Victoria Kennedy Podcast Transcript
Victoria Kennedy joins host Brian Thomas on The Digital Executive Podcast.
Welcome to Coruzant Technologies, home of The Digital Executive podcast.
Brian Thomas: Welcome to the Digital Executive. Today’s guest is Victoria Kennedy. Victoria Kennedy is a Wall Street Journal bestselling author, TEDx speaker, Monaco voice 40 under 40, and well-respected authority in public relations who has spoken at events for ambassadors, lords, and dignitaries in such prestigious locations as the House of Commons and Guildhall in London and the Vatican.
She is the CEO of Victorious PR an award-winning multimillion dollar PR agency that has helped dozens of entrepreneurs become the number one authority in their niche by getting them featured in top podcasts and press.
Brian Thomas: Well, good afternoon, Victoria. Welcome to the show.
Victoria Kennedy: Thank you for having me.
Brian Thomas: Absolutely. I love this. Love doing video. I don’t do videos a whole lot, but video always makes it really exciting. And I get to really have that person-to-person interaction over video. So, Victoria, you’ve done some amazing things. So, we’re just going to jump right in and get your story out to our audience.
Let’s talk about your fascinating career journey. Transitioning from a classical senior to the CEO of an award-winning PR firm, Victorious PR. Can you share what inspired this transition and how your background in music has influenced your approach to public relations? That’s a good one.
Victoria Kennedy: Absolutely. Well, I’d have to say, I think a lot of us have latent superpowers that we don’t know we have until a big crisis comes up and we realize how strong we truly are.
And I think that a lot of people saw that during the pandemic, where they had to switch careers. There was a lot of pivoting. That was the key word of 2020. People were pivoting as you were discovering that they had more interest than their nine to five jobs. And that is really what happened to me just a little bit before COVID happened.
I was an opera singer. I was singing in Europe, and I had only sang opera my whole life. I’d gone to USC for opera. I had just, you know, sang for my supper. My whole life was living my dream, singing in castles and cathedrals until I came back to America for a routine, you know, visa renewal and my visa got denied.
So, there I was in America thinking, oh my gosh, all I can do is sing. What am I going to do? It’s not like there’s opera singing jobs growing on trees in America. I mean, it’s not really what we’re known for. So, I had to pivot. And so, I just decided, okay, what am I good at? Well, I’m good at getting people to write about my music.
You know, I’m good at talking to journalists, radio hosts, to get people to turn out and buy classical music. And so, I thought that’s something that I could do for businesses. So that’s how PR was really related to my music. I feel like I had this superpower that I didn’t know that I had within me, which is connecting with the right people and getting myself.
And now my clients are in the spotlight where they’re deserved to be.
Brian Thomas: That was an amazing story, Victoria. We all had to pivot to a certain degree. But when that is your livelihood and we’ve seen, I’ve seen business owners personally that they’re completely out of business forever. And it’s sad but thank you for sharing that is such an amazing story, how you did take it from, you know, feeding yourself, so to speak, as an entrepreneur and then moving into that PR space.
Great, great work on that for sure. And Victoria, let’s jump into the next question here. Victoria’s PR has a stated goal of helping others and businesses amplify their influence. How do you approach this mission and what makes your strategy unique in the competitive world of PR?
Victoria Kennedy: Yeah, absolutely. Well, I think the unique thing about us, and me particular, is that I’m walking the walk and talking the talk. You know, a lot of times when you think of PR agencies, you don’t think about their founder. You don’t even know who their founder is. You think of Edelman, for example, who is Richard Edelman?
Where is he? I don’t see him. That’s what happens for a lot of PR people. I wanted to show people that I built my business from the ground up just by using PR and that’s why I know that it works. We did zero to a million dollars our very first year in business. All on word-of-mouth PR efforts alone.
That’s the power of PR. And I don’t think there’s a lot of businesses out there who are doing it that way. You know, maybe they’re running ads and SEO or this, that, and the other, but as they’re doing their thing, telling other people, it’s their thing that’s going to make them money. And I just don’t think that’s good business practice.
I wanted to showcase to people, look, I know that my system works because you don’t even have to take my word for it. Look at what I’m doing for myself. I mean, I just spoke at the Vatican last summer. I got invited to speak at the House of Commons in London, and now I’m speaking in the Paris Blockchain Week in April.
