For those of you who know my partner in SWIG, Julie Ann Kodmur, you know she’s overly modest. I know, unusual for a PR type. Still, she is a modest one. So modest is she that she was going leave unsaid on this blog that she was JUST AWARDED BEST PUBLIC RELATIONS AGENCY/PROVIDER by Vineyard and Winery Management Magazine.
Shhhhh….Don’t tell her about this post. She’d blush.
In general it is the job of a PR professional NOT to get noticed. Rather, it is the job of the PR professional to get their clients noticed. So, when notice is taken of us in some formal manner, we are at once surprised and truly gratified because it just doesn’t happen much.
Here’s what Vineyard & Winery Management noticed about Julie Ann Kodmur:
“Julie Ann Kodmur founded her marketing and publicity consulting service in 1997. Based in St. Helena, Calif., she’s created multiple successful campaigns for wineries large and small. Clients appreciate her “attention to detail, reasonable pricing and incredible results,” “strong industry knowledge, innovation and excellent, timely service” as well as the fact she’s “connected,” “gets it done,” “knows the realities of our business” and “always has great and fresh ideas and goes above and beyond.”
You can read the entire list of award winners here.
The winners are picked by a vote of Vineyard and Winery Management readers. As you can imagine, although Julie Ann knew she had been nominated, she told no one, lobbied no one for votes, nor even mentioned her nomination to her partner in blogging crime. Shame on her. I would have lobbied for her!
That said, her recognition is one for the little guys in our profession, those little one-person consultancies who toil alone and without a large staff, but rather with a network of colleagues and contacts that keep us sane.
So again…DON’T TELL JULIE ANN ABOUT THIS POST!!! The recognition might embarrass her. However, do raise a glass to one of the best PR practitioners in the biz.
Brava!!
Congratulations, Julie Ann! The tribute is well deserved. If she isn’t, she should be conducting how-to seminars for others in the PR business. She is smart, gracious and untiring. I look forward to many more years of her positive pitches.
Julie was the first PR practitioner who recognized and appreciated my wine blog soon after I started writing in the fall of 2011. She introduced me to one of her Chicago area clients about whom I subsequently wrote after a lovely wine pairing lunch. I’ll never forget Julie for setting me on a trajectory that was life changing…so happy that she has received this award!! Well deserved!
Tom, I love this and Thank You for writing it! I agree — Julie Ann’s win is one for the little guys, and it’s especially a win for her. Time to celebrate!!