PHYLLIS SMITH: You’ve been a wonderful part of eWomenNetwork for nearly the 18 years it's been in existence. You’ve spoken at our conference and you offer so much to our members as well. Glad to have you! First, you’ve been in the publicity business for how long at this point?
JILL LUBLIN: About 24 years.
PHYLLIS SMITH: Twenty-four years – initially what was your approach to publicity?
JILL LUBLIN: I think I was sort of the normal publicity agency. I had opened a publicity agency and it was kind of a boutique agency. I always believed in giving people a lot of value and really working with the media, but it was more traditional. I think that was all good for a while. I followed standard protocol, I’ll call it, and did what everybody else did - spending a certain amount of time for each client and dedicated time to talk to media. It was normal publicity, and I loved it and had people working with me and all that good stuff. I owned that PR agency for about 7 years.
PHYLLIS SMITH: Something changed for you. You were in an accident, and it put you in a wheelchair for 5 months and a year of rehab. Tell us about the accident first. What happened and how did that shift your thinking around publicity and messaging.
JILL LUBLIN: Well Phyllis it was related to an eWomenNetwork speaking engagement. I was in Nanaimo, Canada speaking for eWomenNetwork in Victoria and Vancouver. I was getting on the shuttle to the ferry and fell over a rain grate and fractured both my ankles at once in multiple places. Can you believe it?
PHYLLIS SMITH: Ouch!
JILL LUBLIN: Yeah, it really hurt, and it was amazing in terms of how it changed my life. And I must say the eWomen Managing Director in Vancouver thought she was picking me up to go for a drink, do a pre-meeting debrief and hang out a bit. Well, it wasn’t that, and she was fabulous and took care of me. She took me to the hospital and made sure that I was as comfortable as I could be considering the circumstances. She was amazing.
The eWomen community in Vancouver where I was stuck for days, because United Airlines wouldn’t let me on the plane due to the nature of my condition, really came and took care of me. They really rallied, and it was quite something.
That’s why I’ve always been such a major fan of eWomenNetwork - Because of the community and the friendship. You know, business is business, but I’ll tell you when you’re dealing with things like this and you have people from eWomenNetwork taking you to the hospital, wheeling you around, and bringing you meals – there’s nothing like it. I was very grateful for that and for the eWomenNetwork in Vancouver in that instance, but I’ve always found eWomen like that.
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