The PR Net & Influential Brand Partnerships with PR Pro Lisa Smith – Podcast Transcript

 Speakers: Lexie Smith, Lisa Smith 

Lexie Smith 

So today, we’re talking with Lisa Smith, who is very close to being my twin, but has a way cooler accent than I, which you guys will hear very shortly. But in all seriousness, Lisa is an absolute powerhouse. I feel so honored to have her on the show. Lisa, welcome. I always love to kick things off with where’s home base? And what do you like to do outside of work for fun?

 

Lisa Smith 

Oh, wow. Well, thank you. Firstly, for having me, I am likewise really thrilled when no relation I guess people probably worked out I’m not like a distant cousin. The name Smith can be a bit misleading. But yeah, so I live in New York City. I’ve been here for almost 12 years, but I am obviously not from here. I grew up on the very other side of the world in New Zealand and then lived in Sydney for a number of years. So, um, gosh, what I like to do outside of work well, a lot of my time is absorbed with my kids. They’re five and three. So they keep me pretty busy doing kitty things. But I mean, the city is just a big adventure. You know, there’s always something new to discover. And I just recently moved to Brooklyn. So that in itself is you know, more discovery. So really just, yeah, there’s just so much to absorb here and get involved in,

 

Lexie Smith 

You probably get asked this question a lot. But this is totally selfish. I’ve never been to New Zealand or Australia. So when I post the birth of my baby, she gets a little older and I can travel again, any city recommendations.

 

Lisa Smith 

I mean, kinda, I probably wouldn’t go for the cities necessarily in New Zealand. I mean, even though obviously, it’s worthwhile to spend some time in the main city, which is Auckland, and has, you know, a great dining scene and things like that. But I think people go to New Zealand for the, you know, the nature and the like adventure pursuits, which predominantly are in the South Island. So you could go in, there’s lots of skiing and lots of crazy activities like bungee jumping and stuff like that. So I will probably just get out into nature a little bit more if I went to New Zealand and Australia. I mean, Sydney is to me, that’s where I lived when I lived there. And it’s just a paradise. You know, it’s 5 million people, but it feels small and has amazing beaches. But again, you know, getting out to the smaller places, Byron Bay, you know, parts of Queensland, that there’s just so much you could do it in many weeks, but I would say, you know, it’s not I took my I took my youngest kid to New Zealand and Australia when he was six months old. So it’s actually believed but is not kind of easy to travel when they’re really little. But you know, I’ve done it a bunch of times. So yeah, it’s a very long trip, but certainly not impossible with kids.

 

Lexie Smith 

It’s definitely on my bucket list. Both of them do it. Yeah, it’s fine. And I agree with going to, you know, air quotes the road less traveled, my husband and I recently, recently, I feel like pre COVID. So, two years ago, we went to Scotland and we decided to go to the Isle of Skye and kind of explore up in the lesser known parts of nature rather than hit the big cities, because that tends to be some of the most incredible views landscapes in the world. So that’s a great tip. Thank you for New Zealand. Okay, so are you a true pro in the PR world? Let’s rewind a little bit. So I know what you’re doing today. But talk me through your career? How did you get started? Just walk us through?

 

