This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:00] Jennifer Apple: Hello.

[0:01] Welcome to the Empowered Artist Collective Podcast.

[0:04] I'm your host, Jennifer Apple, a multi-hyphenate actor, educator, acting coach, writer, dog mom, and founder of this vibrant community that champions artists as they carve out their own unique paths in this wild industry.

[0:17] Whether you're just starting out, in the thick of it, or seeking a bit of artistic fuel to expand your toolbox, you're in the right place.

[0:24] In this space, we'll have honest conversations, share actionable strategies, tips, and resources, and delve into the messy yet beautiful journey of living a sustainable creative life.

[0:34] We unmask the reality of life as an artist, from navigating career highs and lows to nurturing your full human well-being.

[0:42] I chat with women and non-binary guests who share their personal stories, helpful learnings, and hearts to help you unlock your artistic potential, expand your knowledge, and show up fully and fearlessly in your artistry and daily life.

[0:55] Before we dive into this week's conversation, don't forget to hit that subscribe button so you never miss an episode.

[1:01] If today's chat resonates with you, please leave us a review.

[1:04] It helps us reach even more incredible artists just like you.

[1:07] And hey, feel free to spread the love.

[1:09] Share this podcast with a friend or post it on your socials, making sure to tag @EmpoweredArtistCollective and @JenniferApple_ so we can chat with you there.

[1:18] All right, grab a cup of something cozy, settle in, and let's get to it.

[1:22] What is the role of a publicist and what does the job entail?

[1:26] In this episode, I sit down with longtime arts publicist Adriana Leshko, Executive Vice President at Blake Zidell & Associates.

[1:33] With over two decades in the field working with institutions, artists, and mission-driven nonprofits, Adriana offers clarity around the distinction between institutional, personal, and production-based publicity, working with critics, and how press relationships are built and maintained.

[1:48] From her nonlinear start as a writer to her extensive work at BAM before her current position, she shares what goes into drafting press releases, the specificity needed for pitching, coordinating press nights, and working with critics.

[2:00] Together we discuss the importance of earning trust, amplifying the artist's voice, and building genuine relationships that last.

[2:06] This episode is full of actionable insight on how to think about press, prepare for coverage, and work in partnership with a publicist to elevate your art.

[2:14] Enjoy.

[2:15] Adriana Leshko, how are you?

[2:18] Welcome to the space.

[2:20] Joining us here.

[2:22] Thank you.

[2:23] I am well.

[2:24] One thing we'll dig into is that my job is very much behind the scenes.

[2:29] I'm an arts publicist.

[2:31] So this is, as we discuss, a little out of my comfort zone, but I'm really grateful to have the conversation.

[2:38] Yeah, I'm super excited that you're here.

[2:40] I know that this is a moment that's full of potential discomfort.

[2:45] And so I'm grateful that you're trusting me in this space because I know that this conversation will benefit so many people to have them actually better understand what the job is that you do and folks like you.

[2:57] And I think it's important in the ecosystem that we are in for people to actually understand how this is a part of the ecosystem and the way that it serves the ecosystem and how we all work together in the ecosystem.

[3:08] And anyway, before we even dive into all of that, who are you today?

[3:14] Who am I today?

[3:15] It feels very wrong to start with a title, but I'm just gonna situate myself in that.

[3:22] I am the executive vice president of a small, or we say boutique PR firm, Blake Zidell & Associates.

[3:33] My colleague and one of my best friends, Blake, started it over two decades ago.

[3:39] And we work with primarily mission-driven nonprofits.

[3:45] So that means the bulk of what we do is performing arts.

[3:50] But we also have other clients like PEN America, the Free Expression Organization.

[3:55] Blake's worked with StoryCorps for a very, very long time.

[3:59] So clients like that.

[4:02] How did you arrive at this position?

[4:04] I guess to say like the origin story of it, before we go into like the nitty-gritty of like what is it that you do?

[4:13] All right.

[4:13] Well, I'm gonna age myself, and I'm someone who actually believes as a feminist act that it's important to just say what age you are.

[4:22] And so I moved to New York in, and this will be faster than it sounds, but in the late 90s, and I had an English literature degree, and all I knew was that I wanted an artsy job.

[4:42] That's as far as I knew.

[4:45] I just knew that I wasn't going to be a lawyer or a doctor, and I truly didn't know what that was.

[4:53] My biggest skill to that date, you know, as a student, was writing.

[5:01] And I was a voracious, voracious reader growing up and obviously did English literature.

[5:07] So that was always going to be a part of what I did.

[5:11] It felt just obvious.

[5:14] But I didn't know much more than that.

[5:18] And this was a time when paper media existed, believe it or not, and there was an ancient artifact called the Village Voice.

[5:28] And I people would pick it up on, I can't remember what day, I think it was Wednesday, it came out and it would have job listings, basically classified.

[5:40] And there was a job opening for a publicity assistant at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, which I knew was one of—I knew enough at that point to know it was an important institution.

[5:55] And I applied and very, very long story short, I got the job.

