Katie Pierini is the founder of Mindset Agency in greater Los Angeles, a boutique agency at the leading edge of understanding how integrated communications is done today. Katie herself is a powerhouse, there's no other word to describe her: from her start in tech PR in Chicago to helping build and run a major agency office in San Diego to launching her own operation, she is an amazing combination of tougher-than-steel and relentlessly upbeat and optimistic. We discussed a number of things, including a master class she provided on integrated programs and brand-building, Me Too and being a woman in PR, her career progression and lessons learned, and - acting as an arc over the entire conversation - we connected on how much we LOVE the industry and our jobs within it.

Noah Dye is the principal at Spoken Voice PR, a tech-focused communications boutique, after having been EVP of LEWIS PR, one the top mid-sized agencies worldwide. Noah is a battler, and a competitor, and someone who is relentless about his work, his clients and his career. We spoke about the challenges of the agency model both in terms of what it delivers to clients and what it demands of its people, about his career progression overcoming multiple crises including the implosion of the dot-com boom just as he was getting started, about the state of communications, and about business development, a shared love of ours.

Jackson Wightman is the head of Montreal agency Proper Propaganda, which specializes in consumer tech PR and marketing. A prolific contributor to LinkedIn and author, Jackson is especially informative on the topic of conducting PR campaigns with the specific aim of optimizing search results on AI platforms (GEO). We talked about fragmentation of media and reevaluating which platforms matter, AI and how it processes information and how that affects communications and marketing campaigns, and his own very interesting background.