Jessica Goldberg | Oct. 3, 2007
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| Photo by Kevin Caldwell |
| Myra Borshoff Cook told J110 students about her 23 years of owning her own agency. |
Students in J428 Public Relations Planning and Research may have been surprised when Cook walked into the classroom Monday joking about leaving her Super Bowl ring at home. But Cook was celebrating the 23rd anniversary her company, Borshoff Johnson Matthews, in the presence of journalism students and faculty.
Cook founded the full-service communications agency in Indianapolis Oct 1, 1984. Clients include City National Bank and, until recently, Starbucks. Borshoff’s services include advertising, branding, media relations, special events and crisis communications.
“I worked my butt off for 30 years,” Cook said, which is how she landed an appearance on Indianapolis Monthly’s 2007 Power Issue. Cook was featured on the magazine’s Spin and Power Grid pages and, although her heart is in a profession dominated by women, she prides herself on being one woman amid six men on the page.
Cook says her appearance on the Power Grid was because of her professional relationship with Indianapolis Monthly editor David Zivan and stresses one of the most important tools of her profession is maintaining these relationships.
Cook talked about a recent project with Irsay, who purchased the Jack Kerouac’s scroll of his book, On the Road, for $2.2 million in 2001. Cook admitted when Irsay turned to her for help to preserve and promote the scroll, she didn’t know where to begin.
Cook’s research led her to Jim Canary, a conservator at Indiana University’s Lilly Library, who stabilized the scroll to prepare it for exhibit.
Cook said being nimble and creative allowed her to succeed in this project and noted that after years of experience, her confidence has allowed her to find information needed.
The scroll exhibition opened in Orlando in 2004 and has been in 22 cities, including Dublin and Rome and comes to the Indianapolis Museum of Art in July 2008.
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| Photo by Kevin Caldwell |
| Why was Borshoff listed in a magazine’s Power Issue? "I worked my butt off for 30 years," she said. |
“One of the shortcomings of PR people is they are reluctant to push back, but you help your client when you are straight and tell them like it is,” Cook said referring to Roselyn Bakeries.
“In order to succeed in this business, you have to have Sybil Syndrome,” Cook joked, referring to the book based on a woman with multiple personalities. She advised that the most important thing is to make your client believe he or she is your only client and to have the ability to adapt to different personalities at one time.
Cook described agency life as frenetic, exciting, challenging and never boring. To land a job at the agency, she advised honing writing skills, as PR practitioners are responsible for explaining things in a logical order.
In addition to constant writing and having Sybil Syndrome, Cook says professionals need to have the highest ethics, be collaborative, accountable, manage time and budgets, and always speak up.
Prior to becoming a PR professional, Cook interviewed at a bank and was asked why she should be hired at a higher salary than her competitors. Cook looked the interviewer in the eye, showed him the confidence that has gotten her so far and said, “If you hire me, it will be the best $10,000 you’ve spent.”
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