Mastering Media Visibility, PR, and Authentic Storytelling

What a great conversation we had with Sarah Strachaus, who's a seasoned journalist and entrepreneur with a passion for storytelling. Since 2010, she's worked as a reporter, producer, anchor, videographer, and graphic designer for major networks, including Fox Business in New York City, The CW in Dallas, CBS, NBC, and Time Warner Cable stations nationwide. She currently hosts two digital TV shows and owns Strathouse Media, a multimedia company specializing in live event, AV production, on camera media services, driving cash flow, and content creation. Here's Sarah. Welcome, everyone, to the Power Up Your Life podcast brought to you by GoBundance Women. I'm Kelly Resendez.

And I'm Mandy McAllister.

And we are blessed to have Sarah Strakos in the house. How are you, Sarah?

Good. Thank you so much for having me. I'm blessed and honored to be here. Great. Well, give us a little bit of your back story. Sure. Sure. So I started in news. I come from television news. I actually started as a Photoshop artist in New York City for a news station Mandy then got into field producing and videography, and then eventually got went on to reporting and anchoring and producing shows. And then, eventually, I I thought it was time to get out of the news business, and I kind of sidestepped into the digital world, digital television, and did that for a few years. And then when I had my first son, I, you know, decided it was kind of time altogether to step away. You know, news can sometimes not be the easiest when it comes to the mental side of things and breaking news and all the things. So I thought it was time to, you know, go off on my own. So that's that's kind of where the idea of the story and, you know, my my story really began, I feel like, in my mind. Yeah. Well, you're a business owner, and you also help businesses. So share a little bit more about how

companies can leverage PR and appearances to be able to create thought leadership and opportunity.

Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. So what we like to say is we create visibility, especially surrounding a story. So on the one hand, we help people with live events on the AV side and production and coming in and helping you get seen during your event, your conference, helping you put bring to life that that event. The other side of things is really the media coaching, media training, helping you get seen by the media, And then once you do get seen by the media, what to do with that content, how to turn one piece of content into 10 pieces, and make sure you're actually getting the visibility Mandy ROI so that when you have this amazing interview on a podcast or you have this amazing interview on TV, radio, whatever it is, that it not doesn't just go to one place and then die. So we're really helping people kind of go from the beginning to the end and make sure that when you are on a podcast or TV, you're ready for it.

I think the let it go to a place and then die is probably one of the biggest mistake. Because you put all all of this effort into, you know, hiring the PR agent to get booked on the thing, and then you you do the thing, and then nothing happens from it. So I think that might be the number one mistake, but I would love to know some other mistakes that people make when getting PR or when being on camera. Anything around that that I should stop doing?

No. You're absolutely right. I mean, that is one of the biggest mistakes. Right? We post it one time on Instagram Your YouTube or Facebook, and you're like, hey. Oh my gosh. This was so exciting. Boom. Done. You don't get any, you know, reaction from it. You don't chop it up into soundbites. You don't send it out for blogs. You don't send it in your newsletter. You don't rewrite pieces of it. You don't chop you know, it it just there's so many things. So that's definitely one thing. Another big mistake is when people are reaching out to podcasts or reporters or radio hosts or whoever it is that you're trying to get in front of, they don't personalize their pitch. So I was an oil and gas reporter in West Texas, and I was getting education pitches. I was getting pitches about water. I was getting pitches about health and fitness, and I was like, this isn't my beat. You know? So people want to know that if you're reaching out to a podcast, you're relevant to what they're actually talking about on the podcast. So that's one of the biggest mistakes I see. And then the other one is that people don't practice speaking in sound bites. They can talk for forty five minutes, but but can you actually put your story into forty five seconds? So that's that's probably the top three issues that I see when it comes to the media side of things. Oh my goodness. So good. And I think people do do they just are generalist. Right? And they're not really Up something to the actual pitch. So let's shift gears a little bit into AI and authenticity.

So it is a big topic that people are leveraging AI. How do you feel about them leveraging AI for video and other content? Is it gonna is it gonna land the same way, or what do you recommend?