Lisa Smith 

Yeah, um, well, thank you. Pro, I would say just by definition of how long I’ve probably been kicking around in the industry, and I’ve been different iterations from in house to agency owner to working for agencies as a consultant having the piano. So it’s been a pretty windy, convoluted road, I guess, to to now, but I’ll try to give you the kind of shortened version for the sake of the listeners. And so as I said, I grew up in New Zealand and studied there. And when I finished college, I had nothing on my agenda, and no sense of, you know, what I was going to pursue, but I knew I really loved writing. And I loved it. And, you know, I’d studied Marketing at university and I kind of thought in that general realm, but more I leant towards journalism. So all I wanted to do was travel. I jumped on a plane and immediately moved to Australia, having never actually set foot in Australia before, but I’ve done a lot of travel while I was in college. And I have sold two kinds of part time jobs too, to make that a possibility. So I knew I wanted to travel and live overseas. And then I just kind of started doing some writing, I was interning at different magazines, that was the path that I thought I would go down. And when I was at the launch in a magazine that I was doing some work for I met my first kind of real boss, and he owned an eyewear distribution company that I sort of evolved into taking on PR and marketing for and, and when I was doing that, I very much fell into the PR industry. In terms of being an agency owner, I was just very young, I was in my sort of early to mid 20s. Somebody I was interviewing for a magazine article basically just said, you know, we don’t have anyone doing our PR right now we have this office space that you could take above one of our retail stores, would you be interested in doing this, and I, you know, nothing to lose, I really hadn’t thought about doing this. But you know, then just through word of mouth I got, I think, three other clients and then just resigned my job at the eyewear company. And, you know, my boss took me into his office and said that I certainly would not succeed, and then I should reconsider. But they eventually ended up becoming clients. And yeah, that’s, that’s basically how I got into having an agency at a pretty young age, you know, I’d worked maybe for like, two years, Johnson didn’t know a thing, very much baptism by fire and learning on the job. But, you know, I did that for a few years and really enjoyed it. You know, we worked with lots of international brands and a variety of verticals, from spirits to fashion to find jewelry, and other beverages.

 

Lisa Smith 

So it was an amazing time and a great, you know, very uphill learning experience, but one that I loved and, and I’ve never really truly left the VR industry since then, you know, I did a brief foray into writing a book about an area of Sydney. I had an Ecommerce business for about four years at the same time as I had my agency and sold mostly Australian fashion designers. And, you know, then I came on a very fateful trip to New York in 2009. And I decided that, you know, my foray into living overseas was not done, I wasn’t going to be in Sydney for the rest of my life. So I decided to make a big leap and move to the US. So you know, that was obviously very pivotal. I hired a general manager to run my agency in Sydney. Cut to 18 months later I realized the feasibility of having a business on the other side of the world was not a great time difference, absolute killer. And so I sold that I went back to Australia and wound that up. I also started the process of winding up my econ business, and then was doing, you know, did a lot of consulting here and that’s when I had the idea of starting the piano. Okay, so first what I share takes us to kind of where I am today. So I told you it’s a long winded Story.

 

Lexie Smith 

So many twists and turns and I love that the boss who at first was like, you know, you’re not going to succeed then becomes a client, like what a true testament to you and your, you as a human and you as a professional. So I love hearing stories like that, um, the PR net perfect segue sounds gonna be what I want to get into next, what is the PR net?

 

Lisa Smith 

Sure, so it’s a couple of things. You know, what, firstly, it’s a media outlet for marketing and communications, industry people. You know, we have a website with a ton of content from interviews and q&a with interesting industry people, trends, stories, thought leadership pieces, jobs, listings, calendar of events, events, coverage, all that fun stuff. And then we have a weekly newsletter that goes out to our database. And that is basically just a synopsis of what’s kind of going on on the site, and generally with our events, and then, you know, we’re also in a network where we’re a community of industry professionals coming together in different ways, both now digitally. And also in person. You know, our in person events were always like, super trademark to what we did, you know, it was really about bringing together a cross section of Mark ons, professionals, showcasing new venues that are open and just getting the conversation going and connecting people to hopefully, you know, bear fruit in terms of partnership and collaborations. So yeah, to the media and community.

 

Lexie Smith 

So you’ve founded and co-founded and started many different businesses, you mentioned ecommerce, you’ve had an agency, so wrote a book, let’s just throw that in there with your money.

 

Lisa Smith 

But I used to have more time on my hands,

 

Lexie Smith 

Now you have five and three year old, which I know, very, very hyperactive ages, fun ages, but very, very active. So I’m curious, what were the first steps that went into creating this multifaceted business? What are the prns? How did you even go about creating this?