[6:03] So I was at BAM before people had, you know, we only had internal email, people smoked in the office.

[6:14] It was the tail end of an era.

[6:16] Yeah.

[6:17] And I didn't stay very long.

[6:22] I stayed for about a little over a year, and I knew that I wanted to be a writer and an editor, and I knew that if I didn't try in my 20s, that it would be, yeah, that I would regret it.

[6:40] Yeah.

[6:41] So yeah, I quit without another job, which is again something that only somebody in their 20s would do.

[6:49] Who doesn't know better.

[6:52] And this was, you know, sadly still something that is true in every industry.

[6:59] Often jobs are who you know.

[7:01] You know, this earlier story about getting something through the classifieds, that's crazy, right?

[7:07] And truly does feel like a different time and place.

[7:10] But a friend of a friend had a sister who worked at Harper's Bazaar, the fashion magazine.

[7:17] Yeah, and I wound up going there as an assistant and having a very interesting two years there.

[7:26] And that's where the writing came in.

[7:29] At some point, my boss was just asking me to write some headlines for some pieces she wrote, and just they're pithy, you know, you people read fashion magazines, and she noticed—this is crazy to talk about this time of my life—but she noticed I was really good at it.

[7:49] And so she just gave me a lot of breaks, and I had crazy experiences.

[7:56] I interviewed Ed Harris.

[8:00] That was my first celebrity interview, and it was very interesting because it was for his role in he played Jackson Pollock and my dad's an art historian.

[8:10] So I had really good questions.

[8:13] I'm a smart girl, but at the end he just looked at me and he goes, "How old are you?"

[8:18] Wow.

[8:18] I look at people that age now and they look like babies to me.

[8:23] So yeah.

[8:24] And then very again, skip, skip, skip, as my friend Drea says, I left Bazaar, the editor-in-chief was let go, and I didn't want to really be there anymore.

[8:40] And I knew kind of a similar thing.

[8:42] If I don't try freelancing now, I don't want to do it in my 30s when I have more responsibilities, certainly in my 40s.

[8:50] I want to try it now.

[8:52] So then came a sort of time that I would call it a little bit the wasteland.

[8:58] It was seven years that I freelanced as a writer.

[9:05] And it was invaluable to what I do now, and we'll get to that.

[9:09] But it was an interesting experience where I realized I would always execute my assignments beautifully and get great feedback, but I was terrible at hustling for myself.

[9:23] All that stuff you have to do to self-promote, I just didn't like it.

[9:28] And then it was 2008, the recession, the last one was hitting.

[9:38] And I basically was at a party.

[9:42] I never lost touch with BAM people.

[9:45] Huge shout out to BAM people.

[9:47] They're the smartest, most interesting people I've known.

[9:51] And my friend Tamara McCaw, who's a very important person in the arts right now, but back then was just another, you know, 20-something like me, or maybe we're a bit older at that point.

[10:03] She just said there's a job at BAM.

[10:06] She was still there and in the publicity department, and I want you to go for it.

[10:14] I really believe very much in telling the truth, and that comes into my job a lot.

[10:19] Like publicists are associated with spin.

[10:22] That's not something that is part of my arsenal.

[10:26] But that actually happened because Tammy asked me, "How are you doing?"

[10:31] And I just looked at her and I said, "I think I need a job."

[10:36] You know, and I just answered honestly.

[10:39] I was done with this, you know, this lifestyle that I was living and freelancing, and that's how it came about.

[10:49] Wow.

[10:49] Yeah.

[10:50] And so then you entered into BAM and talked more about the transition now into essentially like more of what you do.

[10:58] Yes.

[10:59] I'm getting emotional, which is surprising to me.

[11:03] It was such a halcyon time there.

[11:07] It was such a golden age.

[11:10] Karen Brooks Hopkins was the president, Joe Melillo was the artistic director.

[11:16] They are legends, absolute legends.

[11:20] Karen quite literally wrote the book on fundraising, best fundraiser in the world.

[11:26] Joe brought artists, world-shaking artists to BAM, gave them a platform, people you now know, like Ivo van Hove, many, many others.

[11:38] They were all—he just had such an amazing curatorial eye.

[11:42] They're both very much with us.

[11:44] I see them, you know, at shows and all of that.

[11:50] But it was just such an education.

[11:52] I mean, that's I guess that's what I would say about BAM is that I got exposed to so many unique original multidisciplinary artists.

[12:05] And again, it's so interesting to talk, you know, look back on one's career because right now I work primarily in what one would call kind of straight theater.

[12:17] But BAM was just, you know, all over the map.

[12:21] They were there, it was truly avant-garde, you know, and that's how BAM used to be split up.

[12:26] They have the Next Wave Festival, which is really envelope-pushing artists from all over the world, and then the spring season, I wouldn't say conventional, but big, you know, big theater productions from, you know, the Young Vic or The Almeida.

[12:43] I fell in love with dance, which I still miss a lot.

[12:47] We do have some clients that have dance-related, but not my primary accounts.

