While the job may seem glamorous and full of rubbing elbows with stars, public relations (PR) agents are professional communicators and strategic thinkers who possess the skills, experience and academic training to effectively deliver your message to the public. Here are some of the best African-American agents out there:
Robin E. Beaman
Currently as president of Beaman Incorporated, Beaman has 25 years of entertainment and corporate public relations experience. She began her amazing career in 1981 when she became director of public relations at The Capital Children’s Museum in Washington D.C. In 1984, she accepted a position at Black Entertainment Television (BET) and created the company’s first public relations division serving as its public relations manager. Shortly thereafter, she was promoted to director of consumer marketing and public relations. Beaman’s stellar work and steady accomplishments led her to Harpo Productions, Inc. in 1992, where she became a publicist/manager of public relations. She developed and implemented national and international public relations strategies for the No. 1-rated talk show, The Oprah Winfrey Show, for five seasons. Beaman opened her agency in 1996.
Clients: Bally Total Fitness, Coca-Cola, Illinois Bureau of Tourism, Shorebank, and the National Black MBA Association.
Don A. Coleman
Coleman started his career in advertising by working for big, general-market agencies in Detroit and Chicago. But after years of working at a number of advertising agencies, Coleman decided to strike out on his own to launch an agency that was tailored specifically for minorities. In 1991, Donald Coleman Advertising, Inc. (DCA) opened and later became the third largest African American-owned advertising agency in the United States. DCA is noted for its Kmart, General Mills, Ameritech, and DaimlerChrysler ad campaigns, among many others. Coleman also demonstrated his foresight in multicultural marketing when he led a national alliance of marketing firms targeted at African Americans, Hispanics, and Asians.
In 1999, he sold a minority interest of DCA to True North Advertising and within three years bought two agencies, a Hispanic one based in San Antonio and an Asian one in Los Angeles. All three agencies were combined and are known today under one entity, GlobalHue, which is based in Michigan and focuses on multicultural advertising.
Clients: Dodge, Federal Express, Verizon, Walmart, Subway, and United States Census 2010.
Carol H. Williams
You may not know that it was Williams who devised the infamous tagline for Proctor & Gamble Co.’s Secret deodorant, “strong enough for a man…”, as well as Pillsbury Co.’s, “say hello to poppin’ fresh dough.”
Williams got her career started when she went to an American Association of Advertising Agencies conference and landed a summer job in 1969 at Leo Burnett Co. She eventually became the agency’s first female VP-creative director.
Today, she is one of the few African-American women who runs her own ad agency. Founded in 1986, Carol H. Williams Advertising is a full service integrated agency specializing in print, broadcast, radio and digital branding, with offices in Oakland, Chicago, New York and Detroit. Their unique insights have helped many Fortune 500 companies craft award winning multi-cultural campaigns.
Clients: U.S. Army, Walt Disney World, General Mills, Hewlett-Packard, Pantene, Sunny Delight and Nationwide Insurance.
Tom Burrell
It was Burrell’s independent spirit, creativity, and courage that guided him from a working-class childhood on the south side of Chicago to a position as chairman and chief executive officer of the company that would bear his name: Burrell Communications. Burrell worked his way up from the mailroom to the head office and pioneered an advertising philosophy that acknowledged the economic power of youth and communities of color.
Though Burrell has always wanted his agency to represent all kinds of products and appeal to all sorts of people, most advertisers continue to view Burrell Communications as a way to reach youth and urban markets. In the summer of 2004, Burrell announced his retirement from Burrell Communications. The agency continues to be one of the top advertising companies, and Burrell still maintains a role as chairman emeritus.
Clients: American Airlines, General Mills, Olay, Toyota, P&G and McDonald’s.
Nicole Garner
Janelle Monae (left) Nicole Garner (right)
Founded by Garner, The Garner Circle—a public relations, lifestyle, marketing and event execution agency—has a hip clientele mix that features hot celebrities and non-profits. The agency is headquartered in Atlanta with offices in New York and Los Angeles, and recently celebrated its five-year anniversary. Its newly created company division, The [CREATIVE CLOSET], will provide pro-bono PR and publicity services for one competitively selected nonprofit organization.