Just got invited last week. These are the kinds of doors that open for me, and these are the kinds of doors that I open for my clients. And that’s why we’re unique in the terms of all of public relations, because we’re opening doors that other people can’t get into.
Brian Thomas: Love that. And I know it sounds a bit cliche, but you know, practice what you preach, you’re absolutely rolling up your sleeves, getting out on the front lines and be in the face of your company, which I think is amazing.
As you know, all about branding. We talk about branding a lot here on the podcast, but that’s awesome. And, and just. Your travels around the world and what you do is just, it just fits nicely. Your transition from being an opera singer into the PR space. So, thank you. And Victoria, can you tell us a little bit more about the authority creator program and how it empowers businesses and CEOs to handle their own PR effectively?
And what are the key components of this program that make it revolutionary in the PR industry?
Victoria Kennedy: Absolutely. So, a lot of people know that they need PR and maybe your listeners are listening to this and think, hey, Victoria, I want to go to Paris, you know, the Vatican, a trip to the Vatican. That sounds amazing.
I want that, but hey, I’m just starting my business or I, you know, I’m boots on the ground three months in six months and maybe a year in, and I haven’t cracked 10 K a month yet. Maybe that’s where you’re at and listening. And I’m here to tell you that is okay. I get it. I, I’m not going to lie to you. I’m high ticket.
We’re the best of the best. And I’m not ashamed to say that. That being said, that is why I created authority creator. It is a small, small price. I shall say membership with a ton of value in this membership. We offer. Everything, all of our tricks and tools of how we’re able to get our clients into these top publications and stages.
We’re showcasing that to everybody so that they can do it themselves. So, for the first time ever, I am revealing all of my secrets. You can be in a membership. You can have all of your burning questions answered by me personally, or my, you know, seven figure team to help you in your journey because you’re not alone.
I know it sounds so overwhelming. Like, how am I going to get in Forbes? How am I going to get on stage? It’s honestly, it’s not, if you have someone helping you and you have a mentor there by your side, it’s so doable. You don’t have to have be making millions of dollars. You know, when I got my TEDx talk, I hadn’t cracked a million dollars.
I was still on the come up, but I had a great story. And those are the things we teach you about leaning into what makes you authentically you at a price point that’s less than a daily cup of coffee.
Brian Thomas: I love that. You’ve got obviously your high-ticket item, which works very well, but I like that you are offering this service for people that maybe are startup entrepreneurs or.
Mama pops or just want to maybe they’re trying to break that glass ceiling and you’re giving them that opportunity. And I think that’s amazing. So, thank you for sharing that and Victoria. Last question of the day. How important is personal branding? For business leaders. And what does the role PR play in building and maintaining strong personal brands?
Victoria Kennedy: Absolutely. Thank you for asking this question, because I think a lot of people hear the word PR and they think, I don’t know what that is. I’m going to tune it out. And to be fair, I didn’t know what PR meant. I didn’t know that my superpower was called PR. I thought it just was getting in the right circles and knowing the right people to get my, my name out there.
Well, that’s all PR is. It’s just a fancy name for that. And it’s so important with personal branding, and I’m gonna tell you why. I’m gonna say a name to you. I’m going to say a name. Donald Trump. You just had a visceral reaction. It was either positive or it was negative, but you had a reaction for one name.
That is the power of personal branding. Everybody knows it. Everybody has an opinion of it. I want to make you, and that’s what PR does, that person in your industry, the Tony Robbins of your industry, the Alex Hermosi of your industry. So, when you say your name, people think of you. That is the power of PR and that is the power of personal branding.
Brian Thomas: I love it. I really, really do. And I’ve talked to so many entrepreneurs on this show, particularly about that personal brand and how it’s made such a difference and how they’ve Tied that name of theirs, their brand to their company, and it’s really helped them a ton. So, thank you, and I appreciate sharing the analogy.
Obviously, that’s, that’s important. So, people do understand PR. And Victoria, it was such a pleasure having you on today. And I look forward to speaking with you real soon.
Victoria Kennedy: Thank you for having me.
Brian Thomas: Bye for now.
Victoria Kennedy Podcast Transcript. Listen to the audio on the guest’s podcast page.
