Creating that big break for the spotlight you crave

Feeling like your talent behind the bar deserves a wider audience? Aching to be on the local morning show shaking up seasonal cocktails or chatting with late night hosts about their favorite spirit? Want to see yourself quoted in national magazine articles highlighting your drink program and recipes and be invited to speak at conferences, judge competitions and recognized as an industry leader? You need a publicist.

But you knew that.

You also knew you couldn’t afford one. Or can you?

Now you can. It’s time to start exploring how you can grow your own brand (i.e. you) with the help of a publicist who is willing to work with you at a price you can afford. Free.

Hanna Lee Communications, Inc., (www.hannaleecommunications.com) an award-winning spirits, food, wine, travel and lifestyle PR agency, launches a complimentary seminar series for working bartenders and mixologists that will address the basics of public relations and self-promotion. The first seminar will kick off in January 2011 in conjunction with the U.S Bartenders Guild’s (USBG) New York chapter.

The seminars will be led by Hanna Lee, the agency’s founder and president, who has 22 years of experience in marketing and PR. Lee explains why she’s created this program that’s reaching out to help the industry’s bright new stars, “Over the past year, many mixologists have approached my agency and expressed an interest in PR services. However, their limited budgets prevented us from collaborating effectively. For this reason, I devised a complimentary seminar series as a way to give back to a community that I am passionate about.”

Lee’s passion has driven her to create this series and share time-tested tips for generating publicity. She explains, “The two-hour seminars will cover understanding the media, being a useful source of information, navigating media interviews, using public relations to build their personal brand, seeking an agent and other topics.” Additionally, the series will also feature guest lectures by distinguished journalists who will give their own insider tips. Lee concludes, “We are delighted to have Francine Cohen of www.indsidefandb.com join us at our inaugural seminar in January 2011!”

The inaugural seminar, and those following, will be limited to small groups of no more than 15 people to encourage a roundtable environment resulting in in-depth conversations and useful ideas that will benefit each bartender.

Bartenders will benefit from Lee’s experience in creating and implementing numerous successful PR campaigns and similar seminars at the New York City Business Solutions Center, Institute of Culinary Education (ICE), NYU School of Continuing and Professional Studies, NYU Masters Program in Food Studies, New York Institute of Technology (NYIT) and CUNY’s New York City College of Technology. Those interested in attending the seminars may register via email at bartenderpr@hannaleecommunications.com.