Amy Summers always appreciated health and wellness, but she didn't exactly think she would be behind a successful PR firm representing the heavy hitters of the natural products industry.
“Although I have a degree in PR, I did my minor in Health Science Education. I did my internships at hospitals so I always knew that I wanted to do healthcare PR. I was not exposed to the natural products industry until I worked for the [former] agency where I started meeting some clients in this industry that I didn't know existed. I think the natural products industry is a great match for someone like myself who's in PR, because they're so limited in what they can say on the label, and there's so much education that has to be put out there,” said Summers. “I feel like I can have the most impact with my skill set of communication because the stories I'm getting out there are actually changing people's lives.”
After taking a leap of faith in her 20s, Summers’ Pitch Publicity is celebrating its 20th year in business–something the PR maven calls a ‘blessing in disguise.’
Summers is also behind the platform INICIVOX, which will present the “Identifying the Elephant in the Room” series to the natural products industry March 16 - April 20. The six-part series will feature professionals from various sectors of the industry, coming from all sides of the “elephant,” who can share experiences - both positive and negative - while giving other professionals in the industry the courage to learn, ask questions, and seek out ways to use their voices, and influence, to positively change and improve sexist behavior and inequalities.
“I'm a big advocate of mentorship–primarily because I didn't have a lot of mentorship. So the ‘Elephant in the Room’ series is part of my entrepreneurial quest to find different ways to communicate and help people get mentorship that they can't do the traditional way,” said Summers. “It's an opportunity for people to learn and listen in and ask tough questions and maybe get some advice from people that have been there and done that. I think that a big part of mentorship is learning from others’ lived experiences. And that's something that we just can't get in a college degree.”