 

Lisa Smith 

Gosh, initially, I was sitting down with friends who were in the industry and just talking to them about what they would want to see, like what resources would be helpful to them. Initially, it was just really an online platform idea of a central hub way to go and see what was going on in the industry. And some were to get like intel about stuff, and maybe some inspiration. You know, the Meet the trade publications of the time just felt very staid. And they weren’t something that I felt that my peers were really connecting with, or getting a lot from. So it was, you know, an alternative to that. And it was really a way that, you know, initially it was a kind of a way for people to connect. But then I realized, you know, when we launched the website, we hosted a networking breakfast. It was at a hotel that had just opened, and we had this fantastic breakfast for about 25 people. And I realized the real magic, you know, was those in person gatherings. And then, you know, people that were coming to those were suggesting their own, you know, client or their own brand, venues. And then we became a roving group of people that discovered these new places while getting to meet one another. And that’s kind of how it was born.

 

Lexie Smith 

So I pulled this from your website, but the PR net is, quote, a members network of influencers working at leading brands and agencies within the lifestyle industries, which means end quote. Now me talking, which means you’ve not only had to cultivate a community, but you’ve had to do so with influential brands and members. So my question is a bit broad. But I’d love to just pick your brain and hear your thoughts. Any tips or tricks or advice on how to cultivate relationships with keyword influential brands?

 

Lisa Smith 

Yeah. So I mean, relationships have been absolutely key in establishing this network, obviously. So, you know, my advice is just to invest the time in those and really, you know, I don’t think relationships are built over email. So my advice is, try to get the in-person meeting. If you can, I know it’s not always possible, do a video call, at least put a face to the name. I do think when people have met you in person, there’s just such a more meaningful relationship, they’re more likely to open your email or you know, respond with what you need. So yeah, take the time and invest in trying to like, you know, make real relationships and not just pitch and people over email. And I think that like crosses across so many different facets of the industry. In terms of how we got to reach influential people within, you know, marketing and comms, we were really, you know, we were lucky in that I just, I had some good friends who were in the industry, and they were very kind and opening up, you know, their own personal networks and providing introductions. So I would say, think about who you know, in your personal network, who you’re friendly with. And then, you know, don’t be afraid to ask for some introductions through them. I think, you know, that’s always going to yield a better return than just trying to cold call people. And always, like, pay it forward, I never have a problem. And I connect with people, I feel like sometimes all day long, and I think it’s good karma to sort of pay that back as much as you can. So looking at your network, and then, you know, aim high, like, think about who would I really love to be working with, and, and thinking, you know, try to make it happen, you’ll be surprised, who will respond who will be interested, you know, we’ve been sort of always blown away by the caliber of, you know, brands and agencies that we’ve been able to, you know, bring into the network. And I think if you start high, you know, I think there’s that rule, right, you can always, you can always go lower over time, or you can become more of a mess. But if you have those really, you know, aspirational brands around you, then that’s going to have a great effect in drawing people in.

 

Lexie Smith 

Yeah, absolutely. And immediately establishes and attaches credibility to the brand. And so do other brands see these other influential brands? It just proves validity. You know, a question I get asked a lot when people when brands work with me, and they’re like, Okay, I want to have a partnership with let’s pick Louis baton, let’s just throw that out there. Who the heck am I aiming to make a relationship with? You know, do you go to the CEO? Are you looking for the director of PR? How can someone who maybe isn’t, as you know, entrenched in PR naturally, know how to navigate who to target?

