Smart in Public

Katie Boysen & Katie Dufficy
  • 5.0 (10)
  • BUSINESS
  • UPDATED WEEKLY

CEOs trust us, the media tolerates us, and our mothers think we know Oprah. The Smart in Public podcast, hosted by Katie Boysen and Katie Dufficy, shares business, career, and life experiences through the world of two Public Relations professionals just trying to keep their sh*t together.

  1. LinkedIn Could Never

    FEB 3

    LinkedIn Could Never

    In the spirit of Season 3's unofficial theme of 'are we helping or hurting', The Katies take to Reddit to uncover some of the questions that are on our fellow comm's folks minds. Did we give some good advice? Hopefully! Did we have fun pretending like we're not both individual contributors in our day jobs? Definitely! Whether you're an intern trying to break into PR, a mid-level pro feeling stuck, or an agency leader managing impossible client demands, this episode might be just what you needed to hear to turn on your heels and change careers -- lol, JK. We do our best to try to navigate every question the same way we would if we were in a off-the-cuff career conversation in the hallway. It's a Katie & Katie Special after all, so this one guarantees to be fun! Hot topics include: 🔥 Have client expectations have gone off the rails?  💼 Is the internship-to-job pipeline is broken? 🚪 Can gatekeeping kill careers?  📱 Is paid media ownership a comms land-grab?  Connect with us on: Instagram TikTok Web Have a topic or a guest idea? Email us at hello@smartinpublicpod.com

    41 min
  2. Why Comms People Make Great VCs with Ashley Mayer, Co-Founder & GP at Coalition

    JAN 29

    Why Comms People Make Great VCs with Ashley Mayer, Co-Founder & GP at Coalition

    What happens when one of tech's sharpest communications minds crosses over to the investment side? Ashley Mayer, co-founder and GP at Coalition, made the  leap from leading comms at some of the most talked-about startups to backing them and the Katies want to know what she's learned sitting in both seats.  Ashley unpacks the messy reality of startup storytelling, why the "chief storyteller" title usually falls on founders whether they want it or not, and how the tech industry's current anti-hero moment is forcing communicators to completely rethink their playbooks.  We covered some pretty awesome shit: 🔥 The VC perspective flip - Sitting on the investor side completely changed her understanding of what communications actually delivers for businesses 🎭 The anti-hero era explained - Why tech's moral complexity moment requires a totally different communications approach than the "change the world" narrative from 5 years ago 🛡️ Psychological safety for founders - Founders need a safe space to explore their company's story before they can tell it publicly 📊 Active operators vs. traditional VCs - How Coalition's model of actual operators creates different (and better) support for portfolio companies 🧭 Navigating narrative shifts - Practical advice on adapting your messaging to the current zeitgeist without abandoning your core values Connect with us on: Instagram TikTok Web Have a topic or a guest idea? Email us at hello@smartinpublicpod.com

    48 min
  3. Welcome to Season 3: Are we helping or hurting??

    JAN 20

    Welcome to Season 3: Are we helping or hurting??

    We're back, baby. Season 3 kicks off with what we're now calling a Katie & Katie Special. We felt like the distinction was necessary considering how many guests we have coming your way, so sit back, relax, and listen to us argue about localizing events, AI, and a bunch of other shit. We cover two case studies about the future of events without people in mind & what it actually means to build a personal brand when everyone is screaming for attention.  You'll hear a lot of... 🎙️ Real talk about the real stuff - From twin parenting chaos to holiday survival stories, this isn't your typical season premiere corporate speak (you should know this about us by now though, right??) 🤖  Arguing about AI - How do you stay genuinely you when AI can now mimic your voice, style, and expertise? (Hint: it's harder than you think) 📱 Questions about personal branding - The landscape shifted while we were on break, and what worked six months ago is already outdated 🎬 Ideas on how to earn attention in the attention economy - Why the old media playbook is officially dead and what's replacing it 💼 Agreeing to disagree on the content creation crisis - Traditional media jobs are vanishing, but new opportunities are emerging for people who get it PLUS authenticity just became your only competitive advantage. In a world where AI can generate technically perfect content at scale, being actually yourself (aka messy, opinionated, human) is the only thing machines can't replicate. We break down why this matters more for communications professionals than any tactical tip you'll hear this year. PLUS PLUS: What government funding for South x Southwest reveals about the future of media events, why adaptability isn't optional anymore, and how to balance maintaining your individual voice while building something bigger. Connect with us on: Instagram TikTok Web Have a topic or a guest idea? Email us at hello@smartinpublicpod.com

    54 min

  4. 12/23/2025

    Season 2 wrap up - see you next year!

