Badass Ladies

When I started in PR, I was fresh faced, unjaded and willing to do a lot of grunt work to learn and move up the ladder. It turns out, I wasn’t alone.

Little did I know that I would meet my best ally/friend/GF, Alison on my very first day of working in television. We quickly became inseparable and worked on a lot of company projects together, always volunteering, partnering and cheering for each other when we had big wins at work.

Shortly after, a shy intern named Jen Corelli entered our fold. Corelli, as we have grown to call her, started at MuchMusic and due to sudden departmental departures about two weeks into her internship, she became the Much’s only employee in the Communications Department and pretty much killed it from the start. She was, quite literally, that special. To this day, I tell anyone who will listen that if you ask Corelli any question and then give her two hours with Google, she’ll not only get you the answer, she’ll understand it too. She’s just that talented.

Our boss Gab was the person who brought in Corelli. They had worked together previously at another job. Gab was a true champion of her team and one of the best bosses I’ve ever had. She’s fair, honest and has a way of looking at things that pushes you to consider options you would have never considered. She’s also the most brilliant communications strategist I’ve ever met. I wish I would have clocked how many hours I spent in her office waiting for her to read my press release (she likes to talk out her ideas), but overall it was worth it for her wisdom and guidance. I would not be where I am with ADPR now if it wasn’t for her. She’s kept us altogether over the years with her famous house parties and extravagant meals. Her backyard is a beach oasis and I can’t wait to get back there once COVID finally subsides.

Soon after, two different companies bought our smaller company. It was a tense time, not having gone through a company acquisition before. We kept our immediate boss (Gab) but a whole new team came in and soon after, two new people were assigned to our brands, Ashley and Eleni.

My first memories of working with Eleni were around her first MuchMusic Video Awards. At Much, we had the ‘HOT LIST’ which was a list of buzzy words we would use in press releases to describe programming and celebrities. Words like ‘mega famous’ or ‘sizzling hot’. I remember her looking at that list and raising an eyebrow. She was assigned to write some of the press releases for the show and I would sit on a medicine ball beside her desk and we would spend hours laughing and adding new words to the list. She came to that job with a different way of thinking and I credit her with really making me question some of the ways we did things. Our team became better after she joined it.

When Ashley joined us, I quickly found out she had that It factor. No matter what happened, she had a handle on it, even as someone new to the Much team and with a few less years of experience, I was constantly impressed with how calm, straightforward and efficient she was. I was so glad Gab hired her! About a year after working together, she and I were working on the MTV VMAs. Our boss Gab told me there was budget to send me to the awards in LA. It was a pretty cool opportunity, but Ashley was the one who deserved it, so off she went. Now she runs the Publicity team at one of the largest media companies in Canada.

I distinctly remember the day Gab walked to our desks and showed us a series of articles in the National Post on a Season 3 of a Showcase series. She told us “It’s hard enough to get coverage for a third season, let alone a series in a national paper. Whoever pitched this is genius.” Turns out, my friend Jess was the publicist on Showcase and Gab wanted to meet her to discuss an opening in our department.

Shortly thereafter Jess joined us and our CORE TEAM was complete.

In the years following, we had some hard times. Layoffs, breakups and of course, the passing of our dear Alison. For me, after that happened, I took a good look around and re-evaluated our friendship in an honest but realistic way. We had lives that didn’t revolve around our collective 9-5 job anymore and I think for a while, I was really trying to hold on to the magic of those years together. But life happens… people move, get married, have kids, travel, switch jobs and I finally realized it doesn’t make our bond any different, it’s just evolved. In the big moments and the small moments, we’re all still there when we need each other, personally and professionally. And don’t even get me started on our years-long text chain. It is all kinds of epic.

For a few projects, Ashley became my boss. Corelli and I worked on a TIFF film and premiere party together and she did my new ADPR branding. We often text about photographer recos, media contacts and advice. In times of professional crisis, I always default to CORE TEAM for consult. When Alison was really sick and I had to pick up her clients, I turned to Jess because I couldn’t bear to do it alone.

Alison passed away while I was in Costa Rica celebrating Jim’s 40th birthday. I knew this would likely happen, but she insisted I go, so I respected her wishes. The night her brother called to tell me she was gone, I quickly connected with CORE TEAM who were all together to support one another. I burst into tears after seeing Jess, Corelli, Eleni, Ashley and Gab. I was just so happy to see them and more so, to see them altogether. That’s what Alison would have wanted too.

For me, if I may be so bold to say, International Women’s Day isn’t just March 8. International Women’s Day is the day I met Alison Salinas on my first day of work at CHUM Television and every day CORE TEAM has rallied around one another since.

Champion those around you and lift them up. Go the extra mile to help another woman or someone who identifies as female. It will pay dividends a million times over your lifetime.

Happy International Women’s Day!