In the past years, traditional media has continued to shift - and the online versions have become every outlet’s main source of income. Today, nearly every tier-1 publication is behind a paywall - from The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times to Axios, The Information, and Forbes. No matter how big their brand is or how long they’ve been around, they all understand that in order to survive, they have to charge us.

If your understanding of PR comes from Olivia Pope or Emily Cooper, we’ve got a few things to clear up. TV loves to glamorize public relations, often turning it into either espionage or Instagram. The truth? It lives somewhere between inbox overload and strategic storytelling.

For too long, stealth mode has been the holy cow of the startup world. Founders would proudly slap “@Building” onto their LinkedIn titles and hide behind that same grayscale triangle-like logo. (Confession: in my early days in tech, I thought “Stealth” was just the name of a company – until I kept bumping into that logo everywhere.)

Figma’s 2025 IPO was one of the clearest demonstrations in recent memory of how to run smart, strategic communications while in the spotlight. The company had every reason to play it safe. Just two years earlier, its $20 billion acquisition by Adobe collapsed under heavy regulatory pressure, an outcome that could have cast a long shadow over its future. But instead of pulling back, Figma leaned into the moment. They used the IPO to reshape their image, proving they were not defined by a failed deal but by their own business momentum, vision, and resilience. With over 150 articles and 60+ tier 1 reporters covering it over 4 months, Figma’s comms strategy is definitely something to write home about (or at least a blog post).

Nobody dreams of being the intern with five coffees in hand, dodging eye contact just to avoid getting another to-do. But no one wants to be the over-eager puppy either. The truth? Being a good intern is a delicate art. Nail it, and you’re the person everyone wants on their team. Miss it, and you’re either invisible or exhausting.

Every PR expert, no matter their background or experience, knows the routine: you get a brief about a product launch, an executive hire, or a strategic funding round. You draft an engaging press release, go through rounds of editing, and finally have a version you’re happy with. You set up a newswire (another outdated PR premise worth challenging), and hit “send.” To everyone. At once. Then, you wait and hope for the best.