Welcome Kayla, Caster’s New Account Supervisor

Welcome to Caster, Kayla!  

That’s me. I’m Kayla. And yes, I’m welcoming myself! Though, after a month(ish) of baptism by fire into the Caster Crew’s tight-knit team, I certainly feel welcomed. From more than 1,300 miles away, the Caster team has me off to, what I feel is, a smashing good (and busy) start. Now that I finally have a bit of space between my whirlwind of activities to share my introductory blog, I’d like to do it in a Q&A format for easy skimming. Here goes nothing!  

How did you get started in public relations?  

Back in 2012, I was finishing up an English degree and regularly googling “What do I do with a degree in English?” followed by “What do I do with a degree in English that isn’t teaching?” A short time later I was waitressing and pouring wine for the right person at the right time: Bing, bang, boom I had an internship. It was an internship for a remote, boutique, public relations firm. There I worked with Alex Crabb who, as you might know, is Senior Vice President at Caster. It really feels as if I’ve come full circle. 

Where are you based? 

I’m in sunny South Florida. I’m a little bummed I missed out on the Orlando InfoComm – I could have driven! 

What is your experience? 

I have nearly ten years in PR and most of that specifically in tech. For about two years, I worked at an oceanographic research institute helping scientists and engineers translate their research into public-ready stories. My tech experience ranges from B2B to B2C with a little bit of the following sprinkled in: enterprise/SaaS, cybersecurity, cloud, fintech, mobile, IoT, robotics and consumer tech.  

What’s your favorite part of PR? 

Oh, it’s definitely the information. What are you doing? Why are you doing it? Tell me everything! I love talking to subject-matter experts, tracking down information to build out a pitch or organizing data to better understand the industry. All of this helps us tell stories in a way that makes key audiences care, write bylines that actually sound like they’re by the spokesperson, and find the just-right journalist to enjoy, and hopefully pick up, a story.  

You’ve been at Caster for about a month now – what have you been up to? 

A month always seems like a long time, but it’s really not when it’s one of the busiest months in Caster history (or so I’ve been told).  

I visited Rhode Island for a full week and met most of the team in person. It was really nice to see physical faces rather than just their Zoom faces (we all know that’s different). I think it sets a great baseline for working remotely. I also ate more oysters than I’ve eaten in the last five years.  

I’ve been putting a fair amount of time into learning to do things the “Caster way.” Everything is always a little bit different at a new company so I’ve enjoyed seeing the distinct, and sometimes familiar, PR methods Caster uses.  

We also recently launched a new client, Ember, a startup that announced its financing and real estate technology platform. We landed some pretty solid coverage! 

What’s next?  

I’m looking forward to continuing to get to know the team and the clients even more deeply. I’m hoping to offer new insights on projects and fresh ideas!