[12:54] But being introduced to artists like Pina Bausch and Merce Cunningham, and you know, all the—like I said, the spring season, all the incredible British companies and theaters, it was just honestly incredible.

[13:12] And it was such a different time, you know.

[13:14] I know you know this because you're an actor.

[13:17] It's—we are in a period of contraction, you know, in the ecosystem.

[13:22] And BAM, at the time, there were 32 shows in the Next Wave Festival in the fall alone.

[13:31] Now I think, you know, there's eight tops, 10, and that's not BAM specific, that's just industry-wide.

[13:40] Adriana Leshko: So it was there were many things about it, but that's I would say the arts education I got was the number one thing.

[13:50] Adriana Leshko: I remember going for my interview with my boss, uh, who became my boss, and I said to her, Well, I've never really, even though I'm familiar with BAM from you know almost a decade ago, I've never been a proper publicist.

[14:11] Adriana Leshko: And she said, but I'd been at Bazaar and had bizarrely wound up ending up with a very high title only because of strange circumstances that could only happen in you know the late 90s, early aughts.

[14:24] Adriana Leshko: But I was the artist. Maybe but you're also, you know, you're discounting your own talent and your efforts and your work, but sure. Sure, sure.

[14:30] Adriana Leshko: But anyway, I I left there as arts and entertainment editor. Um, and again, I had very supportive bosses, uh, people who were not afraid of nurturing talent and knew it would make them look good.

[14:46] Adriana Leshko: That is not always that case. That has not always been the case with my bosses, but certainly at Bazaar it was.

[14:55] Adriana Leshko: And what this woman who wound up being my boss at BAM for many, many years, said, You know all the sides of the job, right?

[15:07] Adriana Leshko: Right. You've you've pitched stories as a freelancer, you've been pitched as an editor. And that was so helpful that I already had the skill set. I was just going to use it in service of something different.

[15:25] Adriana Leshko: Yeah. Um, so that was a really that was a bit of a light bulb moment for me and made me feel more comfortable.

[15:31] Jennifer Apple: Hi, actor friends, talking to you. If finding the perfect monologue has you feeling stuck, I've got just the thing. I put together a free monologue selection toolkit just for you.

[15:42] Jennifer Apple: It's packed with resources, free and paid options, plus tips for choosing, editing, and customizing pieces to showcase you. Head over to jenniferapple.net/slash freebie and stop avoiding the auditions that ask for a monologue or waiting for the perfect piece to simply fall into your lap.

[15:58] Jennifer Apple: Dive into this free toolkit that I set up just for you that'll set you up to feel agency over your process and artistry. That's jenniferapple.net/slash freebie and get started on finding your next go-to monologue.

[16:11] Jennifer Apple: So what exactly do you do? Like what exactly is a publicist? And obviously, I imagine that the ins and outs of the you know day-to-day change whether you're in a boutique agency or whether you're in a large, you know, space or whether you work for a nonprofit or whether you're a freelance person.

[16:30] Jennifer Apple: Like I imagine that the variables change, but generally speaking, what exactly is a publicist?

[16:37] Adriana Leshko: Okay. So let's break it down in a way that would make sense to my mom, who still, when I get a feature in the New York Times asks me if I wrote it.

[16:49] Jennifer Apple: Yes. That feels that feels like an accurate place to start, a thousand percent.

[16:53] Adriana Leshko: And I say, nope, I didn't. In fairness to your mother, you were writing at one point in a very active literal career place.

[17:02] Jennifer Apple: Right.

[17:03] Adriana Leshko: So like for her, she's probably like, maybe she does both now. Like maybe she's writing and she's getting like maybe for her, it's like my daughter does everything.

[17:09] Jennifer Apple: Yeah.

[17:10] Adriana Leshko: And to be extremely clear, my mom my mom is the brightest woman I know.

[17:14] Adriana Leshko: Yeah. Um, so fundamentally, what we try to do is bring attention to the institutions we represent and the productions they have on their stages.

[17:29] Adriana Leshko: Okay. That means different things. So institutional press is different from show specific press. But for the most part, I am trying to get attention as early as possible for a show.

[17:48] Adriana Leshko: So the holy grail for most publicists in whether they're Broadway publicists or uh off Broadway, which is a very big distinction. But if I meet a Broadway publicist, we have this common language, right? The New York Times preview feature is still the 800 pound gorilla, right?

[18:08] Adriana Leshko: That's what you want for your artist. It's a chance for them to, you know, have an amazing platform, amazing exposure, but also to frame the work in their own words, which of course you don't always get when something's reviewed, it's seen through someone else's lens.

[18:29] Adriana Leshko: The way the process works, way before you place you get lucky enough to get an NPR piece or a New York Times piece, or one of the things that we all sort of know is the gold standard, is and I think one of the things that makes our firm different is that we have an in-house writer who is also just a brilliant critic. He's incredible.

