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Meet Katie Dabbs of Agency PR in Denver

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Katie Dabbs.

Katie, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I have always loved to write and it was what I knew I was going to do, in some capacity, at a very early age. Whether I was jotting down song lyrics, journaling or essays, it just came naturally.

My mom always wanted me to end up in broadcast journalism, and I almost did until I found out that I’d likely have to move to a small town like Fargo to get a start (no offense to Fargo!). I always knew that I wanted to be in a big city, so my move to New York for a job in public relations when I was 23 didn’t come as a shock to anyone near and dear.

While my experiences gave me the opportunity to launch my own PR agency devoted to the design community, my passion for design and real estate long surpasses my last 10 years in the industry. I was born into the design community with my father working as a freelance architect, and my mother an artist. I grew up drawing on tracing paper and using a drafting board with an electric eraser to do my elementary school homework.

In 2013, I was recruited to work at Gensler, the largest architecture firm in the world, I started as a specialist and worked my way up to lead the public relations team for the entire Northeast and Latin American regions, based in their New York office. The region, at that point, encompassed around 1,500 employees. During my Gensler tenure, I secured over 1,000 media placements including prominent, perception-altering articles in the Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, New York Times, WWD, Entrepreneur, Architectural Digest and many, many more. In 2016 alone, the coverage garnered by my team tapped into a 3.2B online readership, shifting the perception of the firm to focus on its architecture and base-building capabilities.

Flash forward to 2017 and I moved to Denver to create a PR firm that specializes in the design, architecture, real estate, development and more. Our agency currently represents global designers, developers and real estate professionals.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
There is a great quote by Mary Tyler Moore that goes: “You can’t be brave if you’ve only had wonderful things happen to you.” I believe that. I can make light of it these days, but sometimes it seems that my life has been plagued by a series of traumatic events. I lost my only brother and sibling at 18 years old, my dad at 27, and my best friend just recently had a terrible injury that left him paralyzed from the shoulders down. I do believe that struggle strengthens and loss is inevitable — it’s how you let it fuel you that counts.

Please tell us about your work.
Agency PR is a leading national public relations and strategic communications firm. With experts in Denver, New York and Los Angeles, we serve clients in design, architecture, hospitality, travel, real estate, fitness and wellness. By delivering high impact media and digital strategies we build reputations, tell stories, grow businesses and impact our client’s bottom line.

We specialize in the following practice areas:

Architecture + Design: We have a pulse on the design world. We position our architecture and design clients as experts on a wide range of topics such as hospitality design, restaurant design, adaptive reuse, historic preservation, airports, tall buildings, workplace experts and more. Getting your stories, projects, people and firm in front of the right editors is what we do best.

Real Estate + Development: Real estate is never just about land and buildings; it’s the foundation upon which everything else in the world rests. This sector faces unprecedented political and economic upheaval and is tied directly to our economy. We help our clients in the development and real estate navigate this multifaceted environment, engage the community, garner public approvals and get building.

Travel + Hospitality: What’s on your bucket list? Today’s travelers have access to a world of information at their fingertips. We help travel and hospitality brands reach those consumers encouraging them to seek your property or destination as the inspiration for their next adventure.

Health + Wellness: Establishing yourself as a leading expert in the fitness or health & wellness industry is imperative for building your brand and differentiating your fitness strategies from the pack. We’ll work to get you placed in print, television and online through effective PR strategies that appeal to consumers. From fitness trainers, new gyms, workouts, diets, spas and fitness retreats, we’ve worked on it all.

If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
Frankly, I tend to put ridiculous deadlines on myself. I rushed to get out of college, working full time while finishing a full course load. When I got out of college, I picked up side work on nights and weekends in addition to my full-time job. I’ve always said that I might not outsmart everybody, but I can out-work them. I’ve always been driven to be successful and have put in the long hours and effort to accomplish those goals. With that said, when you’re always operating at a full sprint / 170 heartbeats per minute, you do miss out on appreciating where you are in that moment and are always looking at “what’s next”.

I don’t think I would have ever told my younger self to “slow down” per say, but I would have suggested to at least take a step back and take it all in. Slowed down just long enough to savor where I was during certain periods of my life. The struggle always stings but when you can get enough distance from that struggle those are the most exciting, exhilarating and rewarding moments of life.

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Image Credit:
Kellie Henriksen

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