Tori Loiacono, VP Beauty & Wellness KCSA Strategic Communications
With close to a decade of experience in PR, Tori brough her passion for women's health to craft a career building wellness brands.
Tori shares her personal story of finding her balance of wellness, mental health, and how that shifted her career. Today she's the VP Beauty & Wellness KCSA Strategic Communications, taking on brands that she's passionate about.
In this episode, Tori shares about what she looks for in a brand to pitch to press, what brands are cutting through the noise, and the future of women's wellness brands.
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00:02 Hi, everyone. Welcome back to a new episode of Emerging Brands Podcast with Kelly Bennett. I have a very special guest who's also from Long Island, New York. 00:13 And I got too excited. I had to re-record my intro because it just makes my heart so happy. Tori Lorekano is here. 00:22 I'm so stoked to have you. I'm so stoked to be here. I know we were geeking out about the fact that we were from Long Island, even though we've both relocated. 00:30 But 516-631 for life. I love it. It's such a small world. So, Tori, tell me about your backstory. I just realized you're from Long Island but I know you live in California, work in PR, we're going to dive so much into what you do on the day-to-day, building consumer brands. 00:49 So give me a little bit more of your backstory. Yeah, of course. So I'm a born and bred New Yorker. 00:56 You know, went to NYU and kind of discovered my love for communication and PR when I was there majored in media culture and communications. 01:05 I actually started my career in fashion quickly realized that within my my passion right there and kind of navigated my way into more of like the wellness social impact brands. 01:19 And that's really where I found my passion and where my entire passion really lies is with women's health and destigmatizing conversations around women's health, whether that means those that were born with v****** or without v****** that identify as. 01:37 I think it's just really important and it's not spoken out enough. I was at an agency for almost seven years. 01:46 I've been in PR for almost a decade. And I am now the vice president of the Consumer Division for KCSI Strategic. 01:56 Love everything you just said. So let's dive into that. You found a passion for PR, it sounds like. And then also with a personal passion for women's health. 02:08 And then you've been able to integrate the two and really niche down in your career and then become the VP, walk us through how did that come together? 02:21 Yeah, it was an interesting journey. So it actually, it really catapulted over the pandemic as did most things. I was with my family at home. 02:34 I just had gotten put on some health and wellness brands because that was really booming. During the pandemic, it's now a multi-trillion dollar industry at this point, which is insane to think about. 02:46 But I was on a mental health brand. I was on sexual wellness brands. I think what really triggered me was the fact that I was learning so many things about my own body that I probably should have known before. 03:04 I'll say this to the day I die, that like sex ed and health education in this country is a joke and the fact that I was again still learning about the processes of okay if I have sex it's not like automatically I get pregnant I have to actually test my fertility or you know the the clitoris itself wasn't 03:26 even mapped in Grey's Anatomy until 2005, yeah. And the male anatomy was mapped in the 1950s. So we've just been completely underserved and I wanna make sure that that's no longer, or whatever little part I can do. 03:43 Well, I did not know that. Yeah, it's crazy. It just was left out. Completely left out. They just didn't, didn't map it out until 2005. 03:53 So literally in our lifetime. Time. Okay, there's so much to impact there. So during the pandemic, you're learning about yourself, you're learning about all these brands. 04:05 How did you then build your own brand essentially just being in this expertise and blending your passion to then land a VP role. 04:18 Yeah, so over the pandemic, I, you know, admittedly wasn't as healthy as I probably should have been. And after learning so much about my body and, you know, the way the women's body works, I decided to commit to health and wellness for myself. 04:37 You know, if I'm going to be the director or if I'm going to be the PR manager of a division where tell them, as I should probably reflect that. 04:44 So I completely revamped my lifestyle. I actually got weight loss surgery over the pandemic and lost about 80 pounds, which was awesome. 04:54 Got my mental health in order. Got a new therapist. And all of that really changed everything for me. I always tell either assistance or my, you know, anyone who works with me, if you're not okay up here, you're not okay out here. 05:10 So mental health as well and once I improved on my own mental health and my confidence and all that stuff which all came for me with weight loss I'm not saying that necessarily it has to come like that with everyone else but for me that's how it came I was able to really focus on my career and dive 05:28 into more of like okay what are people talking about what aren't they talking about why should they be talking about this and I also got in touch with a lot of really great people in the sexual wellness community to where you know we're educating out there educating people and I was just really inspired 05:46 so through all those experiences I was able to you know catapult my career and KCSA came to me and offered me a position because they were starting a consumer division and I it was an offer I couldn't refuse just incredible incredible. 