I think that there's definitely a place for AI. Right? I think that you should learn it. I think that it should be part of your business, but I don't think it should be your business. I don't think you should have an avatar speaking for you because people want authentic. People can tell AI. You know? Until AI gets really perfect, people can tell when something is AI. They can tell when it's inauthentic. They can tell when it's not real. People follow you on social media. People want to know you. People go to hear you speak because they like you, because you have stories, because you have experience. You have expertise. And while AI might have expertise, they don't have stories. They don't have experience. They can't be a mom of five working two jobs. You know? They can't have those experiences and have those real lived life moments that come into telling a story and make you who you are and make you why someone chooses you over another business. So while I do like I said, I think there's a place for AI, it

put together a lot of data much more quickly than I can as a Women, but the real competitive advantage moving forward over AI is the ability to be real. You know? Exactly. I'm curious. You're you're also you you worked corporate, and then you moved into being an entrepreneur. So much of our audience are entrepreneurs who started with some sort of side hustle. Right? Me being one of them. I find though that there's this huge identity shift from being the anchor lady on TV to now the the business owner mama. Talk to me about things that you've had to work through for yourself and ways you've dealt with it in that identity change.

Yeah. I think that, you know, leaving the corporate world and going to an Up lifestyle, I think that's one big change all in itself. You know? And then you said the mama thing. You know? Becoming a mother is a whole new change in itself. And then owning a business becoming a mother or being corporate becoming a mother. So it's it's, you know, it's a big it's a big jumbled mess. Right? But I think what I've learned is that true work life balance is not balanced. There is no such thing. Right? I think one week when you're a really good mom and you're nailing it and you're at all of your kids' events, you know, even the ones at 10AM on a Thursday, you know, you're involved in all of the things Mandy you bring snack that week. You know, you might be slacking Women the work Life. Your meetings might not go as well. You might not be as prepared for that, you know, presentation you wanted to do. And then vice versa, when you're rocking it at work, you stay late, you close that deal, whatever it is, you might not be able to tuck them in every single night that week, or they they might not have dinner ready. You might not be as good of a wife that week. You might your health, you know, your health and fitness might slack that week. So I think making sure that you're checking in with yourself in all of those facets, you know, whatever your piece of the pie is, whether it's, like, health and fitness, you know, your religion, your spouse, your family, your work, you know, making sure that pie, it's not constantly one piece is slim. Because at at times, they're all gonna be slim, but it can't be one piece is slim all the time. So I think that's something that I've really learned, and I have to check-in with I check-in with myself all the time. Yeah. What a great point. You know, I'm a I'm a mom of adult children now, and for you guys that are We still need you. In it. Like, that's the part where it's Life, you need people around you that are giving you that inspiration and hope that it is gonna get easier, which it will. Right. So what would you say is an unconventional

strategy or just, you know, action that you've taken in your career to grow your company or thought leadership?

I think something that I have, I think, always done is if there's not a position for it or a space for it, make one. So I remember when I was in college, you know, graphic design. I ended up doing graphic design for a news station, you know, and that's how I got my foot in the door there. You know? I think that, there wasn't a position for me at a marketing agency I was interning Your, so I made one. I said, this is why you need what you need. You know? I have a multimedia company, and it's not traditional that you do live events with the media side of things, so I made that. You know, I think that, conventionally, putting together whatever space you need to live in and you think your niche is and where you excel, I I I don't think you should ever second guess yourself on that.

Make it up. We're all just making it up anyway. Make it up. I made it up. Yes. An athletics PR position in college too. So I'm I'm you're my you're my people there. Yeah. I was gonna say, there's always a space for you. A 100%. Just build that table. Yeah. When Right. I this is actually gonna be a perfect follow-up to this, the the Yeah. When you're an entrepreneur out groping into darkness, you feel like you're groping into darkness sometimes, and you can feel stuck easily. When you get to a point that you don't know what to do next, that you feel stuck, how do you get yourself unstuck? Is there any actionable tip you have there?

