Celebrating Five Years of Big Dreams
Our agency’s story told by Sabrina Wottreng herself
Five years ago, my side hustle became legit. While on paper it looked like my career path was moving along nicely with notable internships and agency experience, I was unhappy and broke. I started taking on small clients and projects outside of my day job as a necessity. I was a couple of years out of college and stuck. Being an “Agency Girl” was not cutting it, and my mindset -- most of all -- was not cutting it.
I was thinking one step at a time versus the big picture, resting in the comfort of what I knew. I was afraid to dream beyond what was already in front of me.
There are many things that happened in a very short amount of time in early 2015 that shifted my mindset and set me off on the path I’m on today. A friend of mine signed me up for a personal development seminar. Through the various exercises and reflections, I remembered how confident, capable and worthy I am. While the working world had broken me down, I left the weekend with clarity on how I could create a new path for myself. I split my Ducati Monster in half from hitting a guardrail while on an annual motorcycle trip with my Dad. Bruised up, I realized how important and potentially short life is. And I had my first major heartbreak. I said goodbye to agency life and living small.
This was a recipe for a no-holds-barred, here-I-come-world, whirlwind. Freelancing full time, I was taking on more and more work, getting splashy results for clients and networking like crazy. I was ultimately happy (and less broke).
Out of the blue one day, I got a cold LinkedIn message from Lee Kiser of Kiser Group -- you may have heard of him. I certainly had never heard of him prior to this message. This little outreach completely changed the course of my career.
In the year leading up to the founding of Sabrina Wottreng Public Relations, I began working as PR manager for the new multifamily brokerage firm Lee co-founded. I was given full agency to run with ideas while growing my commercial real estate experience. While I was there, a CRE tech company was born out of the work we were doing. I really, really liked my job -- but the voice in my head was thinking BIGGER.
Lee Kiser (middle) — Principal of Kiser Group — with Susan Tjarkesen (right) co-founder of KIG CRE, where Sabrina was hired to be the brokerage firm's Public Relations Manager. When Sabrina Wottreng Public Relations was founded in 2016, Kiser Group became one of the first clients and continues to work with us today.
So I pitched an idea: “I’d like to start a PR agency, and how about if all the companies became my clients.”
It was a 33.3% successful pitch -- at first. The tech company became the first official client of Sabrina Wottreng Public Relations, and I set off on a B2B PR focus. A few months later, that initial pitch ended up becoming 100% successful, with a little twist -- I was back to a salaried position under the umbrella of Susan Tjarksen and Lee Kiser (aka STALK Ventures) doing PR for their entities and interests.
Fast forward a few hundred press mentions and dozens of speaking engagements later, the tech company was in talks of getting acquired and so was one of the brokerage firms. And this meant my position was coming to an end.
Since October 2018, I've been fully dedicated to growing Sabrina Wottreng Public Relations -- and it has grown! I give a lot of credit (and thanks to) Luxury Living Chicago Realty for continuously believing in my abilities. They’ve been one of our oldest clients, joining us in late 2018. Through working with them, I’ve been exposed to sides of PR I never would have sought to do (like crisis management!) but am grateful for the challenge to do it. Their belief in me has led to amazing results in so many different circumstances, and I’m a better publicist because of it.
A behind-the-scenes look at a Luxury Living Chicago Realty photo and video shoot. It was one of the first big projects Sabrina worked on with the company’s internal marketing team.
When the pandemic hit, my life slowed down. The work remained, but networking, conferences, dinners with friends and robust city living wasn’t there. With these free nights, I had a lot of time to think about “what’s next” for SWPR.
While I've always operated as a one-woman show, it was time to take some things off my plate. Insert Gabi and Jessica -- aka “My Moms” since I hired them from The Mom Project. Contributing their PR, social media, design and copywriting skills, they have improved our agency’s services, overall efficiency and quality of work.
As we grew and evolved as an agency into 2021, it was time for a brand refresh. I wanted the branding to feel fun and current, yet sophisticated, to better represent the team’s work.
When I decided to take the plunge, there was only one person to take on the task -- graphic designer and good friend Angela Carpenter. She perfectly captured the vision for the next chapter of Sabrina Wottreng Public Relations. Complete with a new color palette, logo and website, the new branding is what you’re seeing today!
From being a one-woman show to regularly adding new faces to my growing business has been a dream I’d never thought possible just a few years ago. It’s been a fast-paced adventure with many ups and downs, but I have a whole new perspective on what it means to DREAM BIG.
Here’s to another five years (and more!)