Today we’d like to introduce you to Paula Murphy.
Hi Paula, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I have been in public relations in Houston since 1991, first as a summer intern that was supposed to work for a small agency for just a couple of months which then turned into a part-time job while attending college and then a full-time job upon graduation and I am now the principal of the company!
My first year of college was at Southwestern University in Georgetown, TX and my major was Communications. I liked many things and wasn’t completely sure what direction I wanted to go in school/career – general business, teaching, writing, etc. It was one of my aunts that said to me, “why don’t you try PR?” that led me to look into pubic relations to learn what it was, as I had no idea. I had to go to the library to do my research – no internet and no Google at the time! I was intrigued by what I read and thought maybe it would be something I would like. While I liked Southwestern, it was a Liberal Arts school and the communications classes were more like Oral Interpretation of Literature and less practical classes and I decided to transfer to University of Houston for my sophomore year until I decided where to go next. I had decided that I wanted to pay for my college myself and so it was another reason I welcomed the move – U of H was more affordable for me.
I decided I wanted to get a summer internship to learn firsthand about PR and how it works so I asked the school if they could help and was told they only place seniors. So, I decided to take matters into my own hands and make some calls! I pulled out the Yellow Pages – who remembers those?? – and started calling PR firms. Unfortunately, most of them told me the same thing – they only hire seniors, or they said they had already hired for the summer, etc. Defeated, I stopped until a week or so later when I decided to call five places and see what happened. In a turn of great luck, I secured two interviews! The second place I called was the first place I interviewed, and I have never had another job since! I am the summer intern who never left. And, in fact, now run the company. Who can believe it? No one is more surprised than I.
The agency where I had that interview was called Patterson & Blanton Public Relations and at the time and it was two women who were the partners and one full-time employee. One of the partners had been a food editor for many years at a local magazine and the other had done hospitality PR for companies like Four Seasons Hotels, and their niche was public/media relations for food and hospitality industries. I told them on the phone I was a student and I would work for free. At the interview, I was told I could work as little or as much as I wanted. The day after the interview I was parked and waiting outside the office door 10 minutes before it opened. I was ready and eager to learn!
I worked at the PR office in the day and had a retail job at night. I was living in Clear Lake and the office was in the Upper Kirby/River Oaks area. I was driving in daily to work, ready to tackle whatever they needed to do, listening and learning. They had numerous restaurant clients and so they offered to take me to lunch now and again so I could work on projects and also as a treat for my work. Then, they offered to give me some money for gas since I was coming in so often, checking tasks off their to-do list. Eventually, before the summer as over the offered to pay me by the hour! I was able to quit my retail job and focus on PR – I felt so fortunate.
As the end of summer approached, the partners asked if I wanted to stay and work part-time while I went to school. Absolutely! Here I was, learning about PR and doing the work before I ever even took my first PR-related class. It continued this way until graduation – working part-time during the school year and full-time in summer. One summer I went to school in Spain and they held my job for me – I was part of the team and it was an amazing feeling. I was also able to get class credit for my internship. I received a bachelor’s degree in Journalism from the University of Houston 1993 and was hired full-time at the office.
At some point, one of the partners – Blanton – moved away and the company name changed to Patterson & Associates, with Tessie Patterson as the leader and myself and the other full-time employee, Kelli, until Kelli also moved. I became a partner in January 2000 and, upon Tessie’s retirement, became the agency principal in 2007. This has been my one and only job as a professional.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Overall, it has been a very smooth road, and I am thankful. I was so fortunate to land in an office environment of collaboration and openness, all three of the ladies welcomed me completely, shared their knowledge and didn’t “gatekeep” anything. It was not an environment of competition, it was one of teamwork and collaborating.
As with any job, there have been challenges but they have not seemed insurmountable. I would say some of the biggest challenges have been the changes in technology – and some of those were for the best, like the internet. It really made an impact on how we could interact with media contacts, how we provided artwork and written materials. Changes in media itself is probably the biggest change and challenge of them all for the PR industry. Fewer traditional media outlets, less professional journalists and more social media is something our industry has had to learn to adapt to and embrace.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
My company has long-since had a specialty in promoting people and businesses in the hospitality industry, from restaurants and chefs to food products, spirits, hotels, etc. This specialty started because the original partners have experience in these areas – one had been a food editor at a magazine and the other did PR for hotels. When they formed their company there were really only a few companies in Houston that specialized in food/restaurant/hospitality PR. Now there are many more. But I like to think they were one of the first. It is an honor to keep that tradition alive.
I am proud that I was able to establish my career from such a young age. Sometimes I wish I would have left town after graduation and gone to New York City and just tried to figure out what to do, but I had a “sure thing” here and was one of the only ones in my friend group at school who had a job lined up at graduation. So, I stayed and I would say it worked out!
Other points of pride: I have one client that has been a client since 1991. I have literally not had a day of work life in PR without this client and it is amazing to think about – that’s 35 years! They arent just clients, they really are family. We have grown up together. I have another client that I have worked with for almost 26 years, another for almost 17 years and another for a total of 16 years. It makes me very proud for these hard-working business owners to put their trust in me.
While I was an intern, I got “The Oprah Winfrey Show” to attend a nonprofit event that I was doing pro bono PR for and feature it on the show! That was at the height of the show and it was a major coup!
During the pandemic, on a whim I reached out to the White House and invited President Biden to visit my client Houston Food Bank to see firsthand the absolutely amazing work they were doing for our community and learn how food banks were being impacted and also pivoting. The next day the head of the food bank told me he got a call from The White House and, a couple of weeks later, President and Dr. Biden toured the Houston Food Bank, bringing with them a huge entourage including a press pool from around the country and nation. I also got to be a part of the credential press pool and be front and center to take photos of this historic visit. As far as I know, this was the first time a sitting President has visited a food bank.
If we knew you growing up, how would we have described you?
I am the youngest of five siblings, who are nine, eight, seven and six years older than me. I was close with my siblings and we had a very busy family life – sports, arts, activities, friends. I always loved writing, music, art and traveling, and I have always been a talker and storyteller. Maybe this is why my aunt thought to suggest PR to me as a career?!
Contact Info:
- Website: pattersonandmurphy.com
- Instagram: @paulamurphy
- Facebook: paula.murphy