06:05 So walk me through what you do with brands, right? Because PR, yes, I understand that. But I think for many founders, the idea of starting to work with a publicist or a PR agency, it's still this a bit aloof mystical journey that they're like, I don't know. 06:25 Maybe I'm ready. Could you walk us through of how you strategically work with brands and a little bit of the behind the scenes of what that looks like, working with you. 06:35 Absolutely. You know, it's funny you asked that because I've obviously listened to past episodes, and you've had friends of mine on here. 06:42 Yes. They're choir and Delaney who we all do PR, but we all do PR differently. Which I love and admire. 06:52 Yeah. I love everyone's own take on it. Yeah. And what's even better about that is that we're all so supportive of each other. 06:58 We bounce ideas off each other all the time because it's great to have an outsider's perspective, especially when you're so in the weeds with something. 07:05 So, the way that I work, that's a little bit differently is obviously I'm very much passion first. My partner in crime at KCSA, Michelle Asalta, who has been in the industry for almost two decades. 07:18 So double the amount of time I've been in it. She's also brilliant and well-versed. She launched names. She has worked with a lot of really big sexual wellness brands. 07:27 So I've not only like learning from her but I'm taking my personal experience into this as well. And we're in a very lucky position where we can take brands that we're or only take brands that we're passionate about. 07:42 So most of the time when we are taking new business calls you know what we're really looking for is because the market is so saturated like I mentioned before it's a multi trillion dollar industry. 07:55 What is making you different? That's at the end of the day what it is. Instead of what it used to be when the Warby Parkers and the Casper's of the World, where it's like the first and only, we're digitally native, like ever has now. 08:09 So now we're really looking for, okay, is this doing better for the planet? Is this doing better for us as humans as a community? 08:20 You know, what is it that you're bringing to the table, that's really gonna change the game here, and how can we help you amplify that? 08:28 Yes, to everything you just said. And I took a note of what makes you different and understanding that from a founder's perspective so that when they reach out to a publicist and they're at that next stage of growth, they know how to also pitch you, right? 08:47 That's the first step, essentially. Absolutely, absolutely. And I think to, you know, I've worked with a lot of founders anywhere from like small brands to big heritage brands and the common mistake that I think founders make. 09:03 And I hate to say it like this, but I have to it's that they think they're reinventing the wheel. You don't necessarily have to reinvent the wheel. 09:11 It can be as simple as like think about when the first diva cup came out, you know, it's sustainable, it's easy to use, it's a replacement for the tampon, like you don't have to reinvent the wheel, you can reimagine it. 09:28 And know that also your idea is probably not as unique as you think it is, so do a lot of market research. 09:37 That's another great point because I just know myself, sometimes you could come up with an idea and you're like, whoa, this is the most unique idea in the world. 09:46 And then you go on Instagram and you happen to look at your phone and then there's another brand doing almost something exactly to what you want to do. 09:55 Totally, totally. And, you know, you could use that either to make you stop or what I like to encourage founders and what I've done myself for my own brand and brands I've worked very closely with is use it as motivation and inspiration. 10:13 And say, okay, well, they're helping pay for brand awareness essentially to a need and leveraging what they're also doing for your brand and distilling down even more what makes you different. 10:26 Right? And not just saying, Oh, I'm doing this thing. No one else is doing. But it's actually helping you be more innovative because you're seeing what else is out there. 10:35 And then how to differentiate yourself even more. Yeah. And I think to like to go back to the idea of like when I was talking about Sarah and Delaney and how we bounce ideas off each other. 10:46 The same should be going for brand founders where sometimes I feel like they get very siloed into the idea of what they're doing. 10:53 And they think, you know, one thing was like you should be asking somebody what they think and getting feedback and using that feedback to your advantage to make your product even better to make your brand even better. 11:05 I love that so much. I was just interviewing a founder today and she was sharing how she used her early adapters. 11:14 The first round of customers essentially to scale the business, because she did a lot of research and development using them as her base point as far as getting feedback. 11:28 And I was like, yes, that is such a practical, tangible takeaway that you don't need to have millions of customers to get feedback. 11:38 You could start with a small group and really help you drill down in what makes you brand different. And on that note, too, I would love to hear from you. 11:48 What are you looking for when you are having those calls and people are essentially pitching you on their idea first? 11:56 What are some things that you look for or listen for that really make a brand different or a product different? 12:03 Yeah, so you know I'm I'd like to say pretty well versed in my space and I know the players in the space both big and small. 12:13 I think what I'm looking for when I'm on a new business call is would I use this? Straight up. Would I buy this myself? 