 

Lisa Smith 

I always suggest to people to mean, I guess it depends what the crux of the partnership is all about. So it’s hard to say without understanding that, but I always say to people that the PR contact is a pretty good place to start. Because your role is obviously, you know, touches on partnerships, and you’re like a kind of public facing person in a way like, so. Yeah, I would, I would say, try to find who the PR contact is there. And then actually, you know, your communicators. So hopefully, that comes through and your approach and your be responsive, or at least be able to connect with the right person. There’s

 

Lexie Smith 

Yeah, I totally agree. I definitely had people come to me saying I tried to establish a new relationship with Amazon. And I reached out to Jeff Bezos, like, Well,

 

Lisa Smith 

Exactly. Not as often, there’s not the CEO, because they’re obviously busy with 1000 different things. It just depends on the size of the business. Whether you are again, as I said, if you know someone that can give you a warm introduction, I would always look for that as the entry point rather than cold calling. But if you have to call, I would say no, usually PR people are a good starting point.

 

Lexie Smith 

Yeah, I completely agree. So both you and both you and the PR net are international, meaning you have experience in PR beyond the boundaries of just the US or one country. Do you find when cultivating relationships internationally, with brands and influential brands, again, specifically sticking with that theme? Do your strategies or tactics differ per country? Or is it kind of transcending borders?

 

Lisa Smith 

Look, I think for the most part, it transcends borders into you. I found we do have a lot of members in countries from the UK to Canada to Australia, Brazil, you know, across the board, but the approach is probably the same, but I think there are definitely cultural nuances. And I really love sort of hearing about these because they do often, you know, it feels cliche, but it’s really true. You know, I remember the head of the New York office for a French agency, you know, said to me once that in France, they, the editors, still really love long lunches. But in New York, it was more about taking editors out for a morning coffee day or even doing a workout with them. And then, you know, I also heard from the head of a London based agency that Brett’s just kind of more conversational, you know, you start meetings with small talk and you know, kind of like shoot the breeze and, you know, talk to people on a personal level for a minute. For you delve into the work at hand, whereas they found, you know, Americans a bit more like, especially in New York are a little bit more straight to the point and like, direct. So those are interesting. I mean, I definitely would say having, you know, lived in Australia for several years that I found the general approach was just more relaxed. I definitely kind of miss that. And sometimes when I encounter Australians in the US, I find I’m just Oh, great. You know, it’s like, kind of, you know, it’s a little bit more of a casual approach. And so I yeah, I would say culturally, you know, each place maybe has different ways of doing things. But, you know, from the ways that we interact with people for the Pei net, there’s a lot of commonality, I think, you know, whether you’re a marketing or comms pro living in London, Hong Kong, New York, São Paulo, wherever you are, I think, you know, the hot topics of the moment tend to be the same. You know, the different challenges of the industry tend to be the same. So there is a lot of commonality.

 

Lexie Smith 

Yeah, this is going to be a really embarrassing story to share for everyone. You’re my deep, dark secret. But lately, I’ve been buying really old reruns of America’s Next Top Model. I don’t know if it’s on Hulu. And for some reason,

 

Lisa Smith 

no, no shame in that.

 

Lexie Smith 

Thank you. Um, but there I was watching, I literally, I’m in the early 2000s. Right now, I think it was season three. And when they went to Tokyo, they had a whole episode on the customs of Tokyo. And you know, they were going to goc’s, which are meetings as models anyways, in the head button, bring a gift, you know, and they deliver their shoes at the doors. So it just got me thinking in anticipation of our chat today. Oh, you know, there are different customs when you travel to different places. Does the same apply within the cons industry? So I just that’s kind of the preface of where that question is. Question came from? Little bit

 

Lisa Smith 

Got it. I definitely, you know, if you’re a PR practitioner, I think that there may be subtleties of opera operating in different countries, as I said, just certain sort of social and cultural nuances that you have to be aware of, like things just taking place. I think I adjusted the way that I work to the New York kind of way over the years.

 

Lexie Smith 

You know, even within the US, you think of types of LA versus New York, and it’s different.

 

Lisa Smith 

so true. No. Okay, so we definitely see this in the different cities in which we do events. So for example, in Miami, everyone’s like, don’t do breakfast events ever, like do cocktails after work. It’s way more popular. And then LA, we find that people sort of stick around later at our morning events. You know, the photographer’s like, going off to go surfing in the afternoon. It’s kind of like a different atmosphere. And then San Francisco is different again. So yeah, for sure. Even city wide like, there are differences.