[18:54] Adriana Leshko: So what we do is I'm gonna use Dominique Morseau's Bad Crail as a as an example. It's one of the shows I worked pretty recently, not the last show. So at this point, I've worked with Dominique a bunch, um, and I what we do, so she has a new play, and we sit with her virtually.

[19:20] Adriana Leshko: Mo's Halperin, who is my colleague and the writer for uh Blake's idom associates, which is the firm that I work for, we basically do what we're doing. We interview her. We we read the script and we interview her about ideas, themes, things she wants to say in this press release.

[19:44] Adriana Leshko: And from those conversations come all the ideas for me. We are such an artist focused firm, and I think that's why artists love working with us. And Mose asks the most extraordinary questions.

[20:01] Adriana Leshko: So we'll do that. Those quotes from Dom will go into a press release that we then disseminate. And that's sort of our Bible. You know, we work, we use this press release in all our pitching.

[20:13] Adriana Leshko: And that will go once you're given permission from signature that like we want to start press on said season, like that's when you will start to release all of your classic press releases for that particular pitch.

[20:25] Adriana Leshko: Uh yeah. So releasing the press release and pitching are a little bit different. Usually a press release will be we do a season release way at the top of the season. We don't do individual interviews for that.

[20:37] Adriana Leshko: That would be saying this season we have this and that. And it kind of we we do that to get into we do that early in usually in mid-summer to make sure we get into fall preview.

[20:51] Adriana Leshko: Fall previews, all fall previews. I don't want to be too New York Times centric, and I want to go back to that too. Um, but you know, New York magazine, uh New Yorker, they all do fall previews, and ideally you want your shows listed because it gets it on the radar, even if it's way out.

[21:09] Jennifer Apple: Yeah. Pausing that for a second, I imagine for these kinds of you know press releases, is there structure too that you're like having to adhere to like as part of your job understanding that when you're releasing a press release to certain kinds of articles or certain platforms, it has to be like formatted in a certain way and you know that that's the structure or is it more like you know what you are, you have relationships with these you know companies at this point and they take what you give and use it in their own you know structure however they need to?

[21:10] Adriana Leshko: I think I would say at this point it's more the the the latter.

[21:48] Adriana Leshko: Um we certainly Mo's has a style but there's things that are going to be in any press release whether it's for Smash on Broadway or whether it's for some downtown avant-garde theater you're always gonna have quotes from the artists interpolated into it.

[22:04] Adriana Leshko: You're always gonna say what it's about you're gonna tell as much about the world building as you can without giving anything away and you'll always have bios of the cast and creative team at the at the end of the day you know the easiest way to think about it is a press release is really an informational tool for journalists.

[22:25] Adriana Leshko: Okay. Um and critics they they need they need a document to go back to and and say okay well who did the lighting and who did you know so critics need that after they do the review and people previewing it or considering previewing a show want to hear themes and and and what have you.

[22:47] Adriana Leshko: So that's the beginning is sort of an intake um with the artist.

[22:54] Adriana Leshko: Okay. And out of that, I generate sometimes an actual, sometimes just living in my head, target list of places I think would be good for this for this production.

[23:11] Adriana Leshko: And I do this very much. And again, I I think this makes us a bit unique, but maybe everybody does this. But I really, really try at the Mose does this beautiful all these questions. I get so much about here from hearing the answers from the artist.

[23:27] Adriana Leshko: Sometimes we do it with an artist and director. It depends. But at the end, I kind of already have a sense of where I what I think the major themes are, or what you would say as a publicist is an angle, a strong angle, a strong hook, something that you can write to uh a journalist and say that that's the pitch, you know.

[23:52] Adriana Leshko: I think this is interesting because this, I think it's timely because of this. So I usually have some ideas.

[23:59] Adriana Leshko: And so you're not writing the piece, you're saying you are in your brain, you're thinking of the people as in the journalists and or the you know, magazines themselves, that you're like, this would be the article where I want to have this appear, and you are going to then pitch to individual people or the spaces for said idea.

[24:20] Adriana Leshko: Yeah, exactly. So I'm thinking, I'm thinking always writer, outlet, and angle.

[24:26] Adriana Leshko: There we go. But what I'm also thinking is at the end, Moose asks his brilliant questions. I listen, sometimes I refine refine in my head, oh, actually, I can see they really wouldn't want to be in this outlet for this reason.

[24:44] Adriana Leshko: But then I always ask, what are your dream outlets or writers? And again, just like we're artist-centric, I'm very writer-centric.

[24:55] Adriana Leshko: Yeah. And I I think the one skill you can't teach is just the just the accrual of time. I've been doing this for so long that I'm just instantly like, this would be great for this person, this would be great for this person. I know she loves puppets.

[25:14] Adriana Leshko: You know, what else are just weird things you get to know after decades of knowing these people. Um, but I always ask at the end, do you have any dream writers that you'd like to speak to or dream outlets? Any that we should steer clear of. And that's always really informative.

[25:37] Adriana Leshko: Yeah. It's only gotten stronger in my career about diversifying audiences and not having that be uh just a phrase we say, but an action we take.