Yeah. Absolutely. I mean, you can go to all the traditional things, ask ChatGPT, you know, ask, you know, write a list, write priorities, you know, pros and cons, that type of thing. But what I found over the past two years is really having a mentor who you trust, is one of the biggest things. Really having someone in your corner who is proud of you, cheering for you, but also in Women someone whose life that you think is great, if that makes sense. You know? I don't I don't wanna say a life you wanna covet, but if you love how they are in their relationship, you love how they are with their children, you love how they are in business, you think that they are successful in the realms that you wanna be successful, that is someone that you should be reaching out to and that you should be asking to help coach you, mentor all of those things. So I think asking that person to help you get out of your head and out of your own space is huge because they they're not in your world. You know? They can look at it with a bird's eye view. So, you know, don't we always say that we're the best we're best at giving advice to our friends, but then we can't take it. So Oh, that's so great. And I love that you said all the traditional ways, and you said ask g.gpt because then you can learn it. Is. Right? Yeah. People are using it as their Up. I'm like, okay. Well, what do I do about this? You know? So it is out there Mandy, sure, I might do it sometimes too. I might write lists and pros and cons and, like, all my to dos, but Kelly reaching out to that person who's kinda your lifeline and someone you respect,

that's one of the best ways I found to really get out of a funk. Yeah. And for me, that's what GoBundance Women has been Yeah. You know, because we do need to invest. So Yes. As you talk about investing in mentorship, share a little bit of a story with a mentor that you have. Yeah. With somebody that's made a big impact in your life.

So I I I'm sure many of you know the name. Suzanne Castle is one of my biggest mentors. I've I've loved working with her, and she was, you know, on my twenty twenty six vision Your. And, you know, she's just absolutely fantastic. And I I remember I was at one of her conferences, and she was saying, you know, she she's she's your cheerleader, and she's in your corner, but she also is very brain oriented, very smart, very action oriented. So I remember her saying, you're gonna do something hard. I'm gonna give you thirty minutes. We're gonna take a break during this conference, and you're gonna do that thing that you've been putting off for the last six months, that hard thing. I literally got in the car. I was so nervous. I made a phone call that I was dreading, and it was gonna change my entire business. And I made the phone call, and it was really hard. It was really uncomfortable, but it was something that had to be done. And I came back inside, and I told her. And I was like, you know, I I would've put that off for another six months. Mhmm. So and and just having that Up, and and she knows my world. You know? I've talked to her about all of the things, and and, you know, having that support and cheering and and kind of the the push to do what needed to be done, I mean, that was just one of the most amazing moments. Love it.

Yeah. I've Yeah. I personally have had a couple hard conversations lately too, and and I remind myself that the life and the business you want is on the other side of those hard conversations that you don't wanna have. So high five there. The Power Up Your Life podcast is powered by GoBundance Women. I could tell you stuff about it, or you could hear from some of our members. Here you go. GoBundance has connected me with an amazing group of entrepreneurial

women

that I can learn from and support and grow together. GoBundance gave me a boardroom of sisters who refused to let me settle. You Women the first two months of me being a member,

I enrolled someone to help them with their high ticket sales. I got double back my investment within the first, you know, sixty days of being a member. So it was it's incredible. You guys are just amazing, and there's always somebody to look up to in in, in GoBundance, so I love being a member.

That's why you owe it to yourself to check out goabundancewomen.com. In terms of of keeping going and the the life changes that you've experienced, in order to feel like Sarah? Are there some rituals? Are there some things that you do every single day to make sure you're moving your business forward in the way you want to in the midst of the kind of controlled awesome chaos of the house?

Yeah. Awesome chaos of the house. You're absolutely right. You know, three little boys, one is, you know, four months old. So it's definite it's definite chaos. But it is I think this year, we really implemented systems, and we Kelly implemented, tracking systems and project management and really integrated people into our business who can make it run smoothly even if I personally am not involved. And I think that's kind of that should be the goal, right, for all of us is to kinda be useless in your own business. So and I well, I'm not at that point yet, but I I would like to be, and I think that was that was something that I kinda planned for in December, a month before I had my little one. I was like, okay. These processes have to be jam packed. You know? That was kind of my fall into winter project, was making sure that when this baby came, I had some time with him, you know, and I had some time to actually be able to relax and not take every sales phone call. So,

that was something that we've really had to work on. Yeah. That's so great. So speaking to the person that hasn't used PR as part of their overall strategy Mhmm. Like, where would they start? Like, where would you tell somebody that they should start so that they can start leveraging PR?

