“PR people are like the mum”

Listening to PR pro Carrie Crecca Maitoza’s first interview since coming out as the gal behind her Insta meme account, @Miss_PR_Piggy, was hilarious and enlightening in equal measure.

“I feel like PR people are like the mum; they do all the invisible work,” she told former beauty director, Jessica Matlin on podcast Fat Mascara. “And editors are like the dad, they do one tiny thing and everyone’s like ‘Oh, my God, you’re amazing!’.” After near choking on my coffee, both the editor and the mum in me swiftly nodded in agreement.

You guys don’t get nearly enough recognition, praise, and kudos for what you do, and the prestige bias between our jobs (at least in the beauty and fashion worlds that she speaks of) is real. 

But besides acknowledging that, I wanted to explore an element of Carrie and Jessica’s conversation about excess in our industry, and the pre-pandemic pace brands have reverted to. Carrie’s view is that there’s a glut of events and activities, of emails and mailings. And this all means the pressure on us (both as PRs and press) isn’t sustainable. I hear her. 

Our industry has somewhat rebounded to how it looked in 2019, after a period of re-evaluating what was necessary (as much as what was literally possible in lockdowns, of course). I thought we wouldn’t go back to having launch events for new lipstick shades – but it feels like we’re there again. And what’s next?

Personally, I feel that if we want to prevent waste and inefficiency – as well as protect against burnout – we keep questioning what we do, and why we’re really doing it. I’d love to know what you think.