Hope Katz Gibbs entered the public relations industry after spending some years as a news reporter after graduating from college in 1986. Since then, her work as a journalist has earned her several accolades for excellent features and columns. Several of these articles appeared in The Washington Post, USA Today, The Miami Herald, Costco Connection, among other publications. Hope has also contributed to magazines, newsletters, and blogs.
In 2001, Hope Katz Gibbs started her public relations career. After obtaining her master’s degree in educational leadership from The George Washington University, she became the director of communication for the City of Fairfax Schools in Northern Virginia.
Soon after starting her PR work in earnest, Hope Katz Gibbs saw her client list expand significantly. Among these clients is the Washington, DC-based “international futurist think tank, Social Technologies.”
Hope Katz Gibbs founded The Inkandescent Group, LLC, in 2008 to assist “entrepreneurs, educators, authors, and small-business owners” in growing their visibility in the marketplace through well-crafted public relations and book-publishing services.
In April 2014, Hope Katz Gibbs published her book titled “PR Rules: The Playbook,” the first title published through the Inkandescent Publishing Company.
Hope Katz Gibbs also publishes Be Inkandescent, “the e-zine for entrepreneurs, by entrepreneurs.” The monthly magazine features articles offering business insights from successful entrepreneurs working in several different industries, including healthcare, real estate, and wine, among others. An Entrepreneur of the Month is also a staple feature, honoring a small-business owner who has been running the same company for five years, and makes at least $10 million annually. These Entrepreneurs of the Month will give advice for aspiring entrepreneurs, along with Inkandescent’s team of professionals.
Check out more interviews with industry leaders here. Learn from Hope Katz Gibbs about creating a “stunning website” for your company here.
Jerome Knyszewski: Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before we dive in, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your ‘backstory’ and how you got started?
Hope Katz Gibbs: I started my career as a beat reporter at The Dominion Post in Morgantown, WV after graduating from the University of Pennsylvania in 1986. I covered the Buckwheat Festival, blazing fires, and within months was promoted to bureau chief of the office in the neighboring town of Fairmont, WV.
Soon after, I was recruited by The Miami Herald (it had snowed in April in WV so Miami sounded like a great option!) and spent the next six years writing and learning before becoming the associate editor at New Miami magazine. There, I won several awards for writing and reporting from the Florida Magazine Association.
Of course, life always seems to take you on a journey of its own. And in 1991, days before I was scheduled to marry an artist working at The Herald, he called it off.
From there, I decided it was time to learn something new. I applied to the Educational Leadership Program at The George Washington University, was accepted, and the rest of my life as I know it began. Three months to the day I was left at the altar, I met my husband illustrator www.MichaelGibbs.com at an art opening. We married in 1991, had two kids by 1995 — and then in 2014 another chapter of my life began: www.WhyDivorce.us.
Jerome Knyszewski: Can you tell us a story about the hard times that you faced when you first started your journey? Did you ever consider giving up? Where did you get the drive to continue even though things were so hard?
Hope Katz Gibbs: Give up? NEVER! Since I was a kid, I had a determination to keep going, come what may. My dad was a bookie, left my mother when I was in college for the hostess at the diner, thought it would be fun if we had kids at the same time — and despite the WTF stories, taught me to always “hold your head up,” “don’t be a doormat, and “be a Mench.”
Jerome Knyszewski: Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lessons or ‘takeaways’ you learned from that?
Hope Katz Gibbs: My first week on the job at the Dominion Post, the owner, Jack Reese took me on a trip to a bookstore to buy me a book on journalism. He said, “you have an instinct for this work, but need some fine-tuning.” I took it with stride as the editor, Michael Ellis, who I worked the night shift with took me under his wing. Within a year, Mike had sent me on the most amazing assignments that helped me cut my cub reporter teeth and edited my articles that became the foundation of my career. He also made me a bureau chief three months into my time at the newspaper. Even better, the gift that Mike gave me kept on giving: He gathered all of those articles we worked on together and put them into one newspaper to be his portfolio sample that landed him a job as the editor of a Gannett paper in Pennsylvania.
Jerome Knyszewski: Can you please share your “Five Things You Need To Know To Delegate Effectively and Be Completely Satisfied With the Results?” Please share a story or an example for each.
Hope Katz Gibbs: Not only do the talented professionals that I rely on have an expertise that I don’t, I absolutely need their assistance to keep me focused and on track so I can be the conductor of our orchestra.
