Pitch Perfect: the PR Podcast
Pitch Perfect: the PR Podcast
Podcast Description
Extending from the very successful r/publicrelations group on Reddit, Pitch Perfect talks to top PR professionals from a variety of different roles, focus areas, geographies and approaches to gain insight into how to enter the field, do the work, manage the career, deal with the highs and lows, and everything else involved in being a communications professional. Topics include public affairs, investor relations, tech PR, internal communications and, hopefully, not too much celebrity PR.
Podcast Insights
Content Themes
The podcast covers a wide range of topics including public affairs, investor relations, tech PR, internal communications, with specific episodes discussing navigating the challenges of entering the PR field, effective client management techniques, and personal career growth strategies.
Extending from the very successful r/publicrelations group on Reddit, Pitch Perfect talks to top PR professionals from a variety of different roles, focus areas, geographies and approaches to gain insight into how to enter the field, do the work, manage the career, deal with the highs and lows, and everything else involved in being a communications professional. Topics include public affairs, investor relations, tech PR, internal communications and, hopefully, not too much celebrity PR.
Cynthia McCafferty is President and CEO of Hawthorne Strategy Group, a Chicago-based PR agency with a wide range of clients and a particular focus on non-profit work for public and para-public agencies. Before joining Hawthorne in 2015, Cynthia spent nearly two decades at FleishmanHillard International Communications in St. Louis, where she served as a senior vice president and senior partner.
Cynthia elevates communication programs for clients across sectors, applying her Solutions-focused mindset to organizations such as the Women’s Business Development Center, Chicago Dental Society, Choose Chicago and Washington University as well as national and global brands including McCormick Place, Organogenesis SAC Wireless, Evinrude and Red Bull. Cynthia began her career as a grassroots organizer for a statewide environmental organization before moving into lobbying and electoral politics—early experiences that sharpened her instincts for public sentiment, policy dynamics, and the fast‑moving nature of issues management.
We talked about politics and the intersection with PR, the realities of working with non-profits, the state of journalism in 2026, career management, and a bunch of other topics.
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