Our News

Climate change touches everyone, everywhere. As we saw with extreme weather events last year that were likely influenced by a changing climate, the conversation about our warming planet is no longer theoretical or future-based. Climate change is now. Increasingly, the conversation about it is now as well. And groups like E2 (Environmental Entrepreneurs) are one reason for this dialogue. E2 is a national, nonpartisan organization of more than 11,000 business leaders across th

Today, we are celebrating our seventh anniversary in business. On this day in 2015, I hit “publish” on our website and “send” on an email announcing the debut of RENEW PR , a new public relations firm in Washington, D.C. focused on “restoring common sense to communications.” So what have the last seven years been like for us? The late, great jazz musician Joe Sample inspired this post with this composition “ Seven Years of Good Luck ” from his 1989 album Spellbound . We’ve wo

As a founding member of The Change Agencies , the first (and only) national network of independently owned and operated multicultural and LGBTQ PR firms, I am always interested in learning about new initiatives to increase diversity and representation in our industry. In November, I participated in the first-ever Native American PR roundtable event sponsored by the Museum of Public Relations . During this event, I was delighted to learn about the launch of the Indigenous Peo

National Parks have been part of my life for almost as long as I can remember. I was born in DC and lived within a mile of Rock Creek National Park for most of my childhood. I spent summers visiting National Parks with my family and some of my fondest memories are of hiking the Grand Canyon National Park and Rocky Mountain National Park . Indeed, my passion for nature and the environment is part of the reason I’ve focused my career on climate and related communications effor

One of the many careers I considered as a young child was landscape architecture. It just seemed cool and I thought it would be a lot of fun. But then, other career paths seemed more exciting, and I moved on. So it’s great fun for me now to have the opportunity to talk about landscape architecture again, but this time with the leader of the landscape architecture industry’s professional organization. Landscape architecture is relevant to health, infrastructure and environment

It’s June and that means it’s Pride Month once again. We’re continuing the tradition we started last year of focusing our June Common Sense Colloquy Q&A on an LGBTQ community leader. We’re thrilled to have the opportunity now to highlight a new leader in the advocacy community, Family Equality CEO Stacey Stevenson . Stacey joined Family Equality earlier this year from a career in corporate America, most recently at Charles Schwab and Co. At Schwab, Stacey served as National

Our firm’s focus is on public affairs: communications about policy and politics and everything in between. With the start of a new session of Congress and the inauguration of a new President, many of us are focused on the role of public policy in our daily lives. And of course, we’re always interested in the political "horse races" that decide what kinds of policy get made. With that in mind, now seemed like a good time to ask Mayor Annise Parker for her take on politics and

The Common Sense Colloquy is one of the things I’ve prioritized since launching it in February of 2018. It does require time and effort, but it’s always worth it. I get so much out of the insight and perspective of the people I’m fortunate enough to interview for this Q&A series. Sharing favorite comments from the participants is always the most fun part of summarizing the year we just concluded. It’s also the hardest part: what should I choose when everything that the parti

Every year at this time for the past three years, we highlight the best of the best from our Common Sense Colloquy series: key advice and perspective on communications from a diverse group of energy, environmental and LGBTQ leaders who participated in our monthly Q&A series. In this, the second post in our three-part series marking the end of the third year of the Common Sense Colloquy, we’re sharing insight from twelve influential Presidents, CEOs, former Members of Congres

It’s hard to believe that we’ve now completed our third year of the Common Sense Colloquy , our series of monthly Q&As with influential energy, environmental and LGBTQ leaders. With three dozen interviews now completed, we have an even better archive of compelling, relevant and timely insight on common sense communications. As we do each year at this time, we’re sharing highlights of the wisdom we received in the year before from all 12 of our participants. This is the first

With the election of Joe Biden as President and a new Congress narrowly controlled by Democrats, the conventional wisdom is that any energy, environmental or climate policy that has a chance of being enacted must have broad support from companies, NGOs and others influencing the national dialogue. That assumption is, in turn, putting the spotlight on the companies and NGOs that will likely be part of that conversation. This month, we’re pleased to have the opportunity to incl

How better to wrap up our #WeveGotYourSix sixth anniversary celebration than to share the insight, perspective and compassion of the RENEW PR Team ? I’m fortunate to work with a group of communications professionals who aren’t just smart: they are also good people I am proud to call colleagues and friends. I picked #WeveGotYourSix as our anniversary theme to highlight the role our Team plays in our success. And I’m so glad I did: by nominating groups working on energy, envir

Later this month, RENEW PR will celebrate six years in business. If you follow us, you know that we like to celebrate anniversaries : we appreciate taking the opportunity to thank our clients, colleagues and friends for helping us build a sustainable, successful business. This year is, obviously, different. How should we “celebrate” in this perilous moment in time? After a year in which it seemed like we all needed a helping hand and a reminder that we’re all in this togethe

In addition to hosting the most important national election of our lifetimes, November is also Transgender Awareness Month (and this is Transgender Awareness Week). So the choice for this month’s guest for the Common Sense Colloquy seemed clear: Interim Family Equality CEO (and former client) Denise Brogan-Kator . Family Equality is the nation’s premiere advocacy group for LGBTQ+ families (and, full disclosure, a former client of RENEW PR ). At a time when the rights of LGBT

I thought for a while about the focus of this Q&A in this final month before one of the most consequential elections of our lives. What kind of conversation would be helpful at a time in which we have finally realized that we can’t talk enough about racial justice? Who could I talk with about LGBTQ issues and the election during LGBTQ History Month and a month in which RENEW PR is supporting the Washington Blade’s month-long campaign to urge the LGBTQ community to vote ? For

Hard work is its own reward, they say. But it’s still nice to be honored for the work you do. And it’s even better when that honor recognizes not just what you do, but who you are. So I’m especially thrilled to be a 2020 Washington Business Journal Business of Pride honoree . This award, highlighted in today’s edition of the Washington Business Journal , recognizes a group of ten openly LGBTQ business leaders in the Washington region. You can read about all of the awardees o

October is, among other things, LGBTQ History Month . Throughout the month, LGBTQ advocates and organizations will be sharing insight and perspective from important people and events in our community’s history. And throughout the month, many of these remembrances will no doubt focus on the importance of honoring our history by voting in November. We’ll be supporting both of these activities this month by joining the Washington Blade ’s effort to encourage the LGBTQ community

In a year like no other in our recent history, it’s helpful to have constants you can rely on to help navigate and understand the changing world around you. One of those constants for us is smart people. And one of the smart people we are happy to be able to turn to is Chiqui Cartagena , the Chief Marketing Officer for The Conference Board in New York City. Chiqui’s lived and learned experience provides a helpful starting point for determining how to adjust and adapt communic

We have arrived at an unusual and unexpected place in our nation’s history: the twin pandemics of COVID-19 and structural racism have upended society, government and business. As a nation, we are finally starting to have conversations about topics that should have been addressed years and years ago. And as communicators, we’re struggling to understand how best to engage in a world that has changed dramatically in a short time. When you’re facing new and challenging circumsta

Welcome to Pride Month and to the first Common Sense Colloquy to focus on LGBTQ communications. Going forward, we’ll be including LGBTQ communications leaders along with the energy and environment communications leaders we’ve highlighted in the first 27 (!) Q&As. This commitment to including LGBTQ leaders matches our expanded business focus area which now formally includes LGBTQ communications (although we’ve been working on LGBTQ communications and energy and environment com