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.

6D AGO

Pop Culture Monday Mashup w/ Brooke Hammerling, Founder of The New New Thing

This week, Brooke Hammerling, founder of The New New Thing, joins the Katies for a Pop Culture Monday x Smart in Public mashup episode. Brooke has seen the PR industry from every angle -- from building reputations for founders before "founder brand" was a thing, navigating crisis moments when social media didn't exist yet, being in the ear of some of the world's most important executives, and decoding culture weekly for thousands of newsletter subscribers. In this episode, she dissects how we're going in the world through the lens of pop culture. We cover: 🎯 Super Bowl ads — Which brands actually landed and which ones burned millions on forgettable creative (Brooke doesn't hold back) 🔥 The tech trust collapse — Why the playbooks that built Silicon Valley's reputation are now actively working against it 💡 Crisis PR in the social media age — How the speed and scale of online culture has fundamentally broken traditional crisis management 📱 Culture as a communications skill — Why understanding pop culture isn't a nice-to-have, it's the new competitive advantage for PR professionals 🧠 Looksmaxxing and the future of our youth — Social media's impact on young people, shifting beauty standards, and what communicators need to understand about the next generation of audiences Chapters 02:56 - Reflections on Loss and Cultural Impact05:59 - Navigating Celebrity Culture: LA vs. New York08:59 - Brooke Hammerling's Journey in PR and Communications15:00 - The New New Thing: Strategic Advisory for Founders18:02 - The Teflon Founder: A Case Study on Mark Benioff21:52 - Pop Culture Mondays: The Birth of a Newsletter26:06 - Navigating the Speed of Culture27:45 - Pop Culture Monday Highlights28:37 - Bad Bunny's Impact at the Super Bowl30:16 - Cultural Representation and Misunderstandings32:55 - The Role of Social Media in Public Perception34:56 - The NFL's Global Branding Strategy36:35 - Super Bowl Ads: Hits and Misses39:53 - AI in Advertising: A Double-Edged Sword42:14 - Communication Strategies in Crisis46:00 - Transparency and Trust in Tech Companies47:24 - The Erosion of Trust in Tech50:00 - The Role of Relationships in PR52:00 - The Impact of Outrage Culture53:58 - Fashion and Pop Culture in the Olympics56:01 - Looks Maxing and Its Implications01:01:01 - The Changing Landscape of MasculinityAbout Brooke: Brooke Hammerling is the founder of The New New Thing, a strategic communications advisory firm that she launched in 2020, working with clients across tech and media. She has spent more than 25 years helping tech entrepreneurs and business leaders shape their communications strategies. In 2005, Brooke started Brew PR, a pioneering media relations agency that represented some of the most renowned and disruptive tech companies. Brew was sold to London-based PR firm Freuds in 2016. Brooke also created the “Pop Culture Mondays” newsletter, a weekly round-up of the biggest news and trends in pop culture, and hosts the accompanying “Pop Culture Mondays… on Thursdays” podcast. Brooke divides her time between New York and Los Angeles. Connect with us on: Instagram TikTok Web Have a topic or a guest idea? Email us at hello@smartinpublicpod.com

1h 6m
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
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
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
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
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
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
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

5

out of 5

10 Ratings

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.

Creator

Katie Boysen & Katie Dufficy
Years Active

2024 - 2026
Episodes

60
Rating

Explicit
Copyright

© 2026 Smart in Public
Show Website

Smart in Public

Technology

Technology

Updated Weekly