Beyond Organised

From Hidden Expert To Headline: KJ Blattenbauer On PR That Builds Real Authority

• Mel Schenker • Episode 35

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For all the business mums out there... Tired of posting daily and hoping the algorithm notices? We sat down with publicist KJ Blattenbauer to unpack a calmer, smarter path to visibility that actually brings clients. 

KJ has helped overlooked experts move from “best kept secret” to media-backed authority, and she’s refreshingly honest about the mindset traps that keep capable people hiding: fear of bragging, trolls, and the myth that going viral equals growth.

We dig into how to tell your story without feeling salesy, the enduring power of third‑party credibility, and why PR still works in any market. KJ shares a preview of her new book, Pitchworthy, which pairs pep talk with practicals: finding your angle, building a targeted media list, writing useful pitches, and planning for the inevitable criticism that comes with being visible. Her take is simple and liberating: authority compounds when respected outlets vouch for you, and those features keep working long after a social post disappears.

You’ll also hear a candid look at real life behind the highlight reel. We talk time blocking, colour‑coded priorities, and the truth that no one “juggles it all.” For many of us (especially mums) there’s power in recognising transferable strengths: planning, prioritising, and delivering under pressure. Those skills belong on your professional stage. We challenge the 100 percent rule, too: apply, pitch, and ship at 60 percent, then learn in public. Action builds confidence; waiting drains it.

If you’re ready to trade noise for credibility and step into steady, sustainable visibility, this conversation will give you a clear first step and the courage to take it. 

Follow KJ on Instagram @kjblattenbauer and find more info on her website: https://www.hearsaypr.com/ 

Subscribe for more honest, practical conversations on growth, share this with a friend who’s sitting on a great story, and leave a rating to help more amazing women like you, find us.

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Mel:

Welcome to Beyond Organised, the podcast that helps you simplify your life and amplify your purpose. I'm Mel Schenker, life coach, speaker, founder of She's Organised, but, more importantly, a wife and mum of four little kids. If you've ever felt overwhelmed, like you're constantly juggling everything but never quite catching up, this is the place for you. Here we go beyond just the tidying up and creating systems. We're talking about real life strategies that bring order to your life, but also we talk about the things beyond the organising, the things that really matter, like your parenting relationships and so much more. So grab your coffee and let's dive in.

Mel:

Welcome back to another episode of Beyond Organised. I have KJ here today. So I am going to give you a quick introduction to who this incredibly accomplished woman is. And then you can listen to her amazing story. So KJ Blattenbar is a powerhouse publicist who turns overlooked experts into headline news. With nearly 30 years of experience, she's the go-to pro when you're ready to stop being ignored and start owning the spotlight. Known for her bold yet approachable style, KJ delivers clear, actionable strategies that have been featured everywhere from Forbes to architectural digest. She's also the author of the DIY PR book How to Be a Media Darling. And the forthcoming Pitchworthy, which is set to come out in January. It's a modern guide to building lasting visibility and authority. So I'm looking forward to hearing how incredible this woman is. So welcome to the show, KJ. Thank you. Thank you so much for having me. Oh, you're so welcome. I love how we connected through Susie. So she was on the episode before this. So everyone already knows how incredible she is. But through connecting with her, I was like, you are incredible too. You need to come on the show. So I would love to hear about what you do and what inspired you to get into this industry.

KJ:

Sure, sure. So I basically do public relations. I help small business owners and experts, like coaches, artists, interior designers, lawyers, doctors, anyone that wants to amplify their message and their presence. I basically help them share their passion with the world. I like to call myself everyone's favorite hype girl because just like you talk about your best friend and how awesome they are, I get to do that for small businesses and founders and startups and cool brands. So every day I get to brag about how cool my friends are and my friends become clients. So all of these 28 years ago, I went to college. My work study job in college to help pay for tuition was to do promotions. I was an athlete, and then you had to have a kind of side job to learn responsibility. Because as if going to school and being an athlete wasn't enough, it wasn't.

Mel:

I love that you've created a whole career out of talking.

KJ:

That's a good job. Yeah, if your kids ever come home with talks too much on their report card, be like, well, I'm gonna be a publicist. So there you go. Everybody wins.

