Patrice Tanaka Discusses PR, Diversity and Joy
Name Patrice TanakaEmployer Joyful Planet LLCTitle Chief Joy OfficerSelf identification (race/ethnicity) Asian-AmericanPR/MarCom field (agency/healthcare/consumer/nonprofit/etc) My background is largely in consumer PR, which I love.Years of experience 35+ yearsWhy did you decide to pursue a career in public relations? What attracted you to the profession?I was working as a journalist in Honolulu, where I was born and raised, and someone offered me the position of PR Director of the Hotel Inter-Continental Maui in Wailea. I knew nothing about PR, but naively thought that, well, I receive press releases from these people. I can write those releases. I can do PR. It was a ridiculously simplistic thought process and, of course, I came to learn that PR is much, much more than just writing press releases. I decided to take the job in PR because my ultimate goal was to one day move to New York City and fulfill a childhood dream. I thought that if I learned PR I could double my chances of gainful employment as either a journalist or PR person when I moved to New York, which is what happened. My first job in New York was at a travel PR agency, which hired me because of my PR and hotel industry experience.As a woman of color, what does diversity and inclusion in public relations mean to you?It means that we have gender-balanced leadership at every leadership table, reflecting the racial and ethnic diversity of the population, as well as representation from Millennials to Boomers all bringing different experience, religious beliefs, sexual orientation and other rich differentiators. With greater diversity and inclusion, we would have a greater range of perspective on any issue and the result would be more informed decision-making, benefiting society-at-large.
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