[25:50] Adriana Leshko: The other thing you have to do too, is also just think about where this person or playwright has been covered. With in the case of signature, because we work over a bunch of years, you know, we had been lucky enough to get the arts, the cover of the arts section, the New York Times a couple of years ago for Confederates.

[26:15] Adriana Leshko: So I, you know, you you kind of get to know that the relationship not well, also you're not gonna get that again. So you have you you get more creative. You're it's it's it's never formulaic.

[26:28] Adriana Leshko: You always have to consider past coverage, and you don't want to write, you know, you don't want to you you wanna really deeply research always.

[26:40] Adriana Leshko: You have the press releases which happen when the things are like announced to get ahead of the thing. You have the features now of like the artists um or the projects that you might work with, and those are the specific, like let's try to get these articles in these various things.

[26:58] Adriana Leshko: And now I guess is the the pitching part of it. How is that separate from the press release?

[27:03] Adriana Leshko: It is different, um, but it is similar to what we just discussed.

[27:06] Adriana Leshko: So now I zoom out, whatever production I'm working on, I think who is the right writer for this. And I'm a big believer wherever possible in getting a writer excited about something and having them pitch their editors because it's not like they can make these decisions in a vacuum either, because there's people who have to choose whether or not they want to have this in their publication.

[27:37] Adriana Leshko: Absolutely. Absolutely. But you know, they have closer relationships with their editors, they're working with them more regularly. We certainly have close relationships too with theater editors. I mean, there's really only a couple now because it's a very small ecosystem. And but yeah, I always love starting with the writer, I think because I was a writer, and so I just have a sense. It's a little bit of a spidey sense, but I don't want to make it sound, you know, and the funny thing I'll say it's a little bit of a 180, but Blake and I are definitely work husband and wife, and we do think almost exactly the same. So but I do want to kind of bring that into the fold the importance of having a sounding board professionally where you can say, Does this feel right?

I was thinking of this person, yeah. Then he might say this, you know, we really are all day long. I'm basically on a continual virtual Google chat conversation with Blake, Moes, and myself. There's other people in the firm, but that's my core. You know, and so that's really important.

[29:02] Adriana Leshko: But yeah, so then you send, you know, you send bespoke pitches. So I would never okay. This is what not to do in the category of what not to do. Yeah, I would never send a writer, I am working on this PR upcoming production press release below. Let me know if you're interested. That would be bad, bad pitching. Good pitching is knowing what they've written recently, knowing their interests. Often now I know them personally, but not everybody can have that. That just comes from time. So I'm gonna leave that out in terms of, you know, and it's not fake, but just read their last story. And if it was interesting to you, say I really enjoyed reading about X. It made me think you might be interested in why. Yeah. These are some of the themes that are being explored. This is being specific to this particular reach out. So it's not a generalized reach out.

[30:12] Adriana Leshko: Totally. And I think that's where you know, publicists get a bad rap, because I think people sometimes think it's you know, and it's funny, you know. I have a lot of my friends are writers and editors, and they'll share the craziest pitches they get, you know, a colleague and acquaintance is at the New Yorker, and she writes about podcasts, and she'll get pitches about, you know, a Christmas gift guide, you know, things that make no sense. So there are these giant firms that just spray and pray.

[30:50] Adriana Leshko: Yeah. So you just blast at a release and you think like maybe something that is just not what I mean. I get them, I get them on the back end of the podcast too for folks who like want their clients to be guests on the podcast. And you know, sometimes we're in the vein of it, and you know, sometimes, and it could be like a little bit of a stretch, but I'm like, oh, I can see an angle on this. We've never really talked about it. But other times it's like, you know, at this point in the time thus far, we only exclusively interview women and non-binary folks and trans folks on this podcast. Um, that's it. And so when I have, you know, people who are pitching cis men to me, um, you know, I it's an uncomfortable thing where I have to be like, am I misunderstanding something?

Because I don't want to make an assumption if I am, but am I misunderstanding something? It's like clearly you haven't done your research about who we are, and or like why are you sending me somebody that has to do with, you know, something that's completely in an industry that's not at all related unless you have a very cool angle that you were like, I know this is unrelated, but this is why I think this could be a cool interview. Then I'm like, oh, fascinating. But it, you know, on the I am receiving them at this point, which is I think why this conversation's interesting to me because you know, and frankly, for myself, like when I am pitching myself to be guests on other people's podcasts or as a coach to be, you know, going into university spaces, you know, crafting that pitch is complicated.

Um, and arguably I've, you know, been learning over time the details that um are important to be specific to said audience, and it's less really arguably about you. It's like, it's you know, like, yes, I know what I am and what I offer. And more specifically, like because of all the things that I know about you, this is where I can be of a service or why this might be an interesting fit.

[32:46] Adriana Leshko: You would be a very good publicist.