 

Lexie Smith 

Yeah, the US is such a melting pot. There’s so many different cultures and customs within our borders. So yeah, it’s it’s, I’m not surprised to hear that I’ve certainly experienced it as a traveler.

 

Lexie Smith 

My next question for you is, you know, you kind of talk us through how you started the PR net. And it seemed to be a pretty organic process, meaning you tapped into your network and you were able to really start and grow membership over the years since founding the PR net, how have you continued to cultivate membership? Has it just been truly organic word of mouth? Or have you guys done any of your own PR or marketing efforts?

 

Lisa Smith 

A kind of a combination of those things I would say. We actually polled people when they sign up, we say how did you find that out about us? I would say 75 or 80% of the time they were referred through an industry colleague or friend. That’s by far the majority of people finding us. And then social media is a part like a decent chunk of the remainder. Also people believe it or not, sometimes through Google Search, which is bizarre to me, but somewhere, you know, we’re on there that they discover us, our weekly newsletter that goes out, and I think sometimes people see it afforded, it somehow ends up in their inbox. And that is a way that they discover it. And also, I think, you know, events, live events have been really great marketing tools for us. I think you know it, they provide great content for your social and also for our newsletter. And they just, it’s like that word of mouth marketing, like, oh, I went to this great event last night that you know, the piano organized, it’s, and then, you know, we we also have started doing like, bigger event initiatives, like the peon at 100, which we started last year. And it was a list of the, you know, 100 influential agencies, and we hosted a big event after it. And that, you know, I think that definitely helped put us on the radar of some companies that we hadn’t been on yet. Which was really exciting. And it’s interesting how word of mouth and social media just helped. So things reverberate around. So yeah, definitely the events. And those types of initiatives have been really helpful in making people aware of us. I do think it’s kind of like that. You want that third party credibility. It’s like a friend, you know, someone, a trusted industry colleague or friend told me about this, or I got invited to an event as a guest of somebody who’s a member already. I think it gives it context. And I think that is by far and away how we’ve, you know, found it increasingly weirdly, it is social media, you know, it’s amazing, who finds you on there. And you know, you mentioned Louis Vuitton earlier, we’ve done some event collaborations with Louis Vuitton. It was through a woman that used to work there and found us on social media and just reached out to propose working together on some of their experiential exhibitions that they’ve done. So yeah, that’s, that’s definitely helpful as well.

 

Lexie Smith 

Power of events, the power of social media, the power of networking, networking is a theme, you know, that keeps getting brought up. And I want to shout out that the reason you know, we’re on this call today is because we got warm intro, and by a mutual connection of ours, Emily Merrill, shout out, I think, um, viewers, episode two or something way back in season one, but it just goes to show you know, it’s kind of the butterfly effect. And you said also being able to pay it forward, right, like being willing to if you’re going to ask for warm introductions, also being willing to make them yourself, right. It’s a give and take world that we live in

 

Lisa Smith 

100%. It’s good karma. But I really think it does come back. It’s helpful to you in the end. Yeah, what goes around comes around and all that stuff. But yeah, for sure. I mean, if people know that you’re a person that’s willing to be helpful, then they’re more inclined to be helpful to you, too.

 

Lexie Smith 

Yeah, I agree completely. And that kind of teed me up again to another thing we’ve touched on briefly, but I want to resurface and that’s brand partnerships, right. And at the core of a partnership is a mutual benefit, a mutually beneficial relationship. And I know that you throughout your career, but also with the PR net have established many brand partnerships. So my question is, if you’re someone, your brand, so we’re speaking from the brand side, and you want to go start pursuing brand partnerships, and I know that it’s broad, but broadly, brand partnerships, as the business as the brand as the entrepreneur, what are some things you should keep in mind, or no off the bat things to expect things to prepare?

