Get the attention
that drives growthWithout blowing your marketing budget.

Our publicists nail your message and build campaigns you can easily run for press, speaking gigs, and online momentum.

One flat fee. No retainers, ever.

Tracy Samantha Schmidt

Clients featured in

The New York Times The Wall Street Journal Oprah CNN FOX Harvard Business Review Bloomberg TechCrunch Newsweek POLITICO
Jonathan Domanus
“

Tracy helped me turn my idea into a story people believed in. Her strategy gave me the tools to build momentum, and it directly fueled our record-breaking $2.6 million Kickstarter launch.

Jonathan DomanusFounder, CardMill

PR done smarter

Top-tier publicists build your campaigns.
You run them.

Get press, speaking gigs, and online momentum from one system that’s custom built for you. As part of it, we give you the exact emails to send and show you what to do, all for one flat fee.

Most clients save 75% or more on annual agency fees

Our publicists

You or your team

01

We nail your message.

Working sessions with Tracy find your message and the white space in the media where it lands.

02

We build your campaigns.

Our publicists write the pitches, build the lists, and hand you everything ready to send.

03

You run them. We show you how.

You hit send, build the right relationships from the start, and learn to do it again and again.

Book a call with Tracy

Two ways to work with us

PR for experts, or for a brand.

For experts

Get booked and covered.

Stages, podcasts, and press for the ideas you want to be known for.

PR for experts

For brands

Get your brand in the news.

Press, podcasts, and creators, with campaigns your team sends.

PR for brands

Need PR or speaking gigs for several experts? We also run cohorts for organizations.

Our track record

150+ brands advised since 2015.

From venture-backed startups to Johns Hopkins, our clients hire us for the same thing. The right attention, without an agency retainer.

Our clients have included

The University of Chicago Johns Hopkins University YPO National Association of Realtors American Library Association Rotary International

Healthcare & Med Tech · Higher Education · Tech & AI · Nonprofits & Associations · Finance & Real Estate · Consumer & Food · Arts & Culture · Civic & Government · Media & Marketing · Professional Services

Results

What getting the right attention looks like.

Here are some of our clients’ success stories.

Tech startup

From idea to $2.6M raised

CardMill’s founder had an AI-powered trading card sorter and a passionate niche to reach. We nailed his origin story and built the complete PR system, and he ran it. The Kickstarter funded in 24 minutes and has raised $2.6 million to date.

Futurist + creative technologist

From one viral talk to global keynote speaker

Ian Beacraft wanted his SXSW talk to make a mark. We shaped it with him before he gave it, and the talk went viral. Within a year he had 500 media mentions, representation by UTA, and keynotes around the world.

Johns Hopkins surgeon + professor

From the exam room to Oprah, CNN, and NYT

Dr. Emily Boss wanted to reach two audiences at once, moms and healthcare leaders. We refined her narrative to carry both and helped her learn to attract consistent media coverage without a publicist. Within six months she landed in The New York Times, CNN, and Oprah.

Independent film

From independent release to a New York Times exclusive

The docuseries “I Bid You Peace” was releasing independently and wanted national attention. We clarified the film’s narrative and built the media system its director ran, and The New York Times covered it exclusively, including in print.

Community nonprofit

From complex work to a message that clicks

The Institute for Nonviolence Chicago does work that is hard to sum up in a sentence, and wanted funders to get it fast. Our messaging process uncovered its differentiator, and the reframe resonated with foundations immediately.

CPG brand

From “Food Stars” to CPG industry recognition

Globowl’s founder came off Gordon Ramsay’s “Food Stars” with national exposure and wanted to build on it. We built the strategy she ran herself, landing The Bump, Good Housekeeping, and a recurring NBC cooking segment.

Meet Tracy

I watched smart people blow their money on PR agencies. So I built a smarter way to do PR.

I’m a former TIME Magazine journalist and media executive. The clients who run our programs have landed major media coverage, raised millions, gone viral, and spoken on global stages for clients like Google, Microsoft, and Amazon.

Erica Bethe Levin
“

Although I’ve always considered myself PR savvy, traditional PR hasn’t always felt like it was working. Tracy armed me with the tools I needed to do it the right way, on my own, and it’s been more effective than anything else we’ve ever tried.

Erica Bethe LevinFounder and CEO, Globowl

Dr. Emily Boss
“

As a Johns Hopkins University Provost’s Fellow, I spent over a year training in public-facing and media skills. I then had the amazing opportunity to work with Tracy, who transformed my outlook, presence, and messaging far more than what I learned during the year.

Dr. Emily BossSurgeon and Professor, Johns Hopkins University

Sonny Garg
“

It is through this carefully orchestrated process of organizational inquiry that the messaging reveals itself, and it has proven to resonate deeply with both our internal team and external audiences, including funders.

Sonny GargThe Institute for Nonviolence Chicago

Dr. Justin Gregg
“

Tracy was able to find a way to take what I considered my greatest weakness as a science communicator and turn it into my greatest strength.

Dr. Justin GreggBest-Selling Author & Scientist

Before you book

Questions people ask us.

What does it cost?
We share pricing on the intro call. It’s one flat fee, never a retainer, and everything we build is yours to keep.
Who does the work?
Our publicists do the heavy lifting. They write your messaging and your pitches, hand-build your media lists, and create the materials. Your part is sending the emails, watching the inbox, and showing up for the interviews and talks that come back. An assistant can handle the sending and coordinating for you.
How much of my time does it take?
Less than you’d think. Your time with us is a weekly working session with Tracy at the start, plus time to review what we build. After that, our team does the building while you get on with your work.
Do you guarantee coverage?
No, and be careful with anyone who does. What we can show you is what our clients have landed, including a Johns Hopkins surgeon who wrote and placed articles in outlets like Oprah, AARP, and The New York Times, with quotes on CNN, within three months. You get the same materials and support.

Let’s talk

Ready for the right attention?

Book a call with Tracy. We’ll walk you through how it works, share pricing, and tell you honestly if it’s not a fit.

Book a call with Tracy