To sustain and thrive in today’s competitive market, every company needs to have a positive image. Thus, organizations across all industries seek out PR (Public Relations) professionals who strive to build and maintain a positive image for the company as a brand. PR professionals focus on building solid relationships with influencers so that they will share information that conveys the right image for the company.
Unfortunately, there are some Public Relations agencies that engage in cookie-cutter pitching to media professionals who do not cover or care about their client or the industry which is being pitched. This doesn’t help the companies to get the exposure they desire and can ruin their brand image in the long term. Hence, Nicole Rodrigues, Founder and CEO of NRPR Group, Inc., sets a high standard for professionalism and quality for agencies and their CEOs. Nicole is transforming the PR industry in order to maintain a reputation of credibility and expertise.
With a drive to pursue a career in Public Relations since childhood, she has made her mark in this industry. Through her NRPR Group, Nicole continues to serve her clients and help them maintain a positive image in their respective industries.
Her Journey
Nicole believes that Public relations was tailor-made for her and meant to be her career. In her junior high and high school, Nicole campaigned for and held leadership offices. She participated in and won marketing competitions. When asked about choosing a career in PR, Nicole said, “I wanted to find a career that involved public perception development, writing, event planning, and more. Thankfully, my college journalism professor saw my interest and potential and encouraged me to check out Public Relations courses. The minute I did I was hooked.”
Nicole’s first professional job was at an enterprise software company. She decided to leave tech to pursue an internship with the Oakland Raiders, which is where she learned consumer, sports and entertainment PR strategy. After that, she worked in a few different roles, including an in-house PR manager role at MOBITV, and Senior PR Manager at Voce Communications until recruited by Demand Media as a Director of consumer marketing. Nicole served as the VP of digital entertainment at Bender/Helper. In 2014, she left Bender/Helper to start NRPR Group.
Her Source of Inspiration
Nicole’s mother has always been her biggest source of motivation. She acted as her strongest pillar and inspired Nicole to take charge of her life. “I was born when she was 16, but she never let being a mother get in the way of getting what she wanted. She’s been a business owner since I was young and her go-getter personality is always something I try to emulate. My mother always told me that I could do or have anything I wanted as long as I was willing to work for it. I was the first in the family to graduate college and worked hard in high school to earn scholarships. I held three jobs during college to pay for my education,” Nicole asserts.
Triumph over Adversities
When asked about how she developed the courage to overcome the obstacles in her life, Nicole notes, “The biggest challenge came when I was criticized early in my career for being an upbeat woman who just so happens to dress well and take care of herself. The criticism came primarily from women. Also, early in my career, I was told by men that I was ‘too pretty to be smart.’ These challenges propelled me to bring my A-game to meetings because I wanted to be taken seriously by negative women and sexist men who thought I could not succeed.”
About NRPR
NRPR is an award-winning, exclusive Public Relations and Marketing Agency which serves game changers and disruptors around the world.
Headquartered in beautiful Beverly Hills, California, with other team members in the San
Francisco Bay Area, New York, and Las Vegas, the agency is staffed by exceptional writers,
communicators, thinkers, and doers who understand the value of relationships.
NRPR supports its clients, friends and media who are passionate about their respective mission by creating lasting relationships that produce ongoing buzz and recognition. From startups to Fortune 500 companies within consumer tech, fintech, healthtech, enterprise, mobile, digital entertainment, lifestyle, sports, and consumer products industries, NRPR delivers its state-of-theart services that positively impact its client’s bottom lines.
Living by the Status-Quo
Nicole states that Rocky Balboa the movie character has had quite an impact on her entrepreneurial journey. One of the favorite quotes from the movie:
“It doesn’t matter how hard you hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward… That’s how winning is done.” – Sylvester Stallone (Rocky Balboa), inspired her to keep on moving forward. She says, “It reminds me not to make excuses. Just keep going! As a business leader, things do not always go as expected whether the issue is employee-, client-, budget- or business climate-related, the failure is not in the errors made or the change in circumstance, but lies in the failure of not learning from one’s mistakes or worse yet, dwelling on them, allowing mistakes to make us feel bad about ourselves and our successes. Instead, we need to take the hit, evaluate if anything could have been done differently, and do better next time.”
A Promising Future
NRPR continues to set the example for what PR agencies of the future should be. The agency’s newest division, opened in January 2020, NRPR Productions, offers clients a full-service production company, which will be an added benefit for them. Nicole positions her agency as one that develops new tools that will keep the agency ahead of the curve in what it can offer. Under Nicole’s exemplary leadership, the agency will continue to work with clients to extend their visibility and bring their stories to life.
To be highlighted Separately
Nicole Rodrigues | Founder & CEO | NRPR Group, Inc.
