Public Relations Specialist (Hospitality & Interior Design) (Remote) - 63673383200

Location: Remote (South Africa and LATAM)
Contract: Independent Contractor
Schedule: Full-Time, Monday-Friday, CST 

About the Role

• We are an established, high-end commercial and hospitality interior design firm that partners with premier hotel owners, developers, operators, and luxury brands across the United States and LATAM.

• We are seeking a strategic, articulate, and media-savvy Public Relations Specialist to elevate our firm's visibility, showcase our hospitality project portfolio, and position our leadership team as go-to experts in hospitality design as well as Kellie as a business expert.

• The ideal candidate has demonstrated, proactive experience pitching and securing coverage in international media — ranging from top-tier business publications (Wall Street Journal, Forbes, The New York Times) to premier architecture, interior design, and hospitality trade outlets (Hospitality Design, Interior Design Magazine, Boutique Design, Hotel Management, Architectural Digest). We're looking for a specialist who builds and works real relationships at these outlets rather than relying on inbound interest.

• Note: While prior experience with U.S. design and business press is ideal, we are open to training a sharp, high-agency PR professional who possesses exceptional English writing skills, knows how to draft compelling press releases, and understands how to research, target, and pitch journalists effectively.

Key Responsibilities

1. Strategy & Planning

• PR Calendar Development: Build and maintain an annual PR/media calendar aligned with project completions, firm milestones, awards cycles, and conference dates, coordinating timing with Marketing and Executive Leadership.

• Campaign Alignment: Partner with Marketing to ensure PR outreach and messaging stay consistent with active social, advertising, and content campaigns.

2. International / LATAM & CALA Market Expansion

• Regional Media & Conference Strategy: Build and execute a dedicated outreach plan supporting the firm's growth in Latin America and the Caribbean (CALA), including targeted regional media relationships, conference and speaking opportunities (e.g., SAHIC, ALIS CALA, ILTM Latin America), and coverage of international project launches.

3. Media Relations, Research & Custom List Building

• Targeted Media Outreach: Pitch completed hotel design projects, industry commentary, design trends, and executive leadership features to top-tier national and international media and specialized hospitality/design trade publications.

• Custom Media List Construction: Perform deep, real-time research to build highly targeted, accurate media lists of design editors, hospitality journalists, real estate writers, and lifestyle reporters, avoiding reliance on stale, outdated database lists.

• Media Database Maintenance: Maintain an organized, continuously updated media contact database — using HubSpot (our current system) or another actively maintained tool — logging outlet, beat, past coverage, and relationship status for every contact.

• Story Angle Development: Analyze completed hotel projects, market trends, and client wins to craft fresh, compelling pitch angles that resonate with specific journalists and editorial beats.

4. PR Writing, Press Releases & Editorial Materials

• Press Release Creation: Draft clear, engaging, AP-style press releases for new hotel project reveals, executive appointments, industry awards, and firm milestones.

• Media Kits & Pitch Decks: Collaborate with our internal team to compile high-resolution project photography, lookbooks, quote sheets, and executive bios into press-ready media kits.

• Thought Leadership & Articles: Draft and pitch bylined articles, guest commentary, and Q&As on behalf of leadership for industry publications and online features.

5. Awards, Speaking Engagements & Event PR

• Industry Awards Management: Research, track, and manage submissions for prestigious hospitality and interior design awards (e.g., HD Awards, Gold Key Awards, Best of Year).

• Conference & Speaking Visibility: Identify key hospitality, real estate, and hotel development conferences, and secure confirmed panel discussions, keynote opportunities, and podcast appearances for firm executives — not just outreach lists.

• Placement Tracking & Reporting: Maintain a clean media coverage log, tracking editorial features, circulation/reach metrics, and press clips to report back to executive leadership.

Candidate Qualifications (Experience & Skills in priority order)

• Proven, Proactive Media Relationships: Demonstrated track record of actively pitching and securing — not just being familiar with — top-tier business press (WSJ, Forbes, NYT) and named hospitality/design trades (Hospitality Design, Interior Design, Boutique Design, Hotel Business). Candidates should be able to speak to specific relationships they built and placements they closed, not just outlets they're aware of.

• PR Experience: 3–5+ years of hands-on experience in public relations, media relations, or communications, preferably within architecture, interior design, commercial real estate, luxury B2B, or hospitality.

• Exceptional Writing & Pitching: Outstanding written and spoken English (C1/C2 level) with a proven ability to write crisp press releases, pitch emails, and editorial copy that grabs an editor's attention. This includes hands-on AP-style press release experience — while release writing is occasional rather than constant, it's a required, non-negotiable skill.

• Resourceful Researcher: Skilled at identifying relevant journalists, verifying current editorial beats, and uncovering news hooks through independent research.

• Execution & Follow-Through: Able to manage multiple project launch timelines, editorial calendars, award deadlines, and media follow-ups without missing a beat — and, critically, to convert outreach and target lists into confirmed placements and bookings.

• Tool Literacy: Comfortable working with CRM/media database tools (we currently use HubSpot) and AI-driven workflow tools (Claude dashboards) to organize outreach and track results, consistent with how the broader team operates.

To Apply, Please Include

• Portfolio / Clips: Examples of press releases you have written and/or media coverage/placements you have secured in U.S. or international publications.

• Top-Tier & Trade Relationship Examples: Specific examples of relationships you've built with journalists or editors at top-tier business press or named hospitality/design trades, and placements that resulted from them.

• Confirmed Speaking/Podcast Bookings: Examples of conference panels, keynotes, or podcast appearances you personally secured for a client or executive (not just conferences you identified or pitched).

• Media List Approach: A brief summary of how you research, curate, and verify media contacts for a campaign.

• Relevant Vertical Experience: Details on any experience working with interior design, architecture, hotel/hospitality, real estate, or B2B professional services clients.

Success in This Role Success means our PR program is proactive, consistent, and results-driven: press releases and pitches go out on schedule, our project wins and executive expertise are regularly featured in target publications — including confirmed placements in top-tier business press and named hospitality/design trades, not just pitches sent — awards and speaking submissions are never missed and translate into confirmed engagements, and executive leadership always knows exactly where our media presence stands.