[32:48] Adriana Leshko: Thank you so much. I don't feel that way when I'm in it, but I'm learning. No, it's specificity. I think also in terms of advice. Um, I think because of my training at BAM, I got exposed to a lot of very some very just plain old famous, like, you know, a Kate Blanchett or an Isabella Rossellini, others were very important in their fields, pretty young on a regular basis. So that I think completely made me um feel at ease and not starstruck. And a publicist, I mean, it goes without saying, but a publicist should never be starstruck, you know. And um, but I think that one of the most important things is I am a publicist. That is what I do. That is the correct term. However, in the past, I have said to people, I'm less of a publicist, more of an arts worker.

And what that means to me is that I am never sycophantic to the people I'm pitching. I am never, I am prepared, I have researched, I oftentimes at this point in my career, I just know them and I like them. But I approach it as a peer-to-peer relationship. There's no weird formality. I think if I could, if you can pitch in your authentic voice, I think that's so important to be conversational, to be a little bit transparent, you know, about where you're at or who you are, just to I don't want to say lead with yeah, exactly. That's I was we're vibing now because I was gonna say lead with your humanity, don't lead with it. You lead with the client and the production and all of that, but yeah, just to establish immediately, I'm a person, you're a person.

And now that's second nature. But I think when I was starting out, it took me a while to get that sense of ease. And there's, you know, there's certain things that only time brings. But if I could, yeah, if I could offer anybody any advice, or also just people who are intuitively good at doing that might consider this as yeah, a job, you know. At the same time as I'm saying never lose sense of your core, also don't get too fancy, you know. I was at the gala, there's a step and repeat. I'm gonna hold Lynn Nottage's coat because that's what needs to happen, and I'm happy to. That's part of my job. Um, because we need to get that photo, you know, and I don't mind that at all. You know, I it's it's fun and it's part of the job. So it's kind of both, it goes both ways.

[35:57] Adriana Leshko: Have you been using the same monologue for years? Are you gearing up to apply for BA, BFA or MFA programs and need pieces for that process? Or maybe you just have no idea where to even start with monologue hunting. I get it, and that's why I offer monologue sourcing. This is a unique process where I find monologues chosen specifically for you. So many artists pick pieces based on external labels like type or for roles rather than finding material that represents who they truly are. So here's how it works: we'll meet virtually and you'll share all about who you are, your passions, values, beliefs, and everything in between. Don't worry, I will help guide you through this process. Then I'll get to work finding monologues that fit you like a glove with years of experience sourcing pieces for hundreds of artists.

I've seen the difference it makes to have a monologue that genuinely feels like you. So if you want to feel empowered about the monologues you bring into rooms and use for auditions, I would love to help you find them. And because you're a listener of the Empowered Artist Collective podcast, I'm offering an exclusive rate. Head to EmpoweredArtistCollective.com slash podcast promo to register and claim the special offer. That's empoweredartistscollective.com slash podcast promo. I cannot wait to help you find monologues you absolutely adore.

[37:14] Adriana Leshko: Well, I'd love to talk then about, you know, now you've been successful, you've done your reach outs, you've had some journalists who have gotten approval from their bosses, and you've had things, you know, submitted and they've been printed and or digitized, whatever medium we're operating in. And you know, the press releases have obviously gone out even before that. And now we are in the land of the thing is happening. What is your job once, like what is the publicist doing once the press is out and the critics have come through and there is potentially good or bad things said about said production or person that you are involved with? Like then what is your responsibility?

[37:53] Adriana Leshko: That's a great question. I want to go just a little bit backwards from doing and just talk about press nights because they're a huge part of what we do, and I don't know that everybody knows that. You know, you do your best to get preview coverage. It happens or it doesn't. That is what it is. All along, at some point, either when you send the press release or sometimes a little bit after, you send a press invite. Okay. And that is when people book in to see the show. Critics and also awards voters, which is something that most people don't know is part of our remit, you know. That's a big part of my job. So when I have to be physically somewhere, um, you know, I have to be there for an interview and oversee and all of that, photo shoots, but then I also have to be there on press nights.

And so you are literally at the theater holding tickets and giving them to the critics coming through. And I think that's a job that some people outsource. But Blake and not, you know, to someone more junior sometimes. But I think some of the best relationship forging I've experienced has happened then because you know, you get to face to face time, you have time with the critics, you talk about other things, you never share your opinion about the show ever. That's before or after.

[39:26] Adriana Leshko: Um and so I yeah, I just wanted to say so. That's important. But press nights are, you know, they're stressful for, you know, you so you people come in and then you have the actual opening, you set an embargo, and then at a certain time, usually, well, it's whenever the play ends. If you're opening on a day the play is up, or on Mondays, usually it's arbitrarily eight or nine. Um, you know, you're at your computer, you know, Googling, making sure you've got everybody's reviews, and then you send them along to the client and you weigh in a little bit. Again, having been a writer and an editor, I usually pull out some quotes, even though that's the marketing team's job. They are the ones who ultimately say um what's going to be used in ads and that sort of thing.

