Media Maven Roxanne Donovan’s Advice on Building Your Own Business

Media maven Roxanne Donovan, the founder and President of Great Ink Communications, breaks down the trials and tribulations of starting your own business as she explains how she went from interviewing musicians for her college paper, to managing communications for some of the biggest names in New York commercial real estate.

When the elevator arrived on the fourteenth floor of the upper east side building, I could already hear the soft sounds of Amy Winehouse crawling through the hallway. Roxanne Donovan stood welcoming in her doorway, fresh flowers on the entry table, a la Miranda Priestly, and a fresh pot of coffee already set to brew. I took care to slip off my shoes before treading on the patterned carpet, although she assured me it wasn’t necessary, while she set about fixing two cups of coffee, mine significantly lighter and sweeter than hers. In the kitchen, she regaled me with the Covid-proofing plans for this year’s Pen America Gala and explained the hardcover book contorted limply in her kitchen trash (a story for another time). But when Winehouse faded into a sultry rendition of Blackbird, the both of us turned towards the living room and settled into the plush white couch as I set out to discover how the woman in front of me founded one of the most successful public relations companies in New York real estate.

I figured it was best to start broad.

So, what you were up to in your twenties?

I was doing what I thought was my dream job: reporting. I thought I would write about rock and roll music because I loved that, but I couldn't get a job covering music the same way I could get a different kind of job. My first real job was the Editor of Real Estate Weekly, which was a pay stub job, meaning that we would paste press releases down on a broadsheet format. It was more arts and crafts than reporting. But eventually, I did start writing for the paper, and I started learning about commercial real estate and I liked it. I kind of fell into real estate while still doing the job I thought I was going to do [reporting]. The first job I really pursued was the Real Estate and Economic Development Reporter at the New York Daily News, which was at the time America's largest daily circulation newspaper. But when I got the job— well, it was one of these things where you dream and dream about what your life is going to be like when you're a reporter, or when you're really whatever thing you think that you want to be, and in some ways, it’s a dream come true and in other ways, it’s very disillusioning.

Do you think you would’ve preferred reporting on music?

I loved music. I loved bands. I loved hanging out with bands. I just loved talking to musicians about what they were doing. I met R.E.M. when they only had an EP out— they didn’t even have the first album out yet. I met U2 when they only had an EP out. I was hanging out with the Psychedelic Furs, the Divinyls, the Smithereens, a lot of bands. I loved writing about music, but the thing that surprised me was how much more fun it is to write about real estate. The personalities in commercial real estate, especially in New York City, are bigger than those in rock and roll. An interview with Iggy Pop was quite tedious compared to talking to Tommy Craig. There are some really amazing personalities, like Larry Silverstein, Seymour Durst, Bernie Mendik, Erin Grau, Harry Helmsley. They were the people who built New York.

Why did you choose New York?

I chose New York very specifically. I was a fan of Lois Lane. When I was a kid, I used to watch the black and white Superman reruns on Sunday nights, and she was my favorite part of the TV show; I think she was a great feminist role model. And all the guys were knuckleheads, I mean Jimmy Olsen? Clark Kent? She was smarter than Clark Kent— she was smarter than her editor! She was so ballsy and beautiful, but not too beautiful. She was just a great gal and she lived in New York and she worked at the Daily Planet, so I was going to come to New York and work at the Daily Planet. And I did.

Was there a moment you felt like you really “broke into” your industry?

By my second year as Editor of Real Estate Weekly, I knew somewhat who was who. I knew the vocabulary. I knew who the big names were. I knew a couple of people I liked (which is good in the industry). I had people that I could ask questions of, and pretty soon I wasn't just asking questions, I was having conversations and contributing to them. It snuck up on me, but suddenly I felt very much like I was a member of the commercial real estate industry. And I wasn’t in real estate, I was just a reporter covering the industry— but I wrote a profile of the week. So I got to meet 50 people in the first year and some of them were really big people. I didn't just learn the market from Joe Schmo, I learned the market from the greats greats greats of the commercial real estate industry in New York City. They were talking to Real Estate Weekly and they were talking to me. And when I started my business those relationships were valuable. Those people remembered me and they trusted me with their stories.

Did those connections help you transition into starting your own PR firm?

One of the people I’d interviewed, the Real Estate Developer Ed Gordon, offered to make me his Director of Communications. And I said yes without really understanding what the job was. I did know that I didn’t like his PR person and I thought I could do her job better. But I didn't know how to do the job of a PR person and I also didn't know how to do the other six jobs that come under Marketing and Communications. I had no knowledge and no skill. No inherent skill at six out of seven of the jobs that come under that umbrella. So my first real leap of faith was leaving journalism to take that job, and I had that job for under three years before I went and I started my firm. I started my company—god, it'll be 30 years ago in December.

Congratulations—

Thank you. I started this company with the idea of I could do the job better— without ever having worked at a PR firm. And it was really really scary but sometimes if you don't have high expectations, it's manageable. I just needed enough to pay rent. The question was: could I get someone who is currently paying a PR firm $5,000 a month to pay me $2,500 a month to be their publicist? And I'd have one client. I only needed one client. So I went to Ed Gordon and I said I'm not going to be your Director of Communications, I'm going to start my PR firm and I'm going to take this little piece of the pie that I do so well and do it all the time. He became my first client and my business was made.

