Digital PR Team · Market My Market
Landing one media mention is easy to celebrate, but the real challenge for any business is turning that single story into a lasting relationship with the reporter behind it. Marielena Manautou has spent her career learning exactly how to do that, one pitch and one follow-up at a time.
As a PR Assistant on our team, Marielena helps identify media opportunities, drafts pitches, and manages the reporter relationships that keep our clients in the news long after their first placement runs. Her work supports the campaigns our PR team builds across the businesses we represent, helping clients earn consistent, credible media coverage rather than a single lucky break tied to one story.
Marielena’s path into digital PR started with a degree in strategic communications from a university in Mexico City, a program that combined publicity, personal branding, and event organization into one course of study. At 22, she landed her first PR role at Calvin Klein, where she organized the brand’s Vogue Fashion Night Out event. From there, she moved into event planning, where she served as the main point of contact between clients and brands, sharpening the relationship-building instincts she still relies on today.
She later worked on cruise ships, an experience that took her around the world and introduced her to the Caribbean islands, where she eventually settled in Mexico. Working closely with guests from different backgrounds in that setting sharpened the same interpersonal instincts she now brings to reporter relationships. She also freelanced in content creation and community management before deciding PR was where she wanted to build her career, and she returned to it full time, bringing years of client-facing experience with her.
Marielena’s approach centers on making every reporter interaction count, no matter how small the initial ask. She has noticed throughout her career that PR professionals can come across as intimidating, so she works to make sure the people she is pitching, from reporters to clients to influencers, feel comfortable reaching out to her without losing the professionalism the role demands.
Once a reporter or client responds, she pays close attention to how they communicate and matches that tone instead of relying on one script for everyone. She also adds a small, personal touch to each exchange, whether it is a distinct phrase or a detail specific to that contact, the kind of thing that makes a reporter remember her the next time they need a source rather than starting a search from scratch. It’s a habit she has carried across every stage of her career, from managing brand relationships in event planning to the reporter outreach she handles today, and it’s part of what turns a single answered pitch into a contact who comes back the next time a relevant story breaks.
These habits reflect the same standard our whole PR team applies to every client relationship, regardless of industry, treating each placement as the start of an ongoing connection rather than a single win. Whether she is working with a law firm, a dental practice, or a growing local business, Marielena approaches every pitch with the same combination of preparation and warmth.
One project has already stood out as proof of what Marielena’s approach can deliver: a road-safety campaign focused on preventing accidents and crashes during the holidays. She felt personally connected to the cause and found it meaningful to watch a client go out of their way to help people they would never meet, a reminder of why she moved back into PR full time in the first place.
For Marielena, that same campaign captured what she finds most satisfying about the job: watching the team’s outreach lead to a secured link, a brand mention, or a client interview, and knowing the result reflects everyone’s work coming together. She brings that same standard into every new client relationship she takes on, regardless of industry or how long the account has been with our team, a commitment reflected across our case studies.
Her own background adds another layer to how she connects with the people she works with. Growing up in Mexico and spending time in Canada before eventually settling in Mexico gave her an ease with people from different backgrounds that carries over into how she builds relationships with reporters and clients alike.
Marielena’s persistence and warmth are what clients can expect when she is working on their behalf, backed by a team that treats every reporter relationship as a long-term investment rather than a single placement. That standard holds true across every industry we serve, whether the goal is building a firm’s reputation, growing a practice’s visibility, or helping a local business earn the kind of coverage that keeps paying off.
If you are ready to build the kind of media presence that keeps generating coverage well after the first story runs, contact our team to talk about what that could look like for your business.
