Today we’d like to introduce you to Lauren Halpern.
Hi Lauren, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I kicked off my communications career in advertising at Leo Burnett while living in Chicago after college. It was an incredible education in branding, project management, client relations and of course, advertising. I spent five years working with large clients like McDonald’s and Allstate. I’d been a Communications Major in school and this was such a great place to use prctice what I’d learned. Leo Burnett was intense, expectations were high. and I loved it! The agency was loaded with Type A personalities — people who worked hard and played hard. I loved the intensity of each day (deadlines, meetings, early starts and late nights) and appreciated the systems they had in place to grow and nurture their teams. Plus, I’d always dreamed of working in a tall building in a big city. I’d grown up in San Antonio, Texas and living and working in downtown Chicago was thrilling. Each day, I’d look around the El and feel proud that I was among the many professionals zipping off to my busy job in the Loop. I learned a lot about myself during this time. There were so many things I appreciated about Burnett (as mentioned), but after five years I was ready to expand my horizons. I worked in marketing and conference planning before moving to Berkeley for my husband’s business school. I was hired at a branding firm named Landor in downtown San Francisco, but the dot-com boom was over and I joined the masses of people at pink slip parties after only 8 months. My husband and I always laugh about the fact that we arrived in California just as the last bottle of champagne was popped open. My parents — eternally positive people — always reminded me that as one door closes, another opens. It was at this time that I fell into event planning and PR. This was the basis for the next 25 years of my career. I joined the Corporate PR team at Macy’s West and then joined a local Bloomingdale’s store to run their in-store events/PR/community relations. Over my four years in retail events and PR, I learned how to multitask like it was nobody’s business and network with my local community. We moved back to Texas in 2005 with my 8-week-old daughter. I dabbled in events and PR during those early years in Austin and invested time getting to know people through volunteering. I found Austin to be welcoming and eager for my input. Once my kids were in school, I began helping clients with PR. That was in 2010.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Generally speaking, it’s been smooth. But there were definitely hurdles along the way.
Ex: Those first few years in advertising were a crash course in dealing with different kinds of personalities. Creatives could be temperamental and clients could redirect your day in an instant with a fire drill you weren’t expecting. There were times when I managed people 20 years older than me! I learned to loop in key players, work with a 20+ person team, and stay organized so I could keep projects on track even when fire drills threatened to derail us.
Ex: Re-entering the PR world with a 3 and a 6-year-old left me dumbstruck! It had changed so much due to Facebook and Twitter. Email and social media had replaced press releases and phone calls as the norm for connecting with journalists. I plunged in and learned a lot from small gatherings to with media (shout-out to Dave Manzer, who used to organize PR Over Coffee).
Ex: It was also a struggle for me to figure out how to run my own consultancy while raising a family with my husband. As noted before, I’m a VERY hard worker and will devote my time to clients if I don’t create boundaries for myself. I worked in the events space in 2006 and 2007 (when my daughter was 2ish) and I realized that I was leaving my family on nights and weekends. My pivot to PR was a way for me to try to gain better control of my time. However, it still took many years to feel comfortable giving my clients boundaries — I wanted to do good work! I had one client who’d call me every day at 2:40 pm…..it was the rhythm of his day. And he’d always catch me as I was walking up to the elementary school to pick up the kids. This went on for the full 8-week project! But I got better at connecting about the best time for meetings with each new client.
Ex: ****I also had to figure out a good system with my husband. It was another mom in an early playgroup who gave me this insight: only one person in the couple can travel and be “on call” to clients. So we decided it’d be my husband and I’d focus on local clients who didn’t require out-of-town work. It has been a great system and it actually helped me create a clear business differentiator for myself: I only take small-to-medium-sized Austin-based clients. I know the city well. I know the local media well. And I can connect my clients to them well.
Ex: Today, the media landscape is changing so fast and I’m trying to keep up with it! It’s challenging, but it keeps me on my toes. I’m excited to be working with Ragan on their Future of Communications conference this fall in November (Nov 11-13, 2026). THree days of panels and speakers will surely help me prep for what’s ahead. https://www.ragan.com/store/future-of-communications-conference/
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Lauren Halpern PR?
Lauren Halpern PR helps Austin-based businesses and nonprofits get seen in the media. This means I pitch the press (TV, print/online newspapers and magazines, podcasts) to secure 3rd party interviews for my clients.
I work in the lifestyle and health/wellness space. I love promoting people, products and/or services who are bringing something NEW to our city and making an IMPACT. For example, I’ve been working with Mozh Mizban this year to promote her updated vanity mirror named MoGlow. Mozh realized the basic design of the beauty mirror had stayed the same since the 1950s and that we were hunching over the counter to see our reflections. When she couldn’t find a suitable mirror on the market, she designed and manufactured her own. And as her second career! I’ve really enjoyed working with Mozh. She’s a steady business leader and an extremely capable communicator. I also enjoyed the chance to promote padel (a new-to-the-US racket sport) over the last few years. Padel landed in Austin in the fall of 2024 and I was honored to be the one to introduce Austin press to this fun new sport. I’ve also had the privilege of sharing impact stories from Mobile Loaves & Fishes and Power for Parkinson’s — two Austin-based nonprofits that are leading solutions in their spaces.
*****What sets me apart: I have great relationships with my clients, who work with me for years. Since I understand branding and the whole scope of marketing, I know my clients trust that their PR — the thin sliver of their marketing plan that connects them with the press for 3rd party storytelling — is in good hands.
Let’s talk about our city – what do you love? What do you not love?
I love how open and welcoming Austin is! Even though the city has grown like crazy and our skyline is hardly recognizable to those of us who moved here in the early 2000s, the people remain friendly and the vibe is still pretty chill. The media tend to reflect this and are approachable/kind. It’s so different in other parts of the country, where it’s really hard to get earned press if you’re not part of a huge agency. I’m eternally grateful to our media for their openness to all pitches!
Austin is still an easy city to get around despite the population growth. People love to gripe about traffic and parking, but Austin is still EASY versus Chicago and San Francisco.
There’s nothing I dislike — I’ll live here forever!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://laurenhalpernpr.com
- Instagram: @laurenhalpernpr
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LaurenHalpernPR
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauren-halpern-b60171/
