Name: Filippa Svensson
Age: 25
Location: New York City
Education: Bachelor of Science in Communication at University of Miami in Miami
Job Title: Account Executive at Alison Brod Public Relations
What She Does: Filippa’s primary responsibility is to oversee events and press opportunities for a handful of clients, including Havaianas, Microsoft, and New York’s famed steakhouse, STK.
How She Got Her Gig: Public relations and media has always been a passion for Filippa, a confessed gossip-magazine and E! News junkie. She got her feet wet in college by doing a semester-long internship at Roc Media, a boutique PR firm in Miami. There she worked on projects like Shaquille O’Neill’s 34th-birthday celebration and a Democratic luncheon with Hillary Clinton. After graduation she moved to New York, where she had to choose between taking a job at a large agency or sticking with a boutique experience. Ultimately, she decided to stay in a smaller environment: “Coming in at an entry-level position, I knew I would get more opportunities if I chose a smaller firm,” she says. “Generally, you are allowed to take on so much more when there is a small staff because roles and responsibilities are not as rigidly defined.”
Working the System: Filippa’s job demands that she be hyper-social and network as often as possible. “My whole philosophy is to always keep both your eyes and mind open when meeting new people, because everyone has a connection,” she says. Therefore, being a publicist is not a 9-to-5 job: “I go out to client and social events for work at least four nights a week,” Filippa explains. “It can be exhausting, but in my profession, meeting new people is essential to achieving new partnerships and generating fresh ideas.”
Stress Test: Being a publicist is a demanding job, especially with all the late nights at various events. While separating your job from your personal life is a tricky task, it is especially tough as a publicist—so many of the people you work to establish relationships with in other industries inevitably become close friends. “It’s impossible to have a clear division between personal and professional in my job,” Filippa admits, “and it’s so easy to get caught up in the glamour and fast pace that you can easily wear yourself down and become anxious over everything. I make a concerted effort to take nights or weekends off from time to time, just to distance myself from it all and get some perspective.”
Listen to This: Filippa’s advice for how to succeed in the public relations industry is simple: “Never burn bridges.” That means that despite difficult personalities and colleagues, a good publicist will always remain cool, calm, and professional.
This Job Is for You if: You have a love of media, current events, and making connections. Beyond dealing with all kinds of situations and people, there is also a necessity to be trustworthy because publicists often act as the eyes and ears for journalists, reporting things that they see and overhear. “As a cardinal rule, I never embellish and I always check my facts,” she says. “In this industry, your credibility is everything.”
