Friday Edition: Bunches of new pending assignments, job leads, and does anyone know a marine biologist?

I know. Here I am being random again.

Happy Friday!

I don't want to take up too much of your time with my own thoughts right now, because I have LOADS of job ads today. And it’s way more important to connect great people with awesome gigs as a positive way to send off this week than to just hear what I have to say! Err, type.

So please be sure to check those out below -- but I also have a ton of new pending stories I am working on  (including a pretty asap need for a marine biologist, so please, be a friend and if you have someone to pitch for my pending stories, shoot me a line before heading out for your Friday happy hours.)

(BTW, the best happy hours involve martinis and oysters. Just saying.)

PS: An important reminder for everyone to update your Apple devices. In security updates posted online this week, Apple said there’s a current vulnerability in its operating systems. Your best protection is to make sure that all your devices have the most recent update — your iPhones, your iPads, your MacBook, everything. I just did all of mine but be sure to do yours too. It takes just minutes and can save TONS of headaches.

Morning Reading

My friend Cali Bird wrote a beautiful post this morning in her Substack newsletter about how writers need to embrace progress, not perfection. “Progress doesn’t mean that everything is finished. Progress doesn’t mean that your writing was beautifully composed today. Progress doesn’t mean that you got as much done as you initially intended. Progress just means that you’ve made headway today or this week, however small or incremental. It means that you did something towards your goals. Over time, all those little somethings add up,” she wrote.

What an important reminder to all of us, who are always beating ourselves up about what we have left to finish and don’t take the time to look at how far we have come.

Get a special group rate

I’m now offering a 50% discount on paid subscriptions when purchased as part of a group subscription (that’s four or more people). It’s a great way to get your team involved and save some cash.

Job leads

Have a job lead? Email them to me at alywalansky@gmail.com - they are always free, and always welcome.  This newsletter goes out six days a week, so if you have a preferred day to have it appear, let me know that as well - can't guarantee it will be that day, but I will do my best. Internship opportunities are welcome as well! Please remember to include location of the job and any contact information. Blind items are also OK if you are putting some feelers out but not ready to share the job is available.

Yahoo Life is looking for parenting writers, especially a dad parenting writer. Email terri.peters@yahooinc.com if you are interested, please mention Aly sent you!

Rise at Seven is a search-first creative agency creating and converting demand for global brands, looking for an U.S. Digital PR Associate (NYC/Remote). Applicants should have experience in Digital PR and be confident working and managing relationships with journalists. Our aim is to produce the type of work that gets our clients excited and wins awards as a by-product, and you will be contributing in making all these happen! Please apply here.

Stanton & Company, a full-service sports and lifestyle marketing and PR agency focused in the healthy, active living space in Los Angeles, is looking for a Senior Account Executive (SAE) who is energetic, creative, and has strong media relationships and writing skills to manage key accounts, with 4-6 years of experience. This candidate must continually demonstrate strong strategic thinking skills, deliver valuable press coverage, be client service-minded and must be passionate about the brands and clients we work with a primary focus in health and wellness, beauty, and natural products/foods. This position will work on both brands and individuals, so a combination of personal PR and consumer packaged goods experience is desired. Please email resumes to ashley@stanton-company.com.

VP, Brand Communications, OLAY - Rare opportunity to be a part of the incredible SGPR team while fully dedicated to one account, leading the creative PR efforts for a globally recognized brand. While earned media is the main focus for our team, this role is very integrated with all brand efforts across experiential, advertising, digital and more. We're looking for someone who is driven by creative ideas and loves brainstorming out of box campaigns since this role will have the opportunity to dream up and broker brand partnerships (like our collab with Juicy Couture or partnership with Black Girls Code), viral stunts (like the time we made an industry-first commitment to stop retouching in skincare ads), press strategy and paid media (SMTs, etc).  Check out their careers page here and reach out to  Chelsea.Addy@smallgirlspr.com  for more info - tell them Aly sent you!

Levy Public Relations is looking for an Account Executive with a tenacious attitude and press-producing pitches to join their highly motivated, collaborative team in South Florida. The candidate should have excellent writing and communication skills, be well-versed in the PR world and have great relationships with key editors. Knowledge of the real estate world is a plus. In this client-facing role, they will work directly with a Senior Account Executive and Junior Account Executive to pitch and secure press coverage in top tier national and local media outlets for LPR's real estate clients. Our AEs contribute intelligent, strategic ideas aligned with our clients' goals, form and maintain strong media relationships, and help ensure organized and effective client communications. The ideal candidate should have three years of PR experience. This is a hybrid in-office/remote position with three days in LPR's Downtown Fort Lauderdale office. Email melissa@levypublicrelations.com to apply.