But um, but I like to give people a little snapshot of what I think are the highlights or lowlights as the case may be. Um, but afterwards it's hard. I will say, so if something is this comes back to why we work so hard to get preview coverage, because in some ways it's an insulation of a sort for bad reviews.

[40:47] Adriana Leshko: Yeah. Right. Which I, you know, I'm lucky, I would say I've never had a show that's been panned across the board. You know, I'm so lucky to work at the firm I do with the clients I do, but often one of the craziest things that happens is one critic will rave and another critic will, you know, effectively pan. That's always a very strange experience. Um it's your job then to I guess ultimately because you're not getting involved either way in terms of your feelings about it, your job is to be like, I'm pulling both, but maybe if I weigh in a little bit, just paid more attention to this one, or is your job is truly to be like, let me just share the information with you, like that becomes the post information part of it.

[41:38] Adriana Leshko: No, I mean, in terms of with my client, no, I'm very transparent, and I we I will say things, you know, I will say this this was very unfair and this doesn't make sense to me, or whatever. Like we have a very, you know, but I think I what I what I meant before is that I never I'll never say something to a critic coming in saying I would never say like, yeah. Oh, oh this this show's great, or actor is amazing. They don't want my opinion, you know, as much as they I'm happy to talk to them about other shows because at this point a sophisticated arts consumer and we see the same things, but I never want to put them in that situation.

[42:18] Adriana Leshko: So then your job then is just I'm just trying to like boil it down in terms of like the the foundation part of it is like once once again you've like laid out the beginning parts, the shows opened, like at this point, are you still pitching to p if the show goes really well, then I imagine that isn't also like an offering for more opportunities for pitching, or is it more like it shifts to a different way of publicizing with said marketing team, or like is there a moment that it moves?

[42:48] Adriana Leshko: Yeah, I think I think um when you get a bad review, it kind of it it is like hitting a wall, right? Because it is just harder to get placement after that. So you have to think really creatively. It's challenging. There's nothing more I can really say about it. Say there's a list name involved in the production who really didn't want to do a lot of preview press and just wanted to show up and do the work. Well, if the review is not great, maybe they're more motivated to, you know, do an interview or you know, anything to can keep getting the word out.

[43:32] Adriana Leshko: Yeah. Um like I said, those occasions are rare. There's, you know, I I really truly, and I'm not um this isn't spin. I can't remember a time where it's been just, you know, just some show was eviscerated. It's always there's good and there's bad. But you are correct in um that's where marketing folks do take over. Yeah, basically.

[44:01] Adriana Leshko: Um, and I I do want to shout out like those are my professional partners. The marketing director is the person that I will be having the weekly meetings with and sharing my press strategy and sharing my updates. And it is, you know, so big up to marketing directors uh across the city at nonprofits because they do they do um God's work.

[44:26] Adriana Leshko: And for you all though, it's like your client, at least within your firm, your client is the institution, and then you take in like, and depending on the show or depending on the creatives that are involved in their season, then those I guess by association then become your clients because they're part of said institution, or are you being hired to be okay? So that was it. But I imagine there are certain publicists, and I know there are, there are certain publicists who are hired for just like I need a publicist as an actor, and I'm having my own publicist. What is the difference between what you all do and what they do? And are there any differences?

[45:01] Adriana Leshko: Oh, there are big differences. Um personal publicists are a completely different beast, and I it is not work I think I would be able to do. I like they have to be pretty ruthless for their client and and throw elbows in a way that I'm not interested in.

[45:28] Adriana Leshko: Why is it so different? Because with the work I do, you can always come back to the mission. Uh-huh. Do you know what I mean? The mission of the nonprofit. There's something bigger than one human being. You know.

[45:45] Adriana Leshko: Um do you often find times like find that maybe somebody, if they're maybe a like a more A-list celebrity who has their own, that you then do have to work in conjunction with their publicist in order for both of you to be publicizing in conjunction with one another, even though they might have a different way of operating?

[46:02] Adriana Leshko: Absolutely. And, you know, and that can be that can be a wonderful relationship. That can be a challenging relationship. It just depends on the publicist. I think the biggest frustration is sometimes there are people who just don't know the theater world that well, you know, because their person comes from film or TV or you know, and again, not that often with nonprofits, you know, but yeah, I think they they are certainly gatekeepers. Um, and if they are very, very actively involved in their clients' career, you do wind up needing to make sure that they're okay with your strata overall strategy.

[46:50] Adriana Leshko: Yeah. And um, yeah, and that's yeah, that's part of the job. And so to lay the landscape a little bit for my brain, it's like you obviously have your collaborators directly in your office that are your people, that you guys, you know, operate together as a team and figure out the strategies around the various, you know, um clients that you have. Then there are the different institutions that you have as as clients that within those institutions, depending on their seasons, depending on how they are hoping to share what they're doing, you might have individual artists and creatives, or you might have more of like the institution base to be publicizing maybe one or both at the same time or different times, but one or the other.

