Stop being the best kept secret!
This year, I’ve been doing things differently.
Boldly connecting, putting myself and my brand out there more and making asks that push me outside of my comfort zone.
I met our guest UpNext, Alessandra Pollina through the Boston Business Women’s Networking group online. She had shared a post looking to connect with more female founders for her Podcast Tour offering. I was intrigued but also wanted to learn more from Alessandra who had founded a neat co-working space in Downtown Boston called the Founders Hub.
She runs her media company out of the space and hosts meetups with local female founders to connect, collaborate and celebrate their businesses.
Alessandra shares a bit more about her story on the Podcast today.
We dove deep into the power of visibility, storytelling, and why so many incredible women spend years hiding in plain sight.
I learned more about what PR means in todays world and Alessandra helped reframe the way she approaches making asks and connecting with media outlets for her clients.
From Homemade Newsletters to a Full PR Agency
Before the magazine, the agency, the podcast, or the collective, there was a little girl in rural Vermont tapping away at her family computer, designing her very own newspaper.
A full printed newsletter — horoscopes, upcoming events, bus-ride recaps, even crossword puzzles — painstakingly laid out in early-2000s Adobe software and proudly handed out to her parents and friends.
She didn’t know it then, but she was already doing PR. Even at a young age and before she even knew what “public relations” meant.
She was already elevating stories, curating moments, amplifying the little things that would have otherwise slipped by unnoticed.
That thread has never left her.
And it continues to inspire (at least me) today!
Today, Alessandra is a PR strategist helping women founders get their work out of the shadows and into the places where their ideal clients — their people — can finally see them.
But the heart of it?
It’s the same instinct she had as a kid:
Stories deserve to be shared. And people deserve to be seen.
Why You Can’t Afford to Be a “Best Kept Secret”
One of the first things Alessandra said in our conversation was this:
“You’re not going to get a business off the ground while you’re a best kept secret.”
It hit right to the core.
Maybe because I am a rockstar at hiding and keeping myself and my biz a “best kept secret.”
Her words were exactly what I needed to hear, and her advice might just be what you need too.
She’s spent over a decade watching genuinely brilliant businesses — truly life-changing products and services — quietly disappear because they never got in front of the right people.
Not because they weren’t good.
Not because they weren’t worthy.
Simply because visibility felt uncomfortable… so it stayed on the bottom of the to-do list.
And if you’re a woman?
Multiply that discomfort by ten.
We are socialized to downplay, to soften, to avoid repeating ourselves.
Meanwhile, visibility requires repetition.
Frequency.
Familiarity.
Getting seen over and over again — far more times than feels natural.
Alessandra said something I haven’t stopped thinking about:
You’re seeing your posts.
You’re feeling the repetition.
But your audience?
They might only catch one out of ten.
If you want your work to matter, you have to let people see it.
Borrowing Confidence When You Can’t Find Your Own
One of my favorite detours in our conversation was about using AI — specifically ChatGPT — as a mirror.
Not a shortcut.
Not a replacement.
A mirror to reflect back your brilliance in a way you rarely allow yourself to articulate.
To build confidence, you can use what you learn from ChatGPT to reframe a mantra to read to yourself.
Hype yourself up and let the words sink in.
Practice believing the truth of it.
And then show up and share that truth.
We deleted this from the final edit – but I’ll share this story here:
One night early this fall, I was feeling pretty depleted as a mom, wife, and business owner and leaned into ChatGPT to hype me up.
The response was exactly the reminder I needed: that I was already doing so much, caring so deeply, and holding more than I gave myself credit for.
I can reframe this response and share it with the world as another way of not keeping myself small and a secret.
I’m in no way saying you should rely on AI and ChatGPT for therapy and to pull you out of dark spots – but if you need a little pep talk – it doesn’t hurt to ask for it to hold a mirror back up to you about all the work you’re putting in.
Sometimes it’s the confidence you borrow until your own returns. And if it doesn’t call a therapist and/or invest in a PR or branding coach to help!
Making the Ask Even When It Feels Scary
If there is one thing PR requires, it’s this skill:
Making the Ask
Pitching yourself.
Following up.
Reaching out again (and again).
Sending the email even when your stomach flips.
And Alessandra reminded me — and all of us — that the worst-case scenario is not that you ask and get a no.
The worst-case scenario is that you never ask at all.
A “no” keeps you exactly where you already were.
A “yes” opens a door you didn’t even know was possible.
And often, the follow-up — the gentle, thoughtful, generous follow-up — is where the magic happens. Not in the first ask.
There’s always a lesson to be reframed in perceived Failure.
Motherhood, Memory Keeping & the Stories We Save
We found our way, as we always do, into memory keeping. Childhood photos. MVP moments. The pictures that rise to the surface when someone asks, “What would you save in a fire?”
For her, it’s a photo with her dad — one that keeps resurfacing and carrying new meaning.
It’s also the accordion folder of her son’s artwork, school papers, and finger-painted masterpieces. The real-life archive she’s not sure she’ll ever be ready to pare down.
And I loved the symmetry of that:
A woman who has spent her life amplifying other people’s stories, who keeps her own family’s stories tucked safely into pages, too.
It also was a perfect chance to share about a project that I’ve had on my to do list forever that finally got moved off!
I leaned into using my friend, Katie Harris’ new company Keepsakery Books to photograph and print photos of my son’s artwork into a book.
Memorializing and celebrating his pre-school era artwork.
Getting it out of the box it was crumpled and piled in and into a tangible form that we could easily share and sift through cozily together.
Don’t worry – I’ll have Katie UpNext on the show soon! Be sure to subscribe on Apple Podcasts | Spotify so you don’t miss when our latest episodes air!
Key Takeaways
- Visibility isn’t vanity — it’s survival. Your work can’t change lives if no one knows it exists.
- Repetition builds recognition. People need to see you far more often than feels comfortable.
- AI can be a mirror, not a crutch. Use tools like ChatGPT to reflect back your brilliance when you forget it.
- Lead with what you want to be known for. Confidence comes from clarity — and clarity comes from practice.
- Lean into the leap. The worst that can happen is a “no.” The best? A door you didn’t know you were allowed to knock on.
Resources & Mentions
- Quotable Media Co Website | Instagram
- Alessandra on Instagram
- Quotable Podcast
- Propel PR software (PR pitching tool)
- Alessandra’s Favorite Recent Purchase – The cell phone wallet strap!
- Insight Timer: Good Morning Rampage
- Rich as F*ck — Amanda Frances
- Mistakes That Made Me a Millionaire — Kim Perell
- Keepsakery (childhood artwork preservation)
- Guest UpNext Referral: Amanda McKinney – Accountability Coach.
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