Aly's Newsletter: Tuesday Edition

Happy Tuesday!

Last night, I had dinner with some of my close friends, Amber and Lisa, in honor of my gal Lisa's birthday.

I spoke a little about this on my Instagram last night, but Lisa is one of those incredible friends that no matter how busy she is, will always show up for those she loves. Gosh, this girl even attended a Zoom caviar tasting I hosted, and she doesn’t even eat caviar! Just to be a supportive. Whether it's calling me to check in when she knows I'm going through a rough time or even going so far as to host a birthday party for me in her own home, she's just as good a friend as anyone could ever hope for, and I'm so grateful she's been a constant presence in my life for years now.

For the record, I'm super grateful for Amber too, and she's all those things as well and more, but we'll cover that topic in a few weeks when it's HER birthday!

alywalansky

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Tonight is the final episode of This Is Us. As in final ever. But...I may not have a recap ready early tomorrow morning because I'm actually going to an event tonight (I'll talk tomorrow about what the event is, but you just have to imagine it has to be a pretty big deal for me to be missing the series finale of This Is Us for it!).

But I will try to watch when I get home, or first thing tomorrow morning, so we can talk about the ending!

Recently published

The Kitchn: Tahini Magic Shells Are an Elevated Take on a Fun Childhood Treat

Food Network: Airy Mayo Mousse May Be a Condiment Game Changer

Forbes: Father’s Day Gift Guide: The Best Gifts For The Aspirational Home Chef

Clean Plates: These Tasty, Healthy Dinners from Trader Joe’s Take 10 Minutes or Less

TODAY.com: Don't feel like cooking this Memorial Day? These 22 restaurants are open

Forbes: 10 Regal Cocktails Perfect For Toasting To Her Majesty The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee

TODAY.com: Where to score food freebies and dining deals on Memorial Day

If you or your client are featured in any of these stories, I super appreciate any social media shares tagging @alywalansky and the outlet. 

Here's what I'm working on:

Be sure to read the below list carefully. Many are stories I posted about yesterday, but some of yesterday's stories are no longer listed and a few new ones have been added since yesterday. This (below) is everything that is still a currently open opportunity as of today.

Southern Living

It's my first assignment for Southern Living! For this story, I'm covering how to extend the life of your nonstick cookware. Would love chefs and cookware experts to weigh in! Not looking for products for this story, this is more of a tips/advice story.

RetailMeNot

This just in: Working on 3 new stories for June for RetailMeNot:

 1. The Best Father's Day Sales to Shop Now: I'm looking for the biggies for this one,  places like Home Depot, Lowe's, Best Buy, Amazon, Target, Walmart, Ancestry, 23andMe, Fitbit IF they are throwing a sale. I'm looking for retail sales only for this one (NOT restaurants - I have a different story at a different outlet for that). TO pitch for this one, please include  what's on sale, how to shop it, the promo code.

2. Fourth of July Store Hours + Stores Open Fourth of July (similar to the Easter and Memorial Day store hours roundup I did for this same outlet). This is for major retailers, look at my versions for other holidays for an idea of what I'm looking for.

3.  Stores That Let You Bring In Your Old Clothes for Recycling - quite simply, I'm going to round up retailers that let you bring (or mail) in your clothes for recycling. To pitch me for this one, please send me detailed instructions about how to take advantage of these services, so if the retailer gives any kind of reward (discount? coupon?) if you bring clothing in for recycling? and a link to learn more (whatever URL makes the most sense for the reader to go for more info). 

Today.com

For Today.com, I'm working on the following stories:

•  I'm rounding up restaurant deals/freebies for National Donut Day (which is the first week in June)

• I'm also going to be rounding up Father's Day and graduation related deals/freebies at chain restaurants (so if you happen to have those now feel free to send ahead!)

If pitching me restaurant deals/discounts for any of these holidays, please be sure to include what the deal is, how to claim the deal, and any disclaimers, as well as exactly how long it lasts and where it’s good. (I run into A LOT of last minute changes on these deals, so please be sure what you are pitching me is actually the deal being offered before proceeding…it helps us BOTH down the line.)

Forbes.com

I am working on a bunch of Father’s Day gift guides. My topics are:

• Father’s Day Gift Guide: The Best Foodie Gifts For A Dad Who Loves History -- This can go in a lot of different directions. Perhaps it's a food or spirit with some incredible history behind it (tell me what that history is) - but maybe it's also a food/drink that celebrates a moment in history, like a commemorative bottle of wine or whiskey from some historic event. 

• Father’s Day Gift Guide: The Best Martini Gifts

To pitch me for any of these guides, please email the following:

• Which guide you are pitching

• Name of product

• description

• link where sold, price

• LINK to high-res image (no attachments please)

Unfortunately, due to the volume of responses I receive, if you do not have all these components, you cannot be considered (and if you think a pitch is just emailing me a stack of URLs, then you really can’t be considered).

To pitch me for ANY of these stories, please email me at alywalansky@gmail.com (and start a new thread, please!).

Virtual consulting sessions...

I've been popping into a lot of PR team virtual meetings and making myself available to answer all sorts of questions about pitching, events, and trips from a media perspective.  If you are interested in setting anything up for your own team in the coming months, please email me and we'll get something on the books! This is available for entire agencies or smaller group lunch and learn type concepts. If you are a freelance publicist and want to join in with a few other freelance publicist friends and set something up, we can do that as well!

Are you confused about affiliate marketing?

If you are having trouble learning how to navigate issues of affiliate marketing (trust me, we've all been there!), you may want to try out my friend Sarah Karger, a publicist, and former editor Dana Baardsen (and all-around fab girl!)'s Ultimate Masterclass and Introduction to Affiliate Marketing for Publicists. It's a brilliant course and it'll answer all your questions (including some you didn't know you had!)

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<3

aly