- Know the strengths of your collaborator so you can maximize them — and make sure they know their weaknesses, too. My web developer Max Kukoy has been building websites for my company, and my clients (about 98 at last count) since 1996. Not only is Max excellent at understanding how to program WordPress sites, email blasts, and more — he helps me think through options in a way that I couldn’t do on my own. However, Max is admittedly not a designer.
- Be respectful of your collaborator’s time and talent. For our design and illustration work, we turn to our art director Michael Glenwood who provides a third perspective and some freaking amazing illustrations and designs. And Mike has a busy illustration business of his own. So I schedule our deadlines around his calendar, and he never misses one. I just step out and let Mike and Max work their magic. Of course, if there is question or issue, I step in and the three of us figure out a solution.
- Focus on building a team that will help make money. Often, before the money, comes the marketing. And since 2012 I have been working to build a video team that will help get our clients, and ourselves, onto YouTube. Quality counts, so I knew I had to invest in a talented video team. It took YEARS to find the right balance. I hired, and fired, dozens of videographers until I found Nelson Benavides (mentioned earlier). His patience, ability to tell a story, attention to detail, and did I say patience (with me and our clients) is what has helped us get nearly 300,000 views on Inkandescent.tv.
- Hire smart. Not just smart in that fit your mission and goals — but people who actually can think on their feet. In 2019, I met a woman named Jan Skierkowski when I was trying to buy another company. After interviewing the team they had at the time, it was clear that Jan was the most savvy and hard-working one they had. Although that deal continues to be a work in progress, I hired Jan to help build our www.InkandescentShop.com in the fall of 2020 because I knew, simply, she could do it. Not only has she mastered the e-commerce system we purchased, she is teaching me how to do it, too. Thank you, Jan!
- Collabor8. In addition to the team that makes Inkandescent™ Inc. run, I have partnered with two other professionals to help build our offerings. Earlier I mentioned Cynthia de Lorenzi, founder of www.SuccessIntheCity.org, who is working with me to build our Truly Amazing Women project through our magazine www.InkandescentWomen.com. Her idea: To create the What’s Next project. Since August, we have interviewed more than three dozen professional women who have shared their thoughts on What’s Next in their lives, businesses, and industries. We are putting the finishing touches on the 2021 What’s Next Journal, that we are collaborating on with your Inkandescent Publishing book designer, Cindy Seip in Miami. We’ll be launching the Itty-Bitty Mini Conference every Wednesday morning for 30 minutes, starting in January 2021. And, to say that Cynthia is not short of clever, fun, fabulous ideas is the understatement of the century. It’s an honor to work with her and turn those ideas into reality. I am also blessed to work with a coach, entrepreneur, and diversity expert in Washington, DC named Tony Farmer. He found me on LinkedIn in 2017, and we knew we’d find a way to Collabor8! When the Black Lives Matter Movement came to the forefront in 2020, we knew that we have to have conversations with lots of people. So we launched the BlackLivesMatterRadioShow.com on our podcast network, www.InkandescentRadio.com. Now, every Sunday night, you can tune in to hear Tony host the show from 6–7pm EST. Surely, a book based on those interviews, published by Inkandescent Publishing, isn’t far behind.
Jerome Knyszewski: One of the obstacles to proper delegating is the oft quoted cliche “If you want something done right do it yourself.” Is this saying true? Is it false? Is there a way to reconcile it with the importance of delegating?
Hope Katz Gibbs: I believe, “If you want something done — find the right person / people to do it with you.” Don’t take your eyes off the ball. Coordinate the goals, mission, timeline and be sure the job gets done. But don’t micromanage. Collabor8. Honor the people you work with. Pay them fairly. Share in the gifts and goodies that come. If a client doesn’t pay you — pay them. Their contract is with you. As I said earlier the life lesson my father imparted was: “Be a Mench.” So never never never give up. And always always always do the right thing. And while you are at it — spread the love.
Jerome Knyszewski: How can our readers further follow you online?
Hope Katz Gibbs:
- Inkandescent Women magazine: www.InkandescentWomen.com
- Inkandescent Health & Wellness magazine: www.BeInkandescent.com
- My new book: Why Divorce — 5 Reasons to Leave www.WhyDivorce.us
- My online portfolio: www.Powered-by-Hope.com
Jerome Knyszewski: This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for the time you spent
