Spotlight: Kathleen Quere – Senior Account Executive
Hi there! I’m Kathleen Quere (but everyone calls me Kath) and I’m a Senior Account Executive at Agent99 PR. I joined Agent99 in June last year as an Account Executive right before the second Sydney COVID lockdown – I literally only had time to grab my new laptop and meet the team once, and then I didn’t see them again in-person until October!
Before joining Agent99 I worked in health and wellbeing PR, specialising in health thought-leadership. Accepting the role at Agent99 has been the best thing for my career, because it’s allowed me to continue working in my passion area of thought-leadership, whilst also branching into diverse areas like real estate, business and entrepreneurship, book campaigns, and consumer PR.
1. Who was the very first PR client and what did you love most about them?
While working at a health PR agency, one of my very first PR clients was the national pharmacy franchise Blooms The Chemist. They were a fantastic client because they do lots of philanthropy and regularly give back to the community. Whilst I worked on the account they did lots of charity partnerships, and we worked on campaigns for the Make A Wish Foundation, The Heart Foundation Australia and Gidget Foundation Australia (helping women experiencing post-natal depression). One of my favourite campaigns was for the Make A Wish Foundation where we had a little girl whose dream was to attend Vivid in Sydney, but she couldn’t because of COVID lockdowns and her illness compromised her immune system, so she was especially vulnerable. With Blooms The Chemist we organised to put on a light show in the girl’s own backyard in Melbourne to make her wish come true, and also bring attention to the amazing work that the Make A Wish Foundation do. It was an incredibly rewarding campaign to work on.
2. What has been one stand out moment from your career that you’re most proud of?
Winning the PRIA Small Agency of the Year in 2021 was an amazing experience! It was a fantastic night out with the whole team, celebrating everyone’s months of hard work and perseverance that led to that outstanding achievement. It will be a night I will never forget!
On a personal level, when I first joined Agent99 is also a standout moment for me. I’d seen the agency was hiring a few weeks prior to applying, thinking “I’d love to work there one day,” but at the time the role was a step up from where I previously was in my career, and I wasn’t sure if I would meet all the requirements. Then a few things happened, and I found the courage to quit my job with no back up plan, I took a leap of faith and applied for the role anyway, and within four days I was offered the position! I’m sharing this story because I want people to know you should always back yourself and go after what you want- you never know what might happen!
3. We know you love working with experts/thought leaders – who would be the one entrepreneur you’d love to do publicity for?
This is such a tough question for me! I have so many authors and thought leaders that I really respect and admire, but right now, a standout for me would have to be Ryan Holiday. I’ve recently started reading his new book Discipline is Destiny, and I think it’s really clever how he takes the ancient philosophy of stoicism and translates the concepts so that it’s accessible for a mass audience to understand and makes it applicable to life in the 21st century. Before he was an author, he was also quite successful in marketing and public relations, so I’d love to pick his brain if I had the chance.
4. If you could write a self-help book for others, what topic would you write about?
Great question! Hypothetically speaking, I think I would write a book about how entrepreneurs and small business owners can get themselves in the media to promote their business, create a media profile and become well-known thought-leaders in their area of expertise. This is the topic I feel most comfortable writing about, and after working on many thought-leadership campaigns I think I have some valuable learnings to share.
If the book had to be on another topic that’s not PR-related, I would probably write about personal finance, investing, and money management.
5. What podcasts are your listening to at the moment? Any pearls of wisdom you can share?
Everyone in the office knows that I love property investing! I try to listen to lots of property investing podcasts, and one of my clients, buyer’s agent Lloyd Edge, has a terrific podcast called “Positively Geared” where he takes you through step-by-step the roadmap to strategically creating financial freedom through property. I’ve also just started listening to the podcast ‘No Stupid Questions’ by Stephen J. Dubner and Angela Duckworth. I recently read Angela’s book, Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance and loved it, so I have high hopes for the podcast. Will let you know how it goes!
We are always on the hunt for amazing talented people to join our PR team! We love passionate, honest, driven people, who really care about creating an impact for our clients! To apply, please visit our careers page and drop us a line for a confidential chat!
Agent Kath