And you had no idea that it was going to grow as it has? You were just trying to make rent?

Well, you just need a couple of good clients and then you have a gig, right? And before you know it you have a business and then it's 30 years later. Just get a job, make friends, be excellent at your job whatever it is, and then it'll take you where you're supposed to go. Otherwise, what are you going to do? If you say “I'm going to create a billion-dollar company like Facebook and I'm going to do it before I'm 30.” Why would you set yourself up like that? You can have that dream, but that's different from a business. You can work toward it as long as you have goals along the way that are manageable. And I had a really good time in my twenties and I worked hard, but I didn't have a plan. And I didn't come from any kind of background where I had a cushion, I want to make that clear. It's not like I came to New York without a job and I thought I'd find myself. I came to New York and I got a job because I had to have a job. And I took the job at Real Estate Weekly because I couldn't get another job. I didn't know how much I was going to like it, but I needed the job. I didn't have a vision of where I thought I'd be when I was 50. And if I did, it wasn't here. 

And how do you get a job in Public Relations? If someone were looking to go into the PR as a 20-something what would be your advice to them?

Just apply for every job. Try and go to events where PR people go. And read about it. Every industry has at least three or four publications that serve that industry so it's probably a good idea to familiarize yourself with some of the big names. Be able to have a conversation about what’s going on in the industry, maybe even track down an executive, if you can.

What's the best way to network in New York? To make connections?

Use connections, but be intelligent about it. Try networking with your University, they usually have a number of networking events so start going to them. Those people watch out for each other. Any sorority that you were in, any organization where your parents might be friends with people. Try to be able to make a call and set up a meeting, with the proviso being: don't go into the meeting cold, do your homework.  I've had people call me and ask me for help and they don't know I was ever a reporter. They never even read my bio. They haven't even looked at my company's website. I will never hire those people and I won't help those people. I literally won't help them because I know the best way I can help them is to tell them, “I will never help you because you didn't do your work.” Then I feel like the next time they won't do that again. I learned that the hard way with Richard Belzer. I was headed to interview him and I went out drinking before. And then when I did go to interview him, I hadn't done my research. So I was late and I was a mess and I tried to fake my way through it and he stopped me and said: “I'm not talking to you, you don't know anything about me.” And he got up and left. And I still had to send in a story because the paper had paid for me to come into New York to meet with Richard Belzer, which I did, and he got up and left because I was unprepared. I never did that again ever in my life. 

Oh my god, what did you do?

I put together a story based on old clips and the four things he said to me before he realized I was a doofus. It was so embarrassing, but sometimes you have to learn these things the hard way.

So as far as experiences every 20-something should have…

Yep, that's a good one: fail and get fired. I've been fired many times. I was working at a hair salon at the reception desk and I got fired for being such a mess that I scared away the walk ins. That was just before my freshman year of college. I went out a lot and then I'd show up in the morning looking like a mess, so they were right to fire me. But it was the first time I had been fired so that was really something. And then I probably would have been fired by Ed Gordon if I hadn’t left and started my own company because I knew that I wasn't getting a good portion of my job done right. But I feel like it's good to fail or do something stupid so you don't do it again. That was such a horrible moment for me with Richard Blezar and I'm so grateful to have had that interaction because I think that it has impacted every meeting I've had since.

Do you have any New York City advice you’d offer up to the city’s 20-somethings?

Find a bar that you like, go there a lot, and over tip the bartenders. Find a place that you're comfortable in, in your neighborhood because it's great to have a safe place (not like a cheers where everybody knows your name, but yes like a cheers where everybody knows your name). Especially as a woman, if you're going to meet someone for the first time. It's great to be able to say I'll meet you at blah blah blah because you know the bartender is going to watch out for you. And as a single woman, you know you’ll always have a barstool— and if the bartender knows you, they can shoot people away.

Do you remember what your favorite bar was?

The Zig Zag Bar and Grill on 23rd Street and 7th Avenue. That was mine. My friend Jody loved— oh, it was this bar on 18th Street, I want to say it was Harry's? It was on 18th between 6th and 7th on the south side of the street, and it was always busy. It had this old mahogany bar. That was a good spot. She used to go there all the time, so much that they would take phone messages for her.

Is there anything else you think young New Yorkers should know as they go into the professional world?

My business is one piece of who I am. It is just one piece of my day and it is not the most important piece of my day and it is very seldom has been. When things go wrong in my business then it can become the biggest part of my day, but when things go well it just moves along like a train on the track. The stuff that really matters then is my family, or a recipe I might want to make. Sometimes it's a Zumba class. Like did I dance today? Did I shake my ass? It's about the things that make it worth while to get out of bed. And I'm good at my work and I'm happy that I'm good at it, but it's not my whole life. So I will say that it is really important in your twenties to find out what makes you really happy and try and find a way to work it in your life in some way. Because you're not your job title, you're just not. It's not what they're going to put on your tombstone. Publicist? I hope not. Reader, dancer, mother, baker. Publicist is not on my list.