12:23 Because if I would that means that there is nothing else on the market like it or there is something similar and this is better. 12:34 I'm writing my self. I think that is a really great question to ask yourself. And when someone a founder say is essentially practicing to reach out to someone like yourself and understanding also who they're talking to of what makes this product different and why they would want to buy it, I think is 12:55 also really great practice. Yeah, I think to, you know, like I said before, I have to be passionate about the brand to promote it. 13:05 The editors and anyone in the media who knows me knows that if I'm sending them a pitch, it's because there's a reason behind it. 13:13 Like, it's efficacious. They're doing something amazing. It's not just fluff. It's not just, you know, sound in the, in the, you know, ether. 13:22 This, yeah. Exactly. You know, and if it's something that I can be like, listen, I use this myself. And, you know, for example, we have a brand called Inside Beauty. 13:32 I have the most sensitive skin when it comes to sunscreen. I legitimately have used every single sunscreen on the market. 13:41 Natural, you know, neutrogena, anything organic. Could not find one that I didn't have a reaction to. When we signed Inside Beauty, they have an emollient sunscreen. 13:51 I used it on my face during the summer and it was the only thing that did not get me reaction. 13:58 And I just pitched and I pitched my own story essentially. I was like, I have an allergy. This is the only thing. 14:06 And you know, people are responded to it. There's so much there too. The fact that you genuinely are testing and trying products that you're pitching, I think that is a testament of just your own method and practice. 14:21 And also what you said as far as the relationships you have with editors that they know when they see a pitch from you come across their inbox, it sounds like you've done a lot of legwork behind the scenes to help get that reputation. 14:36 So when they see a pitch from you, they're opening it up and saying, okay, this is something to look at. 14:42 Yeah, this is a decade-long relationships with some of them. You know, some of them that we both came up as assistance in this industry. 14:51 I feel that, and I know a lot of other publicists feel this way, that publicists and the media are very symbiotic. 15:00 You can't have one way or the other, but it wouldn't work as well as it does. And I genuinely become friends with these people, which is really nice too. 15:08 So, you know, we have more in common than just work. Yeah, I think, you know, all of that comes down to, it comes down to relationships, which is, you know, PR 101. 15:18 Absolutely. Let me ask you this behind the scenes of how you're building out the consumer division. What does that look like? 15:26 Because there's right, you're doing your work as a publicist, but you're also building out a division, which sounds really cool and interesting. 15:34 So what's going on behind the scenes there? How you're building this out? Yeah, a lot of coordination. A lot of conversations. 15:44 And to be honest, I have to be thinking beyond product pitching and beyond business pitching, I have to be thinking about, okay, what is it that the media needs right now? 15:56 And something that they are just across the board almost requiring is affiliate. So we're actually building out a subdivision for affiliate. 16:07 Tell me more about that because I've I've been hearing the rumbles of that. But I would love to hear your insight. 16:14 Yeah. Affiliate came up ironically enough during the pandemic and has grown pretty much ever since and, you know, I tell the clients and I'm such an analog girl. 16:26 I loved magazines. I grew up, you know, subscribing to Cosmo and Tiger Beat and all of that stuff. But with the unfortunate that the magazines came the, you know, pull out of advertisers. 16:37 And now that everything is digitalized, they have, you know, publications need to either, you know, make a subscription model, or they have to make money somehow, essentially. 16:47 Right. The way that they're making money is through these affiliate programs. So the way that that kind of works is, let's say, that there's, I'll take my client proof, for example, proof is an ad home diagnostics company. 17:01 Let's say parents.com is making a list of the top pregnancy tests. We get proof on that list, we get proof on other lists. 17:13 That converts because that's what that's how people are buying. They're not buying through reading magazines and stuff anymore. They're reading by Googling what is the best ex-liancy? 17:22 And the second they see that list and they see consecutively, it's the same brand, they're going to buy that brand. 17:28 Yes, I think that's a really good way of also looking at the power of PR and the impact on your business to be forward thinking and understanding the role that it plays in the overall growth of your brand. 17:45 Yeah. So you're seeing it from both sides too. Yeah. I mean, don't get me wrong. Like I geek out because I'm a publicist at heart when I get those big brand stories, but in reality, those don't really do much for the brand themselves. 17:57 It's not going to push sales. What's going to push sales as affiliate? Is it going to be the only driver of sales? 18:03 No, it's not. It's going to bring awareness and it's going to amplify sales. The way that the brand can even amplify that even more is by promoting it on social media and stuff like that using their marketing materials. 