Most people don’t see vacation as a chance to come up with creative marketing ideas for clients, but Kathy Silverstein is not most people. “When I’m on vacation, I’m always calling the office with ideas,” she says. “The office tells me, ‘You’re on vacation! Stop calling!’ But thinking of great ideas is vacation for me. It’s fun and relaxing—it’s how I like to spend my time.”
This passion for marketing and public relations is what makes Kathy an invaluable asset to her clients. She is a firm believer that there is no “I” in partnership. Well, okay, there is an “i” in partnership, but Kathy doesn’t see it that way. She takes seriously her commitment to her clients, partnering only with those she believes in.
Kathy attributes her “get things done and get things done now” attitude to her more than 25 years in television reporting. Most recently, she was a medical reporter at Washington, D.C.’s ABC affiliate WJLA-TV. Before joining WJLA, she reported at WJZ-TV in Baltimore, MD, NBC-17 in Raleigh, N.C., and WBNS in Columbus, Ohio. Her ability to simplify complicated medical topics and tell compelling human interest stories has earned her a National Emmy Award and Edward R. Murrow Award, several Associated Press awards and several nominations for local Emmys.
Kathy became a reporter to make a difference, and she went into marketing and public relations for the same reason. She believes in working with clients to bring products and services that improve lives to the public. For example, Kathy helped one client, Under Our Skin, spread the message about the seriousness of Lyme disease by getting it in every major publication and on television news shows around the country.
In addition to journalism, Kathy is passionate about entrepreneurship. At age 18, she started her own business. “I had an idea, found out no one was doing it and had the perfect way to market it,” she says. She continued operating the business while pursuing her journalism degree at The Ohio State University. Founding On The Marc Media with her husband, Marc Silverstein, has allowed her to combine her love of journalism, her entrepreneurial spirit and her deep commitment to client service. It also allows her to spend her vacations thinking up great marketing and PR ideas—and what could be better than that?
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