    Hello from down unda! We're on the same time zone for the first time for a year and wanted to take a quick moment to wrap up Season 2 with a gratitude bow. Thank you to everyone for tuning and chiming in -- we still can't believe that our little passion project has turned into the platform that it has!  We'll be back for Season 3 mid-January 2026 with some guests that we're extremely excited about!! Until then, have a very happy holidays and in the meantime we'll be photoshopping our heads onto Sydney Sweeney's body. xoxo, The Katies Connect with us on: Instagram TikTok Web Have a topic or a guest idea? Email us at hello@smartinpublicpod.com

    10 min
  5. What to do When Everything's on Fire with Tara Goodwin, Crisis Expert and Founder of Goodwin Consulting

    12/17/2025

    What to do When Everything's on Fire with Tara Goodwin, Crisis Expert and Founder of Goodwin Consulting

    Crisis communications expert Tara Goodwin has seen it all: executives freezing under pressure, companies making bad situations catastrophically worse, and the rare leaders who actually nail it when everything's on fire. In this no-BS conversation with the Katies, Tara shares why most organizations are dangerously unprepared for inevitable crises and what actually works when your reputation is on the line. Most CEOs don't have a dedicated crisis plan. They're operating on vibes, crossing their fingers, and hoping their "strong company culture" will save them. In theory, this type of CEO sounds like a fun person who you'd want to have a beer with. But in reality this mentality is a bomb waiting to go off. Why this episode slaps: 🚨 The preparation gap - Why "we'll figure it out when it happens" is the most expensive strategy in business (and why most executives still believe it) 👥 Your employees are your crisis team - How the most underutilized asset in crisis communications is sitting in your Slack channels right now ⚡ Speed vs. perfection - Why social media has made your 24-hour response window obsolete, and what crisis communicators are doing instead 💰 Accountability is your superpower - The counterintuitive reason why owning your mistakes faster actually limits damage (not extends it) 🧠 The executive toll nobody talks about - The emotional and psychological impact on leaders during crises that changes how you should structure your crisis team 🤖 AI's crisis planning advantage - How smart teams are using AI for scenario planning without letting robots write their actual crisis responses The Hot Takes That'll Make You Rethink Everything: Tara and the Katies dive deep into three recent crisis case studies that reveal exactly what works (and what fails spectacularly): Astronomer's Coldplay Gate and the slow responsesThe Tylenol autism litigation crisis - When letting lawyers control communications for too long undermines your public credibilityJimmy Kimmel's FCC showdown - Perfect crisis PR in action: emotional accountability without full apology, thanking enemies, and flipping the narrativeSydney Sweeney's response strategy - Why ego and perception management can make or break your crisis comebackWhy Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni just can't seem to let it go.Crisis management isn't about avoiding mistakes—it's about having the infrastructure, team diversity, and emotional resilience to respond effectively when (not if) things go sideways. Proactive planning and backwards mapping from worst-case scenarios prevents escalation that reactive organizations never recover from. Your crisis plan needs to account for the fact that transparency isn't just expected anymore—it's demanded. Your employees will talk, social media will accelerate everything, and your window for controlling the narrative gets smaller every year. Read Tara's book: Manage the Message, Change the Outcome: An Executive’s Guide to Crisis Management Thank you Tara for coming on the show!!!!!! Connect with us on: Instagram TikTok Web Have a topic or a guest idea? Email us at hello@smartinpublicpod.com

    58 min
  6. The PR/Journalist Relationship Rehab Episode w/ Meredith Klein, Meredith & The Media

    11/26/2025

    The PR/Journalist Relationship Rehab Episode w/ Meredith Klein, Meredith & The Media

    Most PR professionals think they understand journalists—but Meredith Klein, the veteran communications strategist behind the rapidly-growing Meredith & the Media newsletter, is here to take us to school. In this no-holds-barred conversation with host Katie Boysen, Meredith pulls back the curtain on the massive disconnect (AND OPPORTUNITY) between what PR professionals think journalists want versus what actually lands coverage. With 20 years of communications experience and a Substack that's exploded to thousands of subscribers in record time, Meredith has become the translator between two industries that should understand each other but often don't. Her insights reveal why the old playbook for comms is dead, and shares real and practical tips on how to break through the noise and appeal to media in this new landscape. 🎯 The pitch problem nobody's solving - Why your carefully crafted three-paragraph pitch is getting deleted and what journalists actually want to see instead 🔥 Personal branding as career insurance - How building your own platform isn't vanity—it's survival strategy in today's fractured job market 💡 The journalist relationship reality - What "building relationships" actually means (hint: it's not just following them on Twitter and liking their posts) 📱 Substack strategy secrets - How Meredith grew her newsletter rapidly and what PR professionals can learn from independent media's growth playbook 🤖 The AI draft trap - Why using AI to write your pitches is obvious to journalists and undermining your credibility Connect with us on: Instagram TikTok Web Have a topic or a guest idea? Email us at hello@smartinpublicpod.com

