP News, The New Yorker, Cosmopolitan, and Black Enterprise from our strategic partnerships and pitches. To be in major publications like these is a huge opportunity for relatively unknown brands and can help pivot them into major opportunities. Even having our clients participate in major industry events that we secured like the more recent Newport Beach Film Festival. To receive a shout-out through a major platform like theirs is not only exciting for our client, but for us because we put in the work to make it possible.
We’ve also worked with political figures and run campaign communications, which helped to solidify several key wins. Of all these projects and campaigns, I am most proud of our team. It takes a lot to run communications and PR campaigns. There’s always the tailoring of messaging, proofing, quick turnaround that can keep you on edge at all times. We’re fortunate to have a remote team from across the country and overseas that are dedicated to the work and passionate about setting the bar for how we communicate our brands to the public. The most important thing that business owners must be aware of before hiring for PR services is that the role is very specific and tailored towards overall communications. Hiring for PR services does not mean that you stop marketing yourselves or discontinue activities as an organization, these all must continue and are equally important to a successful PR campaign. In fact, these are the very things we look for in pre-assessment if a client is a good fit for our services. Think of us as an additional leg of your team focused on how we put information out about the brand and how we protect the image.
If we knew you growing up, how would we have described you?
Three words- vivacious, driven and a social butterfly. My parents can attest to the fact that I consistently received comments from teachers that I was always talking in class. I do recall creating somewhat of a Burn Book in junior high but instead of it being narrated by others, every person had an opportunity to share their story as part of the gossip. I was teaching people how to take control of their narrative and creating their own platforms as a pre-teen! Being an extrovert, talkative social butterfly made sense that I would choose a career in communications and public relations. In fact, I can remember early on what influenced me to choose this career path and stick with it. When I was a pre-teen, a show came out on MTV called PoweR Girls, which was a reality tv show set in New York City featuring interns working at the celebrity PR agency Lizzie Grubman PR. Lizzie Grubman PR was known for reinvigorating the industry and views on PR work in the late 90s and early 00s, as well as having represented major celebrities at that time in film, television and music. Seeing the high-paced environment, stress, short timelines and big goals was exciting for me. I truly felt I found my people. Those who are willing to be go-getters use their communications skills to connect people and develop powerful partnerships.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.brandincpr.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/brandincpr
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/brandincpr
- Twitter: www.twitter.com/brandincpr
Image Credits
Brandinc PR
