What type of stories are you currently covering?

BEAUTY STORIES

• perfumes (especially niche perfumes!) and all things fragrance

• reviews of luxury beauty products and experiences. trendy treatments with a “wild” or “unusual” ingredient that readers should know about.

• beauty stories with a strong mental health angle (LA Times article) or a strong community angle (Elle article)

• films & TV shows with a strong beauty element (Harper’s Bazaar article)

• travel stories with a self-care / beauty / wellness angle

• actors, musicians, etc sharing their beauty / self-care practices timed to a new release or exciting collaboration (W magazine)

• film & TV anniversary stories with beauty looks that can be revisited and unpacked in an interesting way (Harper’s Bazaar article)

FOR BEAUTY PRODUCTS TELL ME WHAT THE INTERESTING ENRTY POINT TO COVERING THIS STORY COULD BE. IS A CERTAIN DEMOGRAPHIC USING THIS PRODUCT IN AN INTERESTING WAY THAT HASN’T BEEN COVERED MUCH? ARE ATTITUDES AROUND THIS PRODUCT CHANGING IN A WAY WE SHOULD KNOW ABOUT? SOMETHING MORE THAN A SUMMARY OF WHAT THE PRODUCT IS. MAKE IT EASY TO MAKE A CASE TO AN EDITOR.

CULTURE / LIFESTYLE STORIES

• author Q&As & features timed to new book releases

• recurring Los Angeles events that readers should know about (great opportunities for people to make new romantic and/or platonic connections — and spelling out how)

• actors, musicians, etc sharing their beauty / self-care practices timed to a new release or exciting collaboration (W magazine)

• film & TV anniversary stories with beauty looks that can be revisited and unpacked in an interesting way (Harper’s Bazaar article)

Can you come to my client’s event?

• send an Uber code shawty, I hate driving

Pitching pet peeves?

• emailing me like I’m a robot instead of a human being with a zillion other publicists in my inbox asking for the same thing :(

• sending me pitches completely outside of my coverage after I tell you exactly what I’m looking for (I am probably guilty of doing this too when pitching lol so I kinda get it …but it does make me internally groan a lil)

• trying to leverage big name clients to place lesser known clients…when you have no intention of having the big name client do the interview. for the love of God, just say no to the interview request for the high profile client.

• If you’re sending me pitches on something I rarely cover, like a fashion line, then please spell out how it connects to community, self-care, beauty, and/or mental health.

• mentioning that your client is queer, or a person of color, or Black, or * insert other marginalized identity * 232894843 times in a pitch doesn’t help me place the story. if you were telling a friend why you were excited to rep your client or why they’re a talent to watch or what makes them so charismatic and interesting, what would you say? say that in the pitch instead

• be mindful when referring to Buh-lack people and capitalize the “B” when emailing me (ahem, y’all know who you are)

General advice for a publicist pitching you?

It’s fine if you’re not reading my stories (although that’s always great) but highly recommend taking a quick skim of the articles featured on my website for a better sense of what I cover.

Unfortunately I don’t have the bandwidth to respond to every pitch I receive. I know that sucks especially when you’ve taken the time to craft a thoughtful, personalized email. If you don’t hear back from me within a week, feel free to follow-up. If you don’t hear back after following up or within two weeks, absolutely safe to assume it’s a pass. Nothing personal and absolutely feel free to send other ideas in the future. Also feel free to circle back on the original pitch if there’s a new news peg.

Short and sweet pitches that are straight to the point are always preferred.