Katie Volney
At this year’s Minnesota Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) virtual Classics Awards event, Katie Volney of broadhead received the Rising Star Award.
1. Tell us a bit about your public relations experience so far.
What can I say, it has really been a whirlwind! When I started my career freelancing for Great Clips out of their Bloomington headquarters, I could never have guessed how much I would learn over the course of the next seven years in the PR industry. After spending a year working with Great Clips, I made my first foray into the agency world, joining the talented team at Lola Red in Minneapolis. During my time there, I learned SO much about the profession and realized my passion for media relations, specifically in the food/beverage and wellness spaces. This led me to join the Kohnstamm Communications team in St. Paul, where I got to focus specifically on CPG brands in those spaces of interest. Since joining that team in 2017 and given our acquisition by Minneapolis-based broadhead last fall, I’ve had the opportunity to work with incredible clients, executing innovative media and influencer programs on their behalf, and also to expand my knowledge in the experiential marketing space (which has been really fun!).
2. What role has PRSA had in your career success?
Through my involvement with PRSA and as a member of the programming committee, I’ve been able to make lifelong professional connections and have gotten a better idea of what life is like beyond the “agency bubble.” Not only that, but the in-person events and webinars I’ve gained access to through PRSA have enhanced my knowledge of our profession, and allowed me to keep up to date on all that is new and relevant in our industry – a wealth of knowledge that I am then able to pass along to my clients.
3. What campaign have you worked on that you are most proud of and why?
I HATE picking favorites (that’s the Minnesotan in me!), but one of the more recent campaigns I’ve had the privilege of working on was for a national children’s beverage brand. In our line of work, fully integrated campaigns are more often the dream than the reality, but our client partners on this project really challenged us and gave us the freedom to develop an integrated approach that pulled all the right levers – from national and local influencer work, to a paid media campaign with POPSUGAR around back-to-school, to traditional media relations and an Atlanta-based experiential takeover. It was a blast to be a part of, and allowed us to do a lot of testing and learning throughout the year.
4. What is your desired career path?
I’d love to continue to grow in my current role, and to eventually work my way up to a position of leadership within my agency. Being a part of a large, integrated agency like broadhead has allowed me to see how other marketing disciplines (paid, digital, etc.) can intertwine with traditional earned media relations and influencer work, and I feel like I learn something new every day!
5. Is there anything else that you would like to add?
I just want to say thank you to Minnesota PRSA once more for honoring me with this year’s Rising Star Award, and to the Skogrand team for including me in this article. I feel incredibly lucky to be a part of the Minnesota PR community, and I hope I get to meet many of you reading this in real life sometime soon!