Celebrity Clients: Ne-Yo, Ciara, Kim Porter, Bilal, Janelle Monae, Young Jeezy, Keri Hilson and Chrisette Michelle.
Nonprofit Clients: I Am Atlanta Campaign, Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes Foundation, Shandon Anderson Foundation, Gidewon Foundation, Double Take Makeover, AIDS Atlanta, Show Me The Way Foundation, and Strike 4 A Cure
Rob Jackson
A graduate of Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, Jackson worked as an assistant AE at Leo Burnett before moving on to Burrell Communications in 1986. For 16 years, he served as the senior vice president client service director until he made the move to McDonald’s in 2002 to become marketing director. He was honored as marketing executive of the year at the 2010 11th annual Marketing to African American with Excellence [MAAX] Summit and Awards.
Gwendolyn Quinn
Being a part of the music and entertainment industries has been beneficial to Quinn’s long-standing career as a publicist and public relations executive. With tenures at Capitol Records, Arista, Island and Flavor Unit Entertainment, just to name a few, Quinn has directed press campaigns on behalf of the who’s who in popular music, including Aretha Franklin, Whitney Houston, Queen Latifah, Diddy, Prince, the Isley Brothers, and countless others.
In 2002, Quinn founded GQ Media & Public Relations, Inc., a full-service publicity and marketing firm that specialize in strategic development and coordinating special events for clients that span the worlds of music, theatre, corporate, not-for-profit, faith-based, and the visual/fine arts. In addition to her work with GQ Media & Public Relations, Quinn, along with fellow media specialist Marlynn Snyder, founded the African-American Public Relations Collective (AAPRC). The purpose of the AAPRC is to fill the gap in the networking potential among African-American public relations and media specialists.
Toni Beckham
In the early days of Beckham’s company, PR, et Cetera, she promoted events for friends and acquaintances without charge to introduce the public to her work. One such promotion led to her first paying client, Tavis Smiley, then host of the widely popular one-hour nightly talk show, “BET Tonight with Tavis Smiley.” PR, et Cetera has represented him and The Smiley Group on several occasions since.
The credibility and notoriety she derived from representing Smiley enabled Beckham to rapidly transform PR, et Cetera into a successful company whose services are highly sought-after by prominent and influential individuals and organizations throughout the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond.
Clients: 100 Black Men of the Bay Area, Inc., 100 Black Men of Silicon Valley, Inc., AfroSolo Theatre Company, Bay Area Black United Fund, Beebe Memorial Cathedral CME Church, CityFlight Media Network, Dr. Julia Hare, Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, Youngblood Timepieces and Xcel Educational Services, Inc.
Byron Lewis
Lewis began his career in New York City working for African American newspapers and magazines in Harlem. Building upon the lessons learned from grassroots promotion and entrepreneurial ventures, he founded UniWorld Group in 1969. Back then, the agency’s existence was a radical notion. Marketing to African Americans and Latinos? The two ethnicities made up only 16% of the population and outside of Ebony magazine, there were no national advertisements targeted to African American, Hispanic or any other multicultural consumer segment. Under Lewis’ leadership, UniWorld has won some of the largest advertising assignments ever awarded to an ethnic agency, including M&M/Mars’ 3 Musketeers general market account. Today, UniWorld is the longest-standing multicultural marketing agency in the country.
Clients: Ford Motor Company, Burger King, Target, The Home Depot, Lincoln Mercury, and Welch’s.
Ramona Wright
A principal at Mozaic Media + Communications (MMC), Wright is the ultimate connector who has managed multi-million dollar budgets and has over eight years of international experience in public relations, influencer marketing and multimedia. During her tenure at Mozaic, a woman and minority-owned communcations consulting firm, Wright has worked with such noted companies, organizations, and brands as Cialis®, TribalGlu, Film Independent, and the Milken Institute
