WTF! Publicity’s Year in Review
We've wrapped up our second year at WTF Publicity, and man...was it one for the books! Our amazing team went above and beyond for our clients, we've had several incredible wins, and I've seen every one of our agents grow and totally kick some PR ass -- I couldn't be more proud of my team. In 2022, WTF worked with various campaigns, from emerging artists to established artists, record labels, music festivals, conferences, and even a handful of crisis communication campaigns.
Needless to say, the first two years of WTF have been a whirlwind, and I wanted to thank everyone for your support as we continue to grow!
Happy New Year!,
Steph Maksimow
Founder & CEO of WTF Publicity
As we wind down 2022 and look forward to a new year, I wanted to talk about my second year as the owner of WTF Publicity. When starting a new business, you are told that the first 5 years will be the hardest years of your life – and man, it’s been quite a rollercoaster of a ride! As a company, WTF has had some major wins, but we’ve also had major losses. We have braved campaigns in a shaken-up industry during a worldwide economic spiral – a challenge that everyone has probably shared at some point this year.
2022 came with some unique challenges for me as a leader and business owner. I started this company with $2000 in my account, expecting it to be a low-key freelance business. While things have been growing steadily, this year was the year I fell face-first into all the busy administrative work, financial planning, and extra hurdles that go into growing a new business – fun! As such, I took a step back from client campaigns this year, only focusing on certain long-standing clients like MxPx, Smartpunk Records, and RIVALS; and taking on special projects like Industry Conferences (G2 Rocks, Launch, Electric City) or crisis communication campaigns (Jason David Frank).
On a more personal note, 2022 was extremely trying for me personally. As some might know, in December 2021, my grandma Bess, who I was very close with as she practically raised me, suffered a major stroke which, in addition to severe dementia, caused her to be completely dependent on family and/or nursing staff to care for her. 2022 was filled with flights between Florida, New York, and the Pacific Northwest – to find her the best care and ensure she could be close to family. We had to fly to Florida, pack up her home, and drive them back cross-country for safekeeping as we prepped her house for sale. Grandma went from home care to hospital to rehab facility to assisted living to hospital and finally a nursing home throughout the year until she passed away in the Fall. She was an incredible woman who passed peacefully at the age of 98, and I will miss her terribly. But even during this difficult ant traumatic time, the girls got me through…our amazing team at WTF took over my tasks, helped keep the ship running, and continued to work on their client campaigns seamlessly while I was out of commission A LOT this year.
I absolutely could not have done any of this without my team, and they deserve the most recognition right now.
If I can think of words to describe 2022, those that come to mind are: versatility, resilience, and teamwork. Versatility because our team has had to adapt and take on new challenges this year. Resilience, because we all experienced suffering in some form this year– but we still persevered. And teamwork, because we really couldn’t have done it without each other.
Now it’s time for you to read about my incredible team (Fun fact: The girls didn’t know I was making dedicated Staff Spotlight blogs for them)! A paragraph in this newsletter just isn’t enough to show how much our team means to me – so I wanted to share their accomplishments with you all here.
Click through the next pages of our blog to read how badass our girls are!