Kate Ryan, Managing Director at Diffusion was Named a PRSA-NY 2018 15 Under 35 Winner

Kate Ryan, Managing Director US at Diffusion was interviewed by Carolina Osma, Senior Marketing Associate at D S Simon Media. They spoke about Kate’s big career break, advice she offers to people starting out and the best advice she ever received from a mentor or older colleague.

FULL TRANSCRIPT

Carolina: Hi I’m Carolina Osma Senior Marketing Associate at D S Simon Media and I am here with Kate Ryan. She is a Managing Director at Diffusion and she’s one of the honorees for the 15 Under 35 Award. So, congratulations on your work.

Kate: Thank you so much.

Carolina: Can you tell us a key moment in your career that has led you to so much success?

Kate: Honestly it was joining Diffusion five years ago when diffusion opened in New York, there were just a few of us and it was kind of a crazy thing to do-to join such a small agency. But now for us to be four times bigger than we were then. To get that experience has been amazing.

Carolina: That’s awesome. And so, if a younger person was just starting out in PR, what would you say? What piece of advice would you give them?

Kate: Absolutely. I think say yes to everything. I think the people that succeed, who are very young are very junior are those people who try everything once and if someone gives them something that might scare them they still say yes and they do it anyway. And I think that’s the best piece of advice I would give them.

Carolina: And so what’s a piece of advice that somebody gave you when you were just starting out, maybe a mentor or an older colleague?

Kate: I think the best piece of advice I’ve gotten from a mentor is simply to say thank you. It seems so simple and so silly, but I think we often forget it because we’re moving so fast. So making sure to say thank you to whoever gave me the assignment, to your peers to your team members. It can really go a long way.

Carolina: Awesome. Great thank you so much and congratulations on your work.