Meet Noreen Heron

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Noreen Heron a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Noreen, looking forward to learning from your journey. You’ve got an amazing story and before we dive into that, let’s start with an important building block. Where do you get your work ethic from?

I come from a long line of hard-working people. My father, John Heron, was a Dublin immigrant who worked two full-time jobs most of his life. My Mother balanced a full-time job as she obtained her college degree from Northwestern University later in life, graduating at the age of 59. So I had two great role models. I worked two full-time jobs until I was 28 years old (and started working when I was 14) and then when I went to work as the PR Director of Hyatt Regency Chicago, it was basically like working two full-time jobs because the hours were long. When I left and started my own company, the energy and effort needed was something I was well accustomed to due to my past history.

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?

I grew up on the Southside of Chicago and began working as an usher at Candlelight Dinner Playhouse/Forum Theatre, a legendary musical theatre in Chicago where Mandy Pantinkin and Shelley Long got their starts; Jim Jacobs wrote Grease in the dressing room; and hundreds of Broadway actors performed or went on to perform on Broadway. It was a magical place to work, and I became a Manager there when I was in college at UIC. Upon graduation with a degree in Communications and Theatre, I started doing freelance PR work for off-loop Chicago theatres. Candlelight/Forum offered me a full-time position as the PR Director of the venue, a job I cherished, and I remained working as the House manager eight shows a week on weeknights and weekends. Eventually, I moved into the corporate world when I became the PR and Advertising Director of Hyatt Regency Chicago, Hyatt’s largest property in the world. The property had 2019 rooms, five restaurants, and 225,000 sq. ft of meeting space, and I managed their communications, crisis situations, special events, and sponsorships.

I left Hyatt in 2000 and started Heron Agency, a full-service communications agency specializing in lifestyle/hospitality client representation, offering PR, Social Media, and Advertising services, Digital marketing, Influencer Relations, and Crisis Consulting. Now in our 25th year, we have a reputation for increasing traffic and revenue, creating memorable, creative campaigns, being highly accountable as a true partner that cares, and for the energy, efficacy and enthusiasm of our talented team. We represent clients both nationally and locally and have always been innovative in our approach.

I think that the fact that I had never worked in an agency prior to owning one benefited our clients, because acting as an in-house publicist came naturally to me, so the way that I have run the agency is that we threw and throw everything we could and can at a campaign to get results, in a highly strategic fashion. I have great empathy for individuals starting a business, becoming a franchisee, or launching a product. It takes a lot of risk, and these brands and entrepreneurs need an agency who also will take risks to be bold and make an impact; won’t waste time; and provide the most robust results. That has always been us and our formula works in all categories so our agency grew quickly over time.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

I never stopped learning. I have a hard time shutting my brain down even late into the night. When I travel, or just even out and about in my own city, I am always conscious of observing what businesses are doing to promote themselves, thinking about how our world is changing and how therefore that impact our clients; and ruminating on how current events impact our space and then how do we adapt. This has helped with identifying trends and guiding our clients early as to how they should be preparing.

Secondly, I networked a great deal which started primarily with planning a lot of philanthropic events. Like so many things in life, I had no idea that work that I simply did for enjoyment would turn into something that benefited me personally, because Hyatt in large part hired me due to the event planning volunteer work that I had done.

Thirdly, every PR/Social Media agency will say that they have “relationships” but how actively do they work those relationships for the client is the question. This is where my insane work ethic played a part because the first twelve years of the company, I would work full-time during the day, but I would work from 10pm to 2am after everyone in my family went to sleep (I have insomnia). As I built the company with more team members through the years, I was able to curb that back but I still work a huge amount. We have an A to Z approach when it comes to delivering for our clients and I never try to never stop learning how to add new letters to the alphabet. I try to describe it to my team this way: whether it is your doctor or auto mechanic, do you want to be serviced by someone who got a degree but then never kept trying to learn what was the new technique, advancement or even better yet is that your own doctor or auto mechanic figuring out the next new impactful treatment/service? I want us to always be known as cutting edge, a change maker, a rain maker.

What do you do when you feel overwhelmed? Any advice or strategies?

First, I have an exceptional leadership team and I trust their judgment, so I talk to them about my feelings and they are very helpful. I always feel better once I have gotten their feedback.  Secondly, I have always been a work hard, play hard person, so I prioritize time with my children and friends for fun outings and weekend getaways. There is almost never a time no matter how busy I am that I won’t take a call if I see it’s one of my kids. I also like to plan trips that I can look forward to, so when it is stressful at work I can think, “Well, in two months I will be on a beach.” I absolutely love gardening, so connecting with the earth in that way grounds me and clears my head.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://heronagency.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/heronagency/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HeronAgency/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/heronagency/posts/?feedView=all

Image Credits

Heron Agency