Yeah. So I think one of the biggest things is figuring out what has worked for you in the past and what has not worked. So PR and getting that publicity and that visibility is really important in creating the credibility, creating that trust, creating that repeatable idea. Because what PR does for you is, you know, I'm the first to say Your not gonna get on a radio station and then sell 2,000 books. You're not gonna get on a TV station and suddenly have a million dollars worth of sales unless you're getting on Oprah, you know, unless you're on doctor Phil or, you know, unless you're on something like that. Right? But what it does do is creates credibility. It creates repeatable visibility, which means that you're top of mind. So that is one of the biggest things is you wanna be top of mind. You wanna be someone who is remembered. And when they if you're a health and wellness coach, you wanna be the first person they think of. Oh, you know, I need to start working on my fitness Your I need to start working on my health or nutrition, whatever it is. You wanna be the person that they Google, that they Instagram. Oh, I just saw that her talking about this on, you know, x y z station. You know? I I bet she would I bet she would be a good person to talk to. And while traditional media, we're not necessarily getting all of our news anymore from a CBS Mandy NBC, whatever it is. I think that there's still some validity in there, still a ton of validity in there. I think that people say, oh, if she's on NBC, then she's probably vetted. She's probably someone who isn't, you know, a kook or making stuff up or, you know, they they've probably done their homework if they're interviewing her. So it does add that next level of credibility and trust rather than just a random Instagram person that could be AI now. Right? So I think if the first reason you have to realize why you want the visibility, why you want the PR, what in your business is not working, what in your business is separate from the marketing and the digital content side of things, you know, what you're looking for and why you're looking for it, and then you can really nail down on the item action items of what to do, getting in front of a camera. A lot of people are so nervous to even get in front of a camera, but people wanna see the mistakes. They wanna see you. So I think the why Mandy then just get out there and do it.

Record. Get out there. I I know I personally used to be super nervous, and that's why I did improv comedy training back in the day. But so that's that's kind of the big why. Right? Let let's say that I have my why dialed in, and I I'm pointed in the right direction. What's one or two maybe first action steps? Maybe short of hiring a PR agent. What are two things that I could do, before that?

I think it would be make sure that you have your audience. Right? Make sure that you know who you're talking to so that when you're producing content that you are speaking to those people. If my audience is women age 30 to 50, make sure that I'm producing content that they're already looking for. Number two, produce. Do not wait to be perfect. You don't have to have the perfect reel. You don't have to have the perfect script. Get out there and just start doing it, and then refine. You can always refine. You can always take down reels that do horribly. You know? You you can AB test. You know? Get out there and just do it. And I think as women a lot of times, we're so worried about being perfect and being judged, but getting out there and just making it happen first is is one of the biggest steps.

No. So great. So switching gears just a little bit into negative PR. Like, sometimes people will say, like, even negative PR is is good PR. Right? But how would you recommend if somebody did have a situation in which they made a mistake? They had something you know, maybe somebody tarnished their reputation a little bit Right. Or is questioning them, that kind of thing. How would you handle how would you handle that situation in coaching a business owner?

Yeah. Well, the number one thing is do not say no comment. That is one of the biggest things that I think people think that they're protecting themselves, but saying no comment makes you look immediately guilty. I can't tell you how many times where something would happen. We're interviewing a business, and they would say no comment. And, immediately, you think they're in the wrong. And they might just be having to, oh, I have to get, you know, approval Life my higher ups Your, you know, even if it's police, you know? Oh, well, I have to, like, make sure that we're clearing everything with legal or whatever it is. Saying something to the effect of, you know, I'd love to speak on this, but right now I have to make sure that I gather all the correct information. Or, you know, the team is researching into exactly what happened, and then we will give you a full statement, but we are happy to talk on this at a later time. Something like that gives so much more transparency. Even if you can't immediately talk about it, something like that gives transparency and the desire to be transparent. Right? So let's say you you're the sole business owner. You made the mistake. You know, you always say, you know, this is what happened. You explain the situation. If it's due an apology, you say the apology, and then you immediately move on to how you're fixing it. You immediately move to the positive. You immediately focus on the positive. This is what we're doing to fix it so it never happens again. This is why our company focuses on these morals. We believe in this. We believe in this. While that moment did not reflect it, we believe in doing this, this, and this. Everyone's going through this training. We are ensuring that it doesn't happen again. So you immediately move to the positive side of things. So number one, do not say no comment. Number two, make sure you acknowledge the issue, work on the fix, and move positive.

