A20 Carrie Fox Profile

8/12/2019 A20 Carrie Fox Profile

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2014

Carrie Fox

A PASSIONATE LEADER TO A MISSION-DRIVEN

AGENCY

SOPHIA VOCOMM231

I hope to publish this profile and accompanying materials to

local newspapers and UMD COMM website.

Word count: 873

Grade level: 9.5


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Carrie Fox, founder of C. Fox Communications.Photo: magazine.loyola.edu

Carrie FoxA Passionate Leader to A Mission-

driven Agency

By Sophia Vo --July 8

COLLEGE PARK, Md.The phone went off again at dinnertime. Carrie Fox jumped at her phone to check emails and

messages from a client who was on a different time zone. Hisurgent requests every evening unreasonably became her normal

routine and interrupted Foxs family dinners, movie nights,

workouts and even holidays.

Fox understands every public relation professional has to beflexible to be available to reporters, producers, clients and

partners as needed. She believes her life outside the business is

what keeps her refreshed and help her do a better job for her

clients.

Carrie Fox, 35, foundedher PR firm 10 years

ago with an accountant,

attorney and few moreadvisors, who became

her mentors in life.

She has guided

organizations through

many situations and

remains activelyinvolved with many

traditional newschannels such as CNN,

The Washington Post,

USA Today, and TheWall Street Journal.

PRWeek named her to its 40 under 40 list in 2013 for her

contribution in putting hundreds of clients best messagesforward.

After graduating from college, Fox began her career at Ripken

Baseball. She found nothing was easy as a woman working in amale-dominated sport public relation industry. Fox took the first

big trip with the Ripken Baseball to Tampa, Fla., to help set up a

press conference for Cal Ripkens post-game career. However,

BEHIND HER

PHILOSOPHY

I dont want to do this

anymore, I want to be in a

small firm and hope youll

consider taking my resume.

Carrie Fox recalled when

Don Foley, former

Ketchums North American

Public Affairs leader, wanted

to join her team.

When Fox started her career

in Washington, D.C, Foleyquickly became her mentor

and gave her multiple

business opportunities before

she even realized. Foley also

helped Fox to get in the door

of winning an XPrize

Foundations contract, a 10-

million project.

C. Fox beat a large firm as

Ketchum to win the newproject in 2008 to design

super fueled-efficient

vehicles, which became

Foxs focus for three years.

She would spend long client-

calls during dinner time

because her clients were on a

different time zone.

Soon after, Fox decided toraise the bar and set

guidelines for her agency.

Now, every client receives a

philosophy document on the

agencys rights.


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Determination and confidence have allowed meto grow my agency.

Carrie Fox.

few Major League Baseball players were giving Fox a hard time.

Fox didnt know how to deal with this problem. At the time, BillRipken, a co-owner of Ripken

Baseball, came and backed her up by saying, Youll be good at what youre doing and put them

out of your mind.

From that moment on, Fox knew that she had to prove she deserved a seat at the meeting table,and her opinions mattered.

She applies the same philosophy to her current agency today because she strongly believes it

should commit to the issue and cause raised by her clients.

Values in the brand C. Fox

It was my idea, my insight, my work. Carrie Fox asserted.

Fox decided her name was on the door because she was the sole owner of the company. She

makes sure that every client her

agency gets will get the philosophy

that she holds strongly.

People know the result when they

hire C. Fox, and the agency put in

the best efforts to meet thoseexpectations, according to Fox.

Theres some brand value in that name. Fox continued.

As the agency grows, Fox oversees the growth of her agency, gets her hands on everything and

implements communications strategies and solutions for every project.

The importance of individualitySarah Neumann, an employee coming from another big public relation agency in town, started

her second week on the job. Fox asked her to create a memo of strategies to give it to a client.Sarah assumed she would put Foxs name on the paperbecause that was how her former agency

operated.

Fox answered, Why would it be my name on something that you did? Its your memo, its your

opinion.

She replied, Thats totally foreign to me.

Her leader, unlike some CEOs, believes everyones opinions are valued, even employees at the

lower level can be talking to the client and give them advice. Employees should be responsiblefor their ideas, especially at C. Fox.

I need to be able to step out of the way to let my people shine and do their best work without me

getting in their way, Carrie Fox wittily said.

Carrie Fox regularly speaks on college campuses and public relation seminars and workshops.


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Here she was, sitting in front of a class of undergraduates who were seeking for her expertise.

Her first reply on tips to succeed, without any hesitation, was Be over-prepared! Fox linked

her advice to many real-life situations she has dealt with in the past, and gave students the tips onbuilding and keeping connections, which are important for a PR professional.

Recently, C. Fox Communications celebrated its 10th

year of using communications to fulfill its

mission, as well as clientsand community goals.

Fox hoped to double the size of her agency in the near future and open some satellite shops in

other cities.

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Interviewee contact information:

Carrie Fox, President

C. Fox CommunicationsOffice : (301) 585-5034

Email : [email protected]

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A20 Carrie Fox Profile