Striking Out On Her Own, But Not Striking Out.
PR Expert, Dominique Ellis talks about the joys of being her own boss.
When Dominique Ellis set off to be a journalist after graduation, she never expected to find a passion for helping companies and individuals craft their brands. She started working as an in-house public relations director for several companies, but decided that striking out on her own has better suited her personal and professional goals.
“I had a propensity for event coordination and promotion so I made the jump to marketing and PR pretty soon after graduation,” says Ellis, owner of Dominique Ellis Public Relations. “I’ve been lucky to work in a variety of industries throughout my career and the experience I gained in a broad range of focuses and projects has helped in shaping what my company offers clients — public relations, marketing and event coordination. I pride myself on being a one-stop shop for PR and marketing services for my clients.”
“After stints working in-house for a number of companies, most recently running the marketing and communications for Easter Seals Louisiana, I decided to branch out on my own,” says Ellis. “Easter Seals Louisiana is still one of my top clients and I’ve expanded to include fashion designers, local theaters and performers, as well as big comedy festivals like Hell Yes Fest. At this point I’m serving a broad range of clients from family owned French Quarter candy shops like Leah’s Pralines to uptown restaurants and wine stores.”
Ellis loves to dive into her work headfirst and says that multi-tasking keeps her motivated.
“My experiences working in agencies and in-house for various companies was useful, I quickly realized I wanted to be working on more than just two to three accounts at once,” Ellis says. “It’s important to me to keep moving forward professionally and I wanted to push myself to take on larger projects. Getting to a situation where I could be doing publicity, social media, branding, event coordination and crafting marketing strategies all at once became the order of the day. Working for myself and taking on a variety of clients seemed the logical next step.”
Ellis says that each client experience is different and unique.
“Experiences vary from client to client,” Ellis says. “I like to be very hands on with most of my accounts. When you hire me, you’re getting me. I’m always on call for whatever you may need. It’s not uncommon for me to switch gears from helping one client choose the right advertising package with a magazine, to coordinating an interview with another, to helping another decide on new specials for the holiday season. It keeps me on my toes.”
When it comes to promoting her business and choosing her office environment, Ellis is keeping things personal and close to home.
“I’ve been very lucky since re-launching my company and have done well through good old word-of-mouth,” Ellis says. “The majority of my clients have approached me for services, which is very thrilling. I also promote my latest passion projects on social media and have made a number of business connections through running my website that promotes creatives and entrepreneurs called A-Little-Happy.com. Since I need to remain flexible in my schedule and go to my clients’ locations for most meetings I work from a home office. It frees me up to be able to head to other cities whenever my clients may need me, which I like.”
Ellis says that she hopes to keep expanding her business more creatively and taking on some clients outside the New Orleans area.
“Additionally I’ve started expanding my event coordination services,” she says. “I hope to be working with more large scale conventions and parties in the future.”
For more on Dominique Ellis PR, visit her website.
