Part 3: How I Built Me for the Last 7 Years

Choosing to work for myself and all the clients I've partnered with along the way

5 Years in Business Party (2022)

Well, you’ve made it to the last part of this series (here are part 1 + part 2 if you missed) — part three of my journey to becoming a full-time entrepreneur and owner of a PR and marketing business that I, in fact, never wanted to start. I didn’t want to figure out accounting or be a boss; however, I didn’t really have another option at the time as I also didn’t want to work at a PR firm. 

So, yes, I started off with Richard’s Rainwater as my first client, helping them with introductions to chefs, bars, and restaurants to carry the product and also donate to large events around town for more visibility. It was amazing! We were everywhere, and it remains my favorite sparkling water on the market. People still ask me about it six years after we stopped working together (they hired someone full time in-house), so I guess I made an impact!  

Photo by Chad Wadsworth. Text from Jam!

Then, I gathered the courage to email one of my favorite neighborhood restaurants, Thai Fresh, after researching to make sure she didn’t have a PR firm. Chef Jam wasn’t sure she wanted PR but agreed to meet me, and by the end of our meeting, she said she’d love to work together! All it took was getting in front of her and sharing more about me and what I thought I could do for her brand. We really connected and started working together three months later in October 2018. She still stands as my longest running client, and I tease her every now and then about how she said she wasn’t sure she wanted to hire PR. Now look where we are! We’ve launched a cookbook, got Milk Bar to do a pop-up, opened Gati on Holly Street, hosted a fun sundae collaboration with Olivia Adriance, made Southern Living’s list of best spots in Austin, threw Summer Solstice parties that created the highest-grossing ice cream day in her history, etc. Everyone knows I love working with Jam, and I’ve never seen one person make so much happen on their own — teach cooking classes, photography, run her own social media, design her own merch, self-publish her book, marathon runner, mom, etc. 

About a year later, Alexis Lanman reached out and hired me for some New Waterloo restaurant projects. I suggested that Il Brutto do a frozen aperol spritz in the summer of 2019 after trying the drink on the Amalfi Coast. The most success I see with my clients happens when they are open to creative ideas. We were written up in every magazine, and then that summer, after I ate dinner with the food editor from Austin Chronicle, we made it on their list of the Top 10 Restaurants in Austin! I COULDN’T BELIEVE MY EYES. This client made me feel so worthy by actually giving me a lot of the credit, and even told me that after I started working with them, they saw an increase in sales by 60% from the previous year. WOW. This is SO fun — and addicting! I slowly gained more work with New Waterloo, which evolved into a four-ish year relationship working on Otoko, Watertrade, La Condesa, Sway, and Amanda Rockman as a personality.

I hustled nonstop. I remember one of my clients asking how I did all that I did in my first month. I definitely over-served and overworked, but I wanted to prove to my clients (and myself) that I was worth the fee since I was solo. I think there is something to say about the pros and cons of getting ahead by working up the ranks in a hustle culture, but this was my experience. In the beginning, I’d camp out at Fareground and have back-to-back meetings, go to dinner with friends or editors for work, and then come home and answer every email in my inbox, no matter the time. I’m not sure if this is actually good advice to follow, but it worked for me, and I have since taken the pressure off. With no employees until year four, the work never stopped for this one-woman show, and I had to do every little line item.

It also stemmed from excitement! When someone I pitched would write me back or an opportunity worked out, I didn’t want to wait until the next day to react. When you love what you do, you don’t notice how many hours you’ve been working. Chefs also are always in the kitchen or on their phones vs. computers, so I am in touch with them at all times. Sometimes, they only have a 10-minute window before service, and if I want to get the info I need, I have to drop everything I am doing to take that call or meet them at the restaurant. That’s another thing I do differently than when I was working at a PR firm. I don’t have scheduled weekly calls, I don’t send PR reports (unless they are a new client), and I’m not sitting around waiting for an update. I talk to my clients daily, we are always in text communication, and I’m sending ideas in real time after I have a meal that sparks something on vacation or calling them after a great partnership meeting to tell them the good news and what we have to do next! It’s a constant flow of trust and generating ideas and also how I get to know them better. I will say another game changer for me was paying for a good website, designer, and photos really leveled up my brand and made it more serious and attractive to the types of clients I desire. 

I like to keep my client list smaller so that I can devote more attention to each one, which I’ve learned results in even bigger placements for them. I’m so proud of getting the covers of Austin Chronicle and Austin Monthly, having clients in Tribeza’s People of the Year December issues, securing national coverage in Glamour, WWD, Bon Appetit, and coordinating partnerships with Alex Cooper’s Unwell brand, Camille Styles, on Mari Llewellyn’s podcast, and more. 

I scored Vixen’s Wedding as a client after reading on Eater that the ARRIVE Hotel was coming to town and emailing their general email to see if they needed help. This project introduced me to Todd and Jess from Lenoir, who then hired me to help with their restaurant after. This was first the project I pitched to Texas Monthly’s restaurant critic and food editor, Pat Sharpe, to be a first look exclusive. It was a huge pivotal point in my career because I got to meet her and work closely with this legend on the story, and my eyes watered when she emailed me saying “By the way, may I say that you’re one of the most diligent and conscientious PR agents I’ve ever worked with, and I’ve worked with a lot! Thank you for all your support.” We made it to her Top 10 Best Restaurant list in March of 2020, and I felt on fire! Our relationship carried out to scoring Bureau de Poste on her Best Restaurant list in 2024 as well! 