18:14 So that brings me to another question. And I would love to hear your insight on it. Is what are some best practices that you see from the brand side of how they're promoting on social or how they're leveraging press or how they're maybe even setting up their brand to attract more press or things that 18:35 you look for and you're like, ooh, thank you. You're going to make my life easier and actually help this whole process so much more because you're doing X, Y, and Z. 18:44 I would love to I would love to hear your take on that. Yeah, I feel that a lot of the members of the media now have become influencers in their own right. 18:54 And rightfully so, they're the ones who are testing all of these products, they're the ones writing about it, and they're honest reviews. 19:00 So when an editor, a freelance writer is receiving a product to test, most of the time they're Instagramming it, if they're going to an event, they're putting it on social media, people are following them to see what's next and what's cool. 19:14 What makes my life easier on the brand side is when the brand is reposting the press and amplifying it on their social media and tagging the the writers and the publication so that they can repost it. 19:28 Essentially as many eyeballs as you can get on it as possible is the real goal here. I think that's also a really practical takeaway of leveraging this essentially free platform too tag and leverage every little whatever so that you can make the most out of any opportunity and all opportunities. 19:53 Yeah and I think you know one of my brands they were on you know several of those best of lists they took the headlines and the the names of the publications from each made one post and they boost that post and that is what's converting because again that's the you have you have to, you have to talk 20:14 to the consumer and the consumer doesn't want to read through an entire thing. Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't, but most of the time, they just want to know what, what am I buying? 20:19 What do I need to buy? Right, right. Totally. Is there anything that you see that is maybe on the up and coming or on the cusp of exploding or anything cool that you have your eye on? 20:32 Yeah, I'm really excited about psychedelics. Yeah, I think, you know, I just went to a conference two are talking about 2024 trends and psychedelics was one of them. 20:43 One of the top ones that we were speaking about. I am very interested in the research that's going on behind it and the legalization of everything. 20:54 You know marijuana has been legalized in most states. It's hopefully going to be federally legalized and it helps with so much. 21:01 I know in my own experience it helps with my depression and anxiety. I know a lot of other people where it helps when they're microdosing and the same with mushrooms where people are starting it to psychedelic mushrooms to help with PTSD. 21:14 There's just so much research that's happening and I think once we de-stigmatize the fact that it is a drug, it is a drug. 21:23 But once we de-stigmatize the fact that it's not that scary and with the right tools, you can use it in a way that's going to benefit you. 21:31 That's just going to skyrocket. I can't wait. I can't wait. That sounds cool. Anything else that you would share with a founder who is in the early stages of building out their brand, they're getting a sense of the lay of the land of what they need to have completed or where they need to focus, anything 21:54 from your perspective that you would want to make sure there's on their radar that maybe often founders miss? Yeah, I would say before you come to the table and you're looking for a PR partner, think about what you're trying to get at a PR. 22:11 I know a lot of times founders come to the table and they're like, we want, like, let's say, affiliate to be our number one driver of sales. 22:18 That's just not going to happen. That's not the point of affiliate. That's not the point of PR. PR is for amplification, amplification of messages and awareness. 22:28 So, if you're looking to amplify awareness and your message, then PR is for you. If you're just looking to make sales and you just want to get your brand off the ground, perfectly fine. 22:39 PR is not the way to do that. That's going to be through more marketing. But PR is great, especially at launch number one, because you only launch once. 22:50 And the media only wants to hear about your launch when it happens. There's no such thing as a pre-launch. There's only launch. 23:01 And then I think to, you know, again, going back to the conversation we had earlier, really take a look at the market, especially now when it comes to health and wellness. 23:14 Even sexual wellness has becoming massively flooded. So you need to really look at it. Okay, what is the pain point? 23:23 Has anyone solve for this pain point already? If they have, how am I doing it better? That's what's really, you know, once you have your own messaging, then you can come to a publicist who can even, who can refine that even more. 23:36 And knows exactly how to speak to the media. And, you know, consumers at the end of the day. Tori, I could talk to you literally for hours. 23:46 This was such a great conversation. Very practical to the point. I love very much the New York gets right to the point. 23:56 Bottom line. Here's where to focus energy. That's very much my energy to and whatever I get to talk to a fellow New Yorker, it makes my heart really happy. 24:05 Thank you so much. How can someone connect with you, connect with your work? Where's the best place? Yeah, so they can go to kcsa.com. 24:17 That is the agency that I am currently a vice-president for, or my Instagram, or their Instagram, my Instagram is Tori, T-O-R-I dot loiacano, L-O-I-A-C-O-N-O, or at kcsa strategic. 24:34 Amazing, and I'll put all the links to all the things in the show notes. Thank you again for sharing your insight and your expertise. 24:41 This was amazing. So thank you so much. Awesome. You're so welcome and I'll see everyone on the next episode.