Mel:

That's uh definitely an idea for my eldest because he just talks, talks, and then talks some more. So that's an idea. So how do you help people or in what you do? And I would love to also hear a little bit more about your book. So I'm sure that'll lead into it.

KJ:

I think all too often when you are a business owner or you're working on something, whether it's service or product-based, you're so busy in what you're doing, creating what you're doing, bringing it out to the world. You've invested your blood, your sweat, your heart, your tears, sometimes all of your money into it. Yeah. And then once you've birthed this business baby, what do you do with it? So many people then get embarrassed by what they've done and they feel like it's bragging or boasting or, you know, trying to be too much main character energy by telling people the amazing thing that they just accomplished. And so I help them tell their story because literally, no matter what you do for profession, even if you think it's boring, even if you don't think it's interesting, every single one of us has an amazing story that the media wants to hear, that other people want to hear. And I like to point out to my clients and others, your listeners, if you don't share your gift with the world, whether it's a product or a service, then you aren't able to help anyone. Why would you want to be the best kept secret? I help people promote their brands, I help them promote themselves, I help them put their services out there so they can truly help people. And I love doing it every single day.

Mel:

I could see how by you even doing that, you are building people's confidence as well. And actually going, well, hang on a second. I'm not just getting stuck in my own head or I'm not bragging too much or it's a level of confidence that's healthy to be able to promote yourself, but still be humble, still be you. That's really different.

KJ:

Because I think, you know, women in particular are taught, you know, you're supposed to be seen and not heard. Don't speak until you're spoken to. Like that's how we were raised when we were little, and thank goodness we've come a long way in the times. But for a lot of people, if they feel if they bring attention to themselves, they feel like it's gonna be negative attention. They feel like they have to shrink, they have to hide, they have to do whatever. And I like to remind people, no, be proud of what you've done, be proud of what you accomplished, be proud of what you know. If you're passionate and care about some something, tell every single person that you can about that.

Mel:

That is, no, that that's truly what that's why we started in business our business or books or whatever it is we did was to help people, right? So you you don't want to get so far, create everything, do everything, and then not keep going all the way through.

KJ:

And there's this huge myth that, like, within uh the dawn of social media, look, social media is great, it's also a hindrance, as we all know. Yeah. As good of me, like everything else. But there's this belief, especially with small businesses, that if I just post every single day on social media, one day the right person will find me. One day I'm gonna go viral. And the truth is, even if you do go viral, you're gonna gain followers that aren't gonna be clients, they're not gonna be buyers, they're not gonna purchase, they're just there to watch whatever the car wreck is that will inevitably come when you get too we get too small. And you know, traditional PR hasn't changed in the decades that it's been. It's always been the same, and it's it hasn't shifted with the internet or without the internet. Social media isn't gonna change it, AI won't change it. Having someone like me, a publicist, say that you're great, it might not convince people, but having a reputable news outlet say that you, your product or service is great, that immediately raises the gravitas of what you're doing. It changes the game. And it's very, very easy to do, which is why I wrote Pitchworthy. Because I believe you shouldn't have to be famous or a celebrity or pay tens of thousands of dollars a month to have your dreams promoted. Anybody can do it. It's very simple if you take the time. You just need to know the steps. And so pitchworthy, it's half pep talk because we all need the pep talk when we get the disaster syndrome, we're all feeling looks insecure. So it's half pep talk, but then it's half, hey, here's what PR is, here's how you can use it, here's how you find your target audience, how you pitch the media, and oh, here's how you handle the trolls because once you're somebody, everybody's gonna come for you.

Mel:

Yeah, yeah. Now that's really good because even someone like myself, you know, I'm just small fish in a very big pond at the moment. But because I've I've had this business for a year now. So I'm still finding my feet, and I'm still trying to wrap my head around the social media and everything else, and just getting out there and all the things that you're supposed to do. And it's it can be quite overwhelming in that at times too, because ultimately I just want to coach. I just want to help people. I want to, I just want it people to do better in life. And I don't want to have to be thinking about how do I promote myself, how do I get it out there into more hands? I just it's uh that is not my expertise at all. So we need people like you.