Sunday Scaries and Retail Therapy event during SXSW at Watertrade. Photos by Brynn Osborn

My meetings with new people and spreadsheet-making with notes still has never stopped. I reach out to people on Instagram or ask someone else who feels aligned to introduce me just to have a conversation because you never know what you can dream up together. My brain works by connecting people and asking an obscene amount of questions to get to know someone’s purpose, what their goals are, and what makes them feel alive to see if we are a match. Each client is completely different from the next, but I’ve found my people are the ones that are open to crazy ideas, love their craft, want to collaborate, and care about community and sales more than a James Beard nomination. I LOVE connecting people that I know will do cool things together and enjoy each other’s vibe. Introducing the Otoko team to the Nixta team was a blast, and we hosted a sold out Vegetarian Omakase with Chef Edgar and Yoshi at Otoko one night. We hosted my friends who started Sunday Scaries and the Retail Therapy Podcast at Watertrade during SXSW for an intimate, private fun evening. When I worked in New York, it was more about large glossy profiles on restaurants and chefs in the newspaper and magazines, and here, I’ve really focused on in-person events, storytelling, and visuals. Creating a Frozen Treat Fest in Holiday’s backyard with ALL my pastry chef clients, Jam, Amanda, Laura Sawicki, and Margarita Kallas-Lee and seeing the tickets and ice cream sell out made me melt — pun intended. 

I really got my education by working in New York City and making connections there, learning about food, and interacting with chefs. As the Texas girl in NYC, the people I met and worked with there still remember that I moved back to Austin, so I am one of their first calls whenever someone is opening up something here or visiting. Working with KREWE sunglasses, opening the Best Made pop-up store during SXSW, launching Equinox’s first Austin location, and creating a Graza Olive Oil ice cream sandwich collab were all leads from my NYC friends. 

I have learned boundaries with myself, but also the times have changed, and that word didn’t really exist in our dialect when I started seven years ago. I have a regular meeting with myself in the mornings, and that is blocked off from meeting with anyone else. That meeting is my alone time, workout, and a non-negotiable for my day. 

Was starting a business with not a lot of overhead really worth it, and is the accounting as bad as I thought it would be? Well, let's just say I really hate Quickbooks. I can’t imagine working in an office or for anyone else at this point. Choosing who I work with makes my craft successful because I know who will be open to taking my recommendations and who I believe in! We help each other grow, and I am very confident in the types of people I know I can help and who I want to work with. 

For me to be successful, I have to really love a brand and the person or people behind it. I think that’s why it often doesn't feel like work. I believe so hard in these people, and they trust me. It’s always about them, their sales, and their business growth, and I just get to play a part in their public awareness through PR and marketing. When a client like Amanda Rockman tells you everyone is coming to her business because of your work, and I cut her off to say that everyone is coming there because of her croissants, it makes me laugh and feel proud at the same time. My clients are my team and my co-workers. 

My eyes often roll when someone introduces me as Chekmark Eats, as a food blogger, or as the best newsletter in town. I feel so adamant about making sure people know that my business — aka how I make money — is my PR business. I don’t want people to think I’m a blogger because I do that as a ridiculously detailed and time-consuming hobby. I’m flattered that people are even interested in my “work,” so I’ve finally decided just to embrace myself as a human and someone who is passionate about food. I feel the grip releasing and am enjoying my writing and even calling myself a writer now, something I didn’t think I earned because I didn’t go to journalism school. Chekmark Eats taught me how to grow a brand and has been a trial for me to figure out social media so I can advise my clients from experience. It’s hard to accept where you are sometimes, and my goal right now is to just be proud of who I’ve met, who I’ve helped, and the fact that I can work with freedom and with really fun people! 

I often wonder if I will do this forever and get a little nervous as social media takes over the world and I get older. I don’t want to attend every event or go to dinner every night anymore, which is crazy to hear myself say because that used to light me up. I am also focusing more on adding a consulting arm to my business, in addition to my regular PR contracts. These are hourly calls with businesses looking for help either how to open into the market or to maintain awareness with ideas in town. I’ve been helping The Butcher’s Daughter with their new project opening here in Q4 — finding them a GM, sommelier, billboard advertising, music production, coffee, and other local products. I’m also working with a new summer clothing line inspired by my beloved Barton Springs. This is my biggest joy at the moment! 

Looking back, as a kid, I was obsessed with the yearbook and learning about everyone — who they were, what extracurricular activities they participated in, and who their best friends were. It came from a curious little girl trying to piece everyone together, and also probably because I wanted a sister so I was interested in what the older girls were up to. My mom told me that when she drove me to school, I’d hang out the window and say hi to all the walkers and ask her what their names were. Thinking about this part of my personality, it makes sense that this is my job! 

I’m a publicist who couldn’t be more curious about how people have built their business and the details about their cooking lives. I built a company surrounding things that are authentic to me and keep me motivated for more. That’s the only real advice I can share here. When I look back, I didn’t have a business plan or a road map. I just kept searching for the work that made me happy and put my imposter syndrome aside, even though it sometimes still creeps in. 

Writing this reminds me that it didn’t happen quickly. I worked REALLY hard and for long hours for 7.5 years in NYC, 2 at MML, and now I’m almost at 7 with my own company. Seven years, 52 different clients, 2 employees, an evergrowing newsletter that has found a new home here on Substack — it has really flown by.

P.S. Would love for you to share this newsletter with friends who aren’t subscribers to help me keep growing! 👇🏻