    1h 10m
  7. The National Mall

    11/19/2025

    The National Mall

    Ever notice how when corporate giants go to war, they suddenly discover their deep concern for "customers" and "fairness"?  This week on Smart in Public, the Katies dissect the Disney vs. Google/YouTube TV standoff and spoiler alert: neither company gives a damn about you. What they do care about? Leverage, market control, and making sure you think they're the good guys while they battle for billions.  Most coverage of corporate disputes treats them like sports rivalries—pick a side, root for your team. We're taking a different approach: exposing how both companies weaponize "public interest" language while actively screwing over the actual public. When unprecedented competitors with unlimited resources clash, "fair access" becomes a PR talking point, not a principle. And communications professionals need to stop pretending otherwise. What we unpack: 🎯 The fairness theater - How both Disney and Google deploy "fair access" rhetoric while their actions prove customer experience is maybe priority #47 💰 When money isn't the issue - What happens when both sides have infinite resources and the dispute becomes purely about power and positioning 🏢 The customer care illusion - Why major corporations can't actually prioritize customers even when they claim to (and why that matters for how we communicate) ⚔️ Unprecedented competition dynamics - What changes when competitors are this massive, this resourced, and this committed to winning at any cost 📢 The PR strategy breakdown - How both sides are managing communications in this standoff and what that reveals about modern crisis comms This isn't a negotiation failure—it's a glimpse into how corporate communications works when the stakes are existential. Both companies have unlimited legal budgets, massive PR teams, and sophisticated communications strategies. And yet consumers are still getting screwed. Connect with us on: Instagram TikTok Web Have a topic or a guest idea? Email us at hello@smartinpublicpod.com

    40 min
  8. Stop Counting Impressions and Start Proving Impact with Linda Zebian, VP of Communications at Muck Rack

    11/13/2025

    Stop Counting Impressions and Start Proving Impact with Linda Zebian, VP of Communications at Muck Rack

    Ever wonder why everyone in PR talks about measurement but nobody seems to have cracked it? Linda Zebian, VP of Communications at Muck Rack, just said the quiet part out loud—and it's exactly what you need to hear right now. In this episode of Smart In Public, the Katies sit down with someone who's uniquely positioned to call out the industry's blind spots: a comms leader who works at the company that literally builds the tools we're all supposed to be using to prove our worth. Linda's journey from traditional media to the tech side of communications gives her a perspective nobody else has—and she's not holding back. Why this episode hits different: 📊 The measurement confession - Why PR's universal measurement challenge isn't getting solved by better dashboards (and what actually matters instead) 🤖 AI reality without the hype - How AI is actually changing PR measurement and strategy, not just automating press releases like everyone assumes 💰 The budget conversation nobody wants to have - Real talk about what it takes to convince leadership to invest in PR technology when "you can't measure PR anyway" 📰 Owned media vindication - Why building your own channels isn't just a nice-to-have anymore—it's your insurance policy against platform chaos 🎯 Stakeholder education secrets - How to explain PR's value to executives who think communications is just "getting our name out there" The conversations worth stealing: On centralized data: Linda breaks down why scattered analytics across seventeen different platforms is killing your ability to prove impact—and what to do about itOn AI agents: Forget AI writing your pitches. Linda's looking ahead to AI agents that actually change how PR professionals do strategic work (and why that's not as scary as it sounds)On traditional metrics: Why impressions and AVE are worse than useless—they're actively misleading your stakeholders about what communications actually deliversOn the paywall problem: What happens when all quality journalism goes behind paywalls and your citations become invisible? Linda's thinking through this before the rest of usOn authenticity: In a world where AI can generate infinite content, Linda argues that genuine trust and brand authenticity become your only real competitive advantagesChapters 02:57 - Linda's Journey to Muck Rack05:38 - The Evolution of Measurement in Comms08:51 - AI's Impact on PR and Measurement11:38 - The Future of Paywalls and Media Citations14:43 - Preparing for 2026: Strategic Planning in Comms17:54 - Budgeting for AI Tools in PR20:42 - The Role of AI Agents in PR23:37 - Embracing AI and Continuous Learning29:34 - The Evolving Landscape of AI and PR31:28 - Essential Tools for Effective Measurement34:30 - Educating Stakeholders on Measurement Challenges37:31 - The Importance of Technology in Measurement38:44 - Telling Your Own Story in PR40:24 - Maximizing Resources in a Tight Budget42:22 - The Role of Owned Media in Brand Authority44:30 - Shifting Budgets Towards Authenticity48:30 - The Future of PR Measurement and StrategyConnect with us on: Instagram TikTok Web Have a topic or a guest idea? Email us at hello@smartinpublicpod.com

    46 min
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Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
10 Ratings

About

CEOs trust us, the media tolerates us, and our mothers think we know Oprah. The Smart in Public podcast, hosted by Katie Boysen and Katie Dufficy, shares business, career, and life experiences through the world of two Public Relations professionals just trying to keep their sh*t together.

Information

  • Creator
    Katie Boysen & Katie Dufficy
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    59
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Smart in Public
  • Show Website
    Smart in Public

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