KJ:

Yeah, exactly. At the end of the day, you're busy coaching, you have clients, you have a family, you have a life, you need to get your eight hours of sleep and drink your 40 ounces or whatever it is of water. You don't want to be dancing on TikTok. Like that's not gonna help you find clients. And so it's really public relations is it look, it's part of the wheel, right? You can do email, you can do social, you can do paid ads, you can do referral systems, affiliates, influencers, you can do so many things to draw eyeballs to your business. But I just wish people would look beyond just social media, just running ads. Yeah, those are two of the busiest lanes that you could be playing in right now. Yeah. If you're a business owner, service, or product. There's a million other ways to drive attention to what you're doing. Yeah, PR is one and it's free.

Mel:

Hmm. You're getting me thinking here. When you have people express interest in reaching out for PR help, what do you think is the main thing that's holding them back from having even reached out in the first place?

KJ:

The money and the cost, they're worried about what it's gonna cost because a lot of PR people do charge a lot of money. But I think the second thing is they're worried about what other people are gonna think. If they put themselves out there, they're worried about what people will think. And honestly, what other people think have never paid any of my bills, so I don't worry about what other people think.

Mel:

Yeah, fair enough. I I guess as I'm getting older, I'm caring less and less about what other people think. And I think that's also why I've started the business now, too. Because if it was even five years ago, I think I still cared too much on people's opinions of me that I wouldn't have survived.

KJ:

Yeah, yeah. 20-year-old me is this is 46-year-old me, and I could care less about what anyone else thinks about what I'm doing. 20-year-old me too, too.

Mel:

I'm approaching 40s as well, so it's just life shifts, it changes a bit, and particularly raising kids and all that too. It's like, I do not have the mental capacity to deal with what other people think of me.

KJ:

Right. Yeah, no, but I think that's what holds people back, and it's a shame because again, you're hiding your light, you're dimming your light, you're not sharing your gifts with the world because you're worried about what Sally down the street is gonna say.

Mel:

Yeah.

KJ:

Sally will do whatever Sally needs to do. She's got enough time to come on your stuff. Sally's not doing anything of her own.

Mel:

Yeah. Well, it's sort of like that whole keeping up with the Joneses in some ways, isn't it? And it's just, and nowadays with social media and everything, we're seeing everybody's highlight reel while we're looking at our own behind the scenes mess.

KJ:

And it's not a fair comparison. Right. And I can tell you from a lifetime of helping people build those highlight reels, nobody has it all together. All of us have hot messes behind the scenes, all of us have done really stupid things. Look, right now, I'm talking to you on this podcast. I have a book coming out. My clients are killing it. My website is in disarray and needs to get dealt with. So, like, we all have little messes and fire to put out on the back end, but you know, it's that's the fun of being in business.

Mel:

Yeah, right. So, how do you juggle it all? How do you juggle doing what you do and helping others, but also being on top of things in your own life?

KJ:

Well, I mean, I don't think I do. I think it's a myth that anyone does. And I think if people, you know, I'm sure people, I'm sure there might be people who look at my life and be like, oh, she's really killing it. Um, I'm not. I know. Um, I think I forgot to feed the dogs breakfast the other day. They're alive though, right? But you know, I mean Sarah McLaughlin and the Humane Society commercial was paying in the background. But I I think that there no one has it all together. You know, one, I think it helps. I love what I do. I have created my life and I have picked a profession and I have a business where I get to get up every single morning and it sounds so corny. I get to do whatever the hell I want to. I get to work with whoever I want to. I get to promote who I want to, how I want to, to the people that I want to. And I am blessed that way. But I've worked really hard for 28 years to be able to do that in my 40s. And I think I think what people don't realize is you can change what you do at any single time. You are not trapped in one thing, you are never too old, you can shift and pivot in career as many your career as many times as you want to and try new things, but you gotta find the thing that lights you up. So long days, early hours, ridiculous deadlines, do they suck? Sometimes they do. But I love what I do and I love my clients, and they're so appreciative that even the hard, long days and the going back and forth between crazy deadlines, it's not, it's something that I enjoy. And so I think helps. But I also am ridiculously color-coded on my to-do list and try and block my time where I can. So there's a little bit of a type A personality. I think I'm an anagram three, which would surprise no one that I know of.