Levy Public Relations is looking for a Junior Account Executive with excellent organizational and writing skills to join their highly motivated, collaborative team in South Florida. The Junior Account Executive will work directly with an Account Executive and Senior Account Executive as a team to secure press coverage for LPR's real estate, food & beverage and lifestyle clients. Responsibilities will include drafting press releases and pitches, creating media lists, meeting with editors and reporters, securing local press, tracking client media coverage and preparing activity reports for clients. Minimum one year relevant PR experience required. Knowledge of the real estate world is a plus. This is a hybrid in-office/remote position with three days in LPR's Downtown Fort Lauderdale office. Email melissa@levypublicrelations.com to apply.

Newly published …

New feature!

Since people are often asking about the status of stories from a while ago, and I only share stories in this newsletter that were published or updated in the current week, I have created a list of my author pages at various publications to which I contribute. Bookmark it and make your life a bit easier.

This list will live on my Substack URL and be updated as necessary. That way, you can see what I’m doing at any publication, at any time, from types of stories to general structure of stories to even volume and frequency of my content at that outlet.

This can also help you to target pitching a bit better. That makes your job easier, and mine too!

• Food Network: Snoop Dogg Launches New Cereal

• RetailMeNot: 65+ College Student Discounts

• Food Network: Salt & Straw Makes Ice Cream Fit for Man’s Best Friends

• HerMoney: How to get the best deals on meal kits

• The Kitchn: I Tried Martha Stewart’s Signature Cocktail at Her New Restaurant and It’s Just as Good as You’d Expect It to Be

• Food Network: I got an early look at a new 2023 flavor! Girl Scouts Kick Off Cookie Season with New Raspberry Rally Flavor

• Southern Living: How to Boil Potatoes

• Food Network: Miller High Life Makes An Ice Cream Bar That Tastes Like Dive Bars

• Forbes: Martha Stewart's New Vegas Restaurant Is All About The Personal Touch

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

What I’m working on now:

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.

Please remember when pitching me: Email me at alywalansky@gmail.com - do NOT just hit reply on this newsletter, or there’s a good shot your email will be lost in the heap. Give your email a subject line that makes it clear which story you are pitching me for — it’ll help you in the long run.

Yahoo Life

For Yahoo Life, I'm covering that WILD story about the rare purple pearl found in a clam at a restaurant in Delaware. I'd love some sort of marine life expert...marine biologist...marine-focused zoologist...fishmonger..clam doctor...etc, to talk to me over email about this specific type of clam/pearl and how rare it truly is. VERY timely, I have to turn this story around this weekend.

RetailMeNot

I'm working on the following new stories:

• How to save at Uber Eats

• How to save more at DoorDash

• Shoppers Guide To Aldi - guide a first-time Aldi shopper through the differences (ie, shopping carts, checkout, etc.) Plus, ways Aldi helps you save (best products to buy there, etc.)

For all three of these, obviously I'm going to myself shop there and find ways to shop and save money and little time saving tips, but very open to expert advice as well.

The Best Labor Day Sales to Shop Now - This is similar to the sales roundups I did for July 4th, Father's Day, and so forth. I'm rounding up the best Labor Day sales this year, focusing on major retailers such as Amazon, Walmart, Kohl’s, Macy’s etc. When pitching me, please include the details of the sale, if it’s in-store or online, and any cash back offers from RetailMeNot.

Your Guide to Labor Day Store Hours -  I'm doing a revamp of this article, about the store hours of major retailers during Labor Day weekend. I want to include the retailers that were in last year’s update (so please email me if you are any of those stores) but will be expanding and adding more in this update. Yes, this is very similar to the hours updates I've done for Memorial Day, July 4th, etc, so you know the drill by now as far as format goes!

TODAY.COM

I’m rounding up freebies, deals, and discounts at food chains in honor of the following upcoming food holidays:

• National Burger Day

• National Cheese Pizza Day

• National Coffee Day

Please send me the deal, when it’s good, what the deal is, how to claim it, and any other details. (Is it only good during specific hours, is it only good at specific locations? This is all helpful to know!)

Share the love

Every morning, I share what I’m working on that day and links to newly published stories and send it right into your inbox — for free! I also share productivity tips, job leads, links to volunteer and mentoring opportunities, recipes, and more — all always free.

Please share this newsletter with a friend or colleague today. Every Friday, I randomly choose one new free subscriber who signed on that week. They will be automatically upgraded to a paid subscription for free — and, if they tell me who referred them to this Substack, that person will as well! These opportunities only get better if we share them with our friends.