 

Lisa Smith 

Yes, really, really good point here. Um, so we have worked a lot with brands, and they usually come recently well prepared, I think they’ve already identified that our audience is a match for their audience. So we’re already starting off with like, one of the key components that they’ve already mapped this out. And, you know, we’ve done everything from like, just doing audience development, like setting, you know, inviting our members to come to an activation that they’ve been doing right to an end to end solution where we ideate the whole concept behind it, and then we execute it fully for them all elements. So in terms of advice, and I, you know, this could be any brand partnership with an influencer or with you know, another brand with a community. Firstly, as I said, you need to see whether your target audiences match. And sometimes that might not be as self evident, as you may think. And I think it always is helpful to understand from the prospective partner like, do they have any data about who their demographic is usually you can find was when there’s a lot of stuff through Google Analytics for influences while they usually have that kind of like, demographic breakdown of you No, obviously numbers of people, but you know who those people actually are? So working that out first and then really thinking, what are the objectives of this campaign? You’re obviously investing time and energy, potentially money in this campaign? Like, what do you want to see? What is the output you want to see at the end of it? Is it sales? Is it social media? Is it other types of media coverage? Is it awareness? Like what would success look like for you at the end of this partnership? So you know, I would always ask, you know, prospective brand partners to think about that. And then we can kind of work backwards, you know, if it is sales, then how do you have a sales component to the event, for example, budget? Obviously, I think, not all partnerships have to have a financial exchange. But I think if there is going to be you need to be aware of what your budget is, or at least a kind of ballpark, before you go into it. Like, you know, don’t approach someone with 5 million Instagram followers, if your budget is $50, you know, like, just be smart about what’s going to be realistic. And yeah, go go into that, with that sort of set in place. I would also advise people to be really clear on roles and deliverables of each party, what we’ve done in the past is really just outline at the get go like, okay, so you know, here’s this partnership, you’re going to be responsible for XYZ. And we’re going to be responsible for XYZ, and this is how we’re compensating each other and just make sure all of that stuff is set right at the outset. And then everybody understands that. And then I would just also say, finally, to look at how you’re going to measure the success, like what are the metrics that you’re looking at, at the end to see, you know, is there going to be some kind of like, wrap up like report or anything? Will you have access to the Google Analytics to see if it drove traffic to their website, or drove sales, conversions, all that kind of like data, stuff that really I kind of geek out on, but you know, if you can show, I guess, like the fruit of the punch, and then that’s always a great thing.

 

Lexie Smith 

I hope everyone has pencils and pens out if not tap back, because it’s incredible. Just to recap, you know, having clear expectations of outcomes, but also duties, you know, who’s doing what, knowing that goal ahead of time, how you’re going to measure and getting a clearer understanding of not only what the brand partners audiences, but what your audience is for, right? What do you bring to the table? You pointed, you pointed out the example of, you know, if you’re going after an influencer with 5 million Instagram followers, probably not a great idea if you only have a budget of 50, you know, hypothetical. So this is another question I get asked a lot is, How does someone know what’s a realistic budget? You know, Is that something you just go and ask a brand? Or how can you find out what is a fair budget for someone of that caliber?

 

Lisa Smith 

Look, I guess I gave a real extreme example, just to kind of illustrate the small budget with champagne tastes would be a budget, right? But, um, I, you know, again, maybe just like, ask some industry friends, do you know anyone that works in a similar space that’s done something like that before and just see, you know, get their guidance on what’s realistic? You know, a lot of brand partnerships take place, as I said. Without financial exchange, you just have to kind of explore, as you said, like, it’s got to be mutually beneficial, like, what is partner giving to this and what partner is giving? And, you know, do those kinds of weigh up to be the same thing? If not, like, what’s going to be the compensation? Yeah, I would say if you if you’re not sure, you could reach out but you know, you don’t want to sort of insult I ask, ask industry friends, even you know, maybe there’s some research you can do online or read industry publications, but I would say, you know, as people who work in this space