[47:34] Adriana Leshko: And then you are interacting on a daily basis with journalists, with editors, with um, you know, platforms, whether it's digital or otherwise, to get your articles hopefully written and or published in and press releases published into said things. And then on the back end of it, it's the like marketing folks once the things have happened for you to then take said information and continue publicizing that out into the various um outlets. Am I understanding the ecosystem?

[48:08] Adriana Leshko: That is like the best description I could have asked for. I do. I do want to say my marketing director counterpart, someone I really adore and admire. I I am lucky. I am not saying that as a, you know, there's no spin to this. I really, really admire. I think anybody who chooses to make a life in nonprofit arts ecosystem, it's a self-selecting crowd. Like you're not gonna be an asshole. That's gonna be the most colorful.

[48:42] Adriana Leshko: Yeah, no, but it's true. Yeah, because as you said, it's like it's a mission-based, you know, and there's something that's bigger than you that you're serving. Yeah, and there's always, you know, personalities and and and such. I mean, it's you know, it's not sunshine and roses, but for the most part, we're all doing this work because we believe in it. And we believe that live art can do something that nothing else can.

[49:04] Adriana Leshko: Yeah. If you had to sum it up in like a short little like, you know, bow, for folks who are like, oh, interesting. I never really thought that this skill set that I don't know, like might be actually transferable to this. Like, what would you say would be your like either starter pack or like actually if you are this kind of person, you might be really good at this thing and maybe you should try, or like how to try and get into being a publicist if somebody would want to.

[49:30] Adriana Leshko: Relationship building, strong writing skills, creative thinking, some social adeptness, I think is required. Um, I think those would be the most important things. I think remembering again that there's no job too small. Going back to my beloved mama, like she's like, why are you going to hand out tickets? You've been doing this for 20 years. You know, kind of you're better than that. And just like, A, it's a core part of my job. And B, this is how I've gotten to know these people over decades. And I'm excited to see them.

[50:11] Adriana Leshko: Yeah. You know. So I I would also say read widely and often. Um and don't be a snob is important. I I feel like the Times has very outsized power in our industry, as you know, as everyone knows. But um, the playwright Jeremy O'Harris, who I've never had the pleasure of working with, um yet, yet, we'll say yet. Well, no, he's you know, he's working with Blake on something. It's just I haven't directly with him. There is almost no one in in in theater that somehow BZA hasn't worked with, besides, you know, straight, straight Broadway. But um he I'm paraphrasing and it's I'm just m remembering, but he said, treat every outlet like the New York Times.

[51:00] Adriana Leshko: Yeah. And I really truly believe that. You know, I have done this long enough where I have been part of getting a writer, a new writer, a big break, who is now very, very important in the industry. And there is nothing that makes me happier than that. I love it.

[51:24] Adriana Leshko: I love it. Thank you for trusting me and being seen in this way to talk about, you know, what it is that you do, which is mostly behind the scenes. And I it takes a certain kind of bravery to be like, okay, I'm gonna just show up for this thing that's so different than what I do. Um, and so thank you for you know, uh dispelling the the way it kind of operates. I think, you know, again, I'm really here with this is like a resource for this podcast of like how can we show all of the facets of this gorgeous huge vast industry that makes it function in a way that A, you know, disseminates misinformation, but also B, like promotes knowledge and understanding.

[52:05] Adriana Leshko: And I feel like this is an area that people, yeah, we just see it, we hear about it, we know it, we we consume it. We don't necessarily think about the operating of it. And so thank you for like breaking that down for us in a way that I think hopefully will be helpful for people now when they're like, Oh, I see this press release. There was a human being who had to curate this, who talked to this person who had to pull this thing together and understand it all. So thank you for that.

[52:28] Adriana Leshko: For anybody who wants to say hire you, or to reach out with further questions, or to look at more of the work that you have done. Like what within your boundaries are the best ways for people to find you.

[52:39] Adriana Leshko: I think that the easiest way would be um to just look at my Instagram. It's it's just my name, Adriana Leshko. And there, I mean, there's personal stuff, but I often post about professional stuff, and anyone can DM me there. Um that would probably be the easiest.

[53:02] Jennifer Apple: Love it. Thank you so much for being in this space. That's it for today's episode. I hope you walk away with some fresh insights, feel inspired, and a little more empowered to take the next step on your artistic journey. Remember, whether it's a small shift or a big breakthrough, every step forward counts. You've got this, and we're here cheering you on every step of the way.

[53:21] Jennifer Apple: If you found today's episode helpful, don't forget to hit subscribe so you'll never miss out on the discussions we have each week. And if something today really resonated with you, please leave us a review. It truly is one of the best ways to help other artists find our podcast and join in on the conversations. Plus, we feel the love too when you do.

[53:40] Jennifer Apple: And don't keep all this goodness to yourself. Share this episode with your people or post about it on social media. Be sure to tag @EmpoweredArtistCollective and @JenniferApple_ so we can see what's landing for you and keep the conversation going. As always, thank you for being here. Thank you for listening, and thank you for being a part of this incredible community. Keep creating, keep thriving, stay empowered. I'm Jennifer Apple. Until next time.