I love moving positive because that might be easy. Your Kelly gonna get clipped in a few sentences. Right? So you gotta remember that. If you can, one sentence. Yes. I love that. You know, one piece of media training that I had before that I wonder where you stand on this is if I have an agenda of something that I wanna talk about Mandy I'm not getting asked questions like that, then I just answer the question that underlines my agenda, the thing that I wanna talk about. Where do you stand on answering how I wanna answer rather than actually answering questions?

I think that, you know, so there's twofold. Right? So if I am interviewing someone as a reporter or if I was having someone I was at morning show. If someone never answered my question, I wouldn't have them back. So I wouldn't, you know, be and I don't mean that rudely. I just mean if there's someone who's constantly dodging the questions, I'd be like, okay. This is not an interview that I wanna continue to have. So that's one thing. If you want longevity and you wanna continue, you wanna make sure you have a good rapport Mandy you respect the host. But that being said, you're absolutely right. If you're not being asked a question that you really wanted to answer or you think needs to be out there or you think can really help the audience, there's always a way to weave it in. Right? So let's say I'm an author Mandy someone decides that, you know, they don't wanna talk about my book, but they wanna talk about what kind of what's in my book. Right? They wanna talk about burnout or whatever it is. So someone might say, oh, well, you know, tell me about three tips of burnout or the three biggest things that women in their fifties are experiencing. So you can say these are the three things. And if you wanna learn more about the deep Life, Kelly the triggers are, you can find that in chapter four of my book, which can be found here. Right? So you still answered the question, but you weaved in what you wanna weave in. So there's always a way to kinda weave it into just what you talk about naturally.

Yeah. Well, Sarah, I cannot thank you enough. You have been amazing. And some of my greatest takeaways just for for anyone out there, you know, when you talk about balance, it is, you know, so important that we don't strive for perfection in that area. And then also just making sure that you get your content out there whether you're ready or not. Like, people need to hear your stories and your voice, and you can really do that. What about you, Mandy?

I also wrote down that done is better than perfect. The the being out there and taking the swings and the reps are the thing that get you better, but also your commitment to to tracking and systems. Like, I think that that is something that needs to be underlined more and more. You have done so much to to serve us, Sarah, and our audience. Kelly us, what is something that we can do for you? Is there a resource? Is there an introduction that changes the ball game for you?

No. I I so appreciate that, Mandy, thank you for, you know, having me on, and and I love I've I've loved watching your shows and hearing you speak, and and meeting you both in person was, you know, fantastic. I I love the events that you do and just just everything that GoBundance Women does. But I think that's, you know, something we're always looking for people who are looking to get visible, people who are looking to take their business to the next level. You know, they are you know, you you you can't get business if you can't get seen. Right? So you might be the best person out there, but if you can't get seen, then you're not gonna get that person coming in and asking you for their services. So let us help you get seen, whether that's a live audience Mandy you're putting on a show and you need help with production and that side of things, or you need that, you know, media invisibility and on camera coaching. You know, we'd love to, love to help Your, you know, like I said, just be seen and be you. How can we find you? So you can go to strathousemedia.com. All of our information is there Mandy, StratHouse with an r, s t r. So that's one thing that, you know, I I get all the Life. Time. But, yes, StratHouse Media, you know, you can send an inquiry there, and all of our information's online.

Well, absolutely incredible information that you shared today. And for anybody listening, if you wanna take your PR to the next level, definitely reach out to Strathouse Media. And if this episode was something that you really loved, leave us a review, share it with your friends, and join us on the next Power Up Your Life podcast. We'll see you next time.

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