 

Lexie Smith 

yeah, that’s great advice, because I think that the answer, cut or coupling is you know, there isn’t like one WWW dot this is the reasonable price calm that you can do for this answer, right. So top your network, ask questions. And above all else, just remember at the core of a brand partnership, that key word of mutually beneficial, right so know what you can bring to the table and know what you want, you know from you And so partnerships take place all the time for monetary exchange, but also people barter. So anyways, all fantastic points again, I hope you guys listened back if that’s an area of interest, a couple more questions for you, Lisa. First, we have to address how people can learn or where do they go to learn to get involved with the PR net?

 

Lisa Smith 

Yeah, it’s all on the website. So if you’re on our homepage, the piano.com. And there’s an area in the top right hand corner, it says join, and then it will have all the info for different, you know, types of registrants, from agency to media to brand, etc. And that has a pretty good rundown. I mean, you can check out our social media, we have a highlights reel of some past events that we’ve done just to kind of get a sense of like, where those were how those were. And just generally follow us if you want to kind of see what we’re up to. And then, you know, reach out directly as well. You can always email info at the PR net.com. We love hearing from people directly. Some, you know, jump on a call with us. Yeah, we can definitely exchange info in that way.

 

Lexie Smith 

And I highly recommend you guys stand up for their newsletter. It’s something that I’m on and I think there’s so much value that you guys packed into those.

 

Lisa Smith 

Thank you so much. Yeah, we’ve tried to keep it just once a week by email, sometimes there’s so much content in there. I’m like, Oh, wait, maybe it’s too much. But I think just having one moment rather than bombarding people many times a week, I think, Oh, it’s great. Just try, we try to keep up. Yeah, and the signup that’s also on the homepage. So you can literally just put your email address and kind of in the top right hand of this site as well. Anyone can get the newsletter and it does have a bunch of stuff in there. But it’s an easy read. It’s like fun pictures, interviews. Just you can basically catch up on what’s going on in the industry in like a few minutes.

 

Lexie Smith 

Yeah, I love it. And you guys know the drill. We’ll put the link in the show note. My last question for you. Lisa is know we’ve talked a lot about pitching. We have to now talk about what we can find you sippin so what is your favorite but our budget? What is your favorite beverage either alcoholic or non alcoholic?

 

Lisa Smith 

Oh man, right now I’m back to Marguerite. One of our members represents a tequila brand and he was kind enough to send me a bottle of tequila. Kota Nia is the brand. And yeah, so just kind of became at home. mixologist. Again, I reprise that from you know, deepen the pandemic. We’re all making these experimental cocktails at home. But yeah, I love a good sort of classic Margarita.

 

Lexie Smith 

Back or do you like the flavor?

 

Lisa Smith 

Not just a classic for me. You know, good quality tequila. I do love red wine as well. And I know it’s early in the day for us to be dispensing. I liked pitching and sipping. There’s a lot of talk about pitching and definitely no, I think I’ve got mineral water next to me. There you got it. Those are my go twos. I know. No summer obviously, you know, it can be some Rosae or something else.

 

Lexie Smith 

I think 99% of the interviews I do on the show are always in the morning and like right now I have coffee or right now I have water but you know come five o’clock.

 

Lisa Smith 

Oh my sipping my morning coffee is religious like I don’t I just don’t start the day without.

 

Lexie Smith 

Yes, I will say and I’m so sorry listeners because you know I say this every every episode of this season. I definitely am looking forward to being able to reemerge into the world of adult beverages and minus six weeks. Not that anyone is counting. But me. Yeah. Yeah. Just thank you again, so much for coming on the show today. Everything you shared was inspirational. You had so much advice. I just appreciate you guys. I can’t encourage you to go check out the PR net anymore. Again, go to the show notes. And Lisa just thank you again for being with us today.

 

Lisa Smith 

Thank you. It’s such a pleasure.