Paid subscriptions get additional benefits, such as my weekly industry insights newsletters, subscriber Zoom chats, and much more.

Virtual consulting sessions...

Looking for a consult as you plan your next event or trip? Or just want someone to take a look at the pitches you’ve been sending and give some feedback?

I've been popping into a lot of PR team virtual meetings and some other fun stuff (This summer, I even joined in on an agency’s team retreat right here in Brooklyn — it was so fun and I made so many new friends!) and making myself available to answer all sorts of questions about pitching, events, and trips from a media perspective.  I like to keep these things chill and comfortable and relaxed all by sharing perspective and learning from one another.

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!

Potential new availability: A few people have reached out to me and asked if I was also open to doing consulting for freelance journalists in addition to the PR consulting sessions I currently do, and I am absolutely considering it. I need to spend some time thinking on what a session like that may look like and be structured, but after 20+ years in the industry, I’ve seen a whole lot change and it may be interesting to share my own experiences with someone just starting out. So, stay tuned!

On the fence over whether this is a good fit for your team? Here’s some feedback I received from people who I have worked with recently:

"Aly’s advice and insight is invaluable to our team, not only is she incredibly knowledgeable, she is approachable, generous, and kind too. While we read every one of her newsletters, we decided to go one step further and invited Aly to host a Q&A with our agency. During the session, we felt comfortable asking her everything and anything. She went above and beyond, providing examples and reasoning for each answer, and the team walked away with an abundance of new insight, tips, and tricks, plus a new confidence in handling some of the most crucial parts of our jobs." Sacha Bell, Rachel Harrison Communications

"Looking for a brilliant writer that always goes above and beyond?  Look no further than Aly!  She is an incredible teacher, tells it exactly how it is and is so generous in sharing her knowledge.  She knows what she wants from publicists, is very clear on her needs and expectations, and how to best support one another.  Most of all, her kind personality jumps off the page, and her giggle and smile are infectious.  In this consistently changing world of media, it’s so refreshing to know someone so genuine.” Kirsten Wanket

“Aly spoke to our team to help us all gain a better understanding of the media side of our business. Whether it was the best ways to pitch media or understanding the editorial process of content, she gave us tremendous insight into a vital relationship for mutual success. We were thrilled and our team came away with not only a deeper understanding, but with greater empathy for our colleagues in the media market. Definitely would recommend Aly for any agency looking to better work with their media counterparts.” Dawn Britt, Founder/Managing Partner/CEO of OneSeven Agency

“Aly has very kindly agreed to join a few sessions for us talking to both smaller and larger internal groups, and it has been incredibly helpful for our team to understand more about her process, and garner best practices that we leverage as we work on various programs. From sharing dos and don’ts for virtual and in-person events to pitching tips, Aly is a pro and always so thoughtful in her responses. And her own first-hand knowledge has helped us all to better understand the work process for freelancers and how we can most effectively work with other freelancers like Aly. We always appreciate her time and insights!” Erin Delahanty, Edelman

“I would highly recommend booking a virtual consulting session with Aly for an agency of any size!  She offers up to date perspective on everything from the affiliates to how to get your pitches read to timing your pitching correctly. These virtual consulting sessions literally save you time trying to figure out what the media is looking for and give your team an immediate edge.  Aly took her time and answered questions from the team. She is super friendly and you can tell she genuinely wants to create a win-win relationship between the media and publicists. Our team loved having Aly on and we cannot wait to have her back!  It was a blast!” Leah Cybulski, ChicExecs

“Aly was able to join our agency for a PR Perspectives chat and not only was it so much fun, but it was so informative! Keeping a pulse on the constantly changing media landscape is so important and we loved the insights and expertise Aly was able to share with us. Highly recommend setting up a chat with her!” Jennifer Haile, Dentsu Creative PR

“I am always looking for ways to share new ideas and learning opportunities with our team to improve how we pitch and offer value to journalists and in turn their audience. Aly's no nonsense approach gave us accessible advice about the best way to communicate to media, what formats works best, and basically how we can share our client news in a way that will get us noticed and included in stories. Would do again in a heartbeat!” Samantha Davidson, Say My Name Communications

“For my team’s first hybrid media event for a product launch in the COVID era, Aly quickly jumped on a Zoom and dropped great insights that drove many of the event elements. The direction she provided helped us increase attendance and gave her journalist colleagues a more memorable experience. It was a bonus that she was so easy and fun to talk to.” Apryl Ash, Approach Marketing

Now, it’s your turn! Email me at alywalansky@gmail.com to get something on my schedule for this summer.

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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have a great day <3

aly