Meet Joy Schoffler, Outstanding Austin Communicator Award Winner

By Andrea K. Citrin Gardner

Joy Schoffler, Founder and Principal of Leverage PR, is a nationally recognized author and speaker, overseeing day-to-day operations and directing strategy for all of Leverage’s public relations accounts.

Outside of the private sector, Joy served as a finance officer for six years in the U.S. Army Reserves and three years as a public relations officer for the Texas State Guard. Joy sits on the board for Athletes for Change – an organization of NFL players dedicated to helping foster kids and the Crowdfund Intermediary Regulatory Advocates (CfIRA) – the main lobbying organization for the crowdfunding industry that works directly with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) to help establish industry standards and best practices.

WCA: How long have you been a member of WCA and how has your involvement in WCA benefitted you?

Joy: I’ve been a member for almost a year. It’s a great way to network with other women and connect with other women in the community. It’s a good organization to get an education in your field and to be a part of a fabulous community.

WCA: What would you say to women considering a membership in WCA?

Joy: It is worth it. It’s great to be part of an organization that provides so many opportunities for continued professional education as well as ways to network with other people, to scout out new talent, to grow your career, look for new opportunities and meet with decision makers.

WCA: As a successful businesswoman, what tips would you share with women who are starting or building their communications businesses?

Joy: Quality matters more than billable hours. Invest in your clients and your business by always insuring quality work even if it means going over billable hours because reputation is all you have. Produce good results for your clients because that message will spread and in the end you will spend less time on business development. Promote yourself. Public relations is one of the best ways to grow your own business, know your stuff. Become an expert in your field—offer advice—look at the industry your clients are in and see how you can make yourself an expert in that industry to increase worth to your clients. No matter what the topic is or what your field is, there are always industry events and so much going on for every industry. Even if you just start small with meet-up groups, insert yourself. Write blog posts and white papers, produce videos, go to professional associations and see how you can contribute. Thought leadership is the best way to do business development.

WCA: How has your communications business evolved, and where do you see it heading?

Joy: Well, we were just listed as the second-fastest growing PR firm in the industry, which is very exciting. Besides the PR part of our business, we have started working with incubators and businesses that work with entrepreneurs, with a CrowdBuilder technology platform that walks the startup through how to create their own pitch in character-limited format, as well as helping them build a media list on the backend; it’s a way to help people who cannot afford a full time PR firm get potential coverage for their business. So basically, our next phase is spinning off a PR platform for early stage technologies.

WCA: What’s your advice for communicators in Austin wanting to make a difference in their industry?

Joy: Don’t be afraid to volunteer your time. Everything you do, whether volunteering within an industry or executing client/account membership, should be done with long-term growth in mind. The client is always right because at the end of the day they pay you so do what you can to build them up. Don’t be afraid to invest time in your business through volunteer work. You will spend money doing business development, however volunteer work can bring you as much business as the best business development. The number one way to gain more clients (and to bill more) is to gain more knowledge, so your client doesn’t have to educate you about what they do. You can’t be an expert in everything; when you try to do that, it’s really hard to get deep because you constantly have to switch gears. So, get specific. Go deep and make connections in particular industries. Once you know one industry, you can dive deeper in other practice areas.

WCA: What does winning this award mean to you?

Joy: It is an incredible honor to be recognized by such a prestigious group of women from the Austin area. It is very touching and I am humbled by it. We have so much ability to make a change in our community as communicator because we are the voices for so many types of organizations in our community. So, it enforces in me the kind of responsibility to use our voice and our communication to create the positive change we want to see in our community and in the world. It adds to my desire to help out by doing a lot of pro bono work and passion projects allowing our employees to donate time because I really believe as communicators we are in a unique position to create change for things we believe in.

Don’t miss your chance to congratulate Joy at the April 12, 2013 Banner Brunch. Buy tickets and learn more at www.bannerbrunch.com.