Mel:

The other part is I just really love what I do. Yeah, and and that has to be key, isn't it? Because if I didn't love what I was doing, I certainly the business would have shut down by now. Because this has been probably the toughest year of my life. But it's also the most fulfilling. Like I actually feel like I've stepped into my calling, my purpose. I love what I'm doing. I love who I'm helping. I'm still kind of in shock and surprise that it is helping. But I I but you wouldn't do it. You wouldn't put in all that hard effort, all those long hours and sleepless nights if you didn't love what you were doing. And it's so key. And I just find that even a lot of the mums that listen to this, you know, they come across me because they're overwhelmed, they're feeling stuck in life, things are a little bit challenging. But I want to encourage you, okay, you don't have to necessarily start a business like KJ, like me. You don't have to do all of that, but find the thing that lights you up. Like you don't just have to be, okay. I see this, I say this respectfully, but you don't just have to be a mom. Like no, you don't. There's so much more to us.

KJ:

Yeah, and you know what? There are there is so there is so much more, right? Like, as if being a mom isn't a hard enough job. Yeah, it's a full-time job. Yeah, more, right? You have to keep someone alive. Yeah, full-times multiple people. I'm not keeping anyone alive, I'm just talking, you know, like I got it easy compared to moms. But what is amazing about moms is they are the most organized and streamlined and efficient and like assertive human beings on earth. Like, if you need something done or you need help, you find a mom because they're gonna help you, they're gonna figure it out, they're gonna get it done, and they're gonna have snacks. Like they're the best and baby wipes. What's a mess? Yeah, your hands will be sticky, your belly will be full, problem will be solved.

Mel:

Yeah, exactly. And I think that's actually when things started to pivot for me in the corporate world was after I became a mum to my first child. And obviously, I grew a lot in that period of time and and everything, but I actually started to realize just how organized I really am and how there were specific tasks that I was being assigned to complete and do because I had this level of detail, proficiency, and efficiency to get it done like that while all these young 20-year-olds were just like still figuring out how to spell something, you know? Right, right, yeah. So there's a lot that we can can give, but yeah, you don't even have to be a mum, but just a woman that knows what she wants. I think even if you've just got this idea that you think is so far-fetched, so out there, no, oh, I couldn't do that. What are the risks? You know, oh, it's so embarrassing if I fail. Give it a go.

KJ:

You know, that is the myth. And I think that that, I think that is the one thing that separates me from a lot of people I know. I don't have that. Something is broken in me where I don't have the it's gonna be so embarrassing if I fail. You know, I I I think younger me might have had that. And then somewhere in college, I lost that because my mantra is that of like a silicone valley startup. Where if you have a team startup, you build it as fast as you can to break it as fast as you can, because then you save money to build it the right way, right? And the longer you're dealing with something that doesn't break and you're not sure if it's the final version, like that's costing you more money. So if you are anyone who has an inkling and thinks you want to try something, go try it. If it doesn't work out, who cares? Yeah, like how can we say I mean, look at how much how many times Jennifer Lopez has changed what Jennifer Lopez does. She's a singer, she's a dancer, she's an actress, she had perfume. I think sometimes she's you're real, she's just like works for the wedding industry and she's like trying on the dresses, so like we know what the new season of the dresses is. And I say that jokingly, but at the same time, kind of suspicious because she does fashion too, right? And no one's like, oh, look at Jennifer Lopez.

Mel:

She's built her brand like around her name. Doesn't matter what she does now.

KJ:

Right. I mean, Vera Wayne didn't start making gowns till she was 43. She was a figure skater, you know. Betsy Johnson didn't do it till later in life. Look at Victoria Beckham. She was a spice girl, and then she was uh just the wife and girlfriend of a soccer player. Now she's a fashion mobile, she's got her own awesome Netflix special. So I think there's a especially for women, like men have audacity, they're gonna do whatever guys don't care. I wish I had not the audacity of an average thinking male because they they will just go do. And I wish women would do that too. Because who cares if you fail?

Mel:

Like yeah, well, I saw I saw recently um when people are applying for jobs, how men will look through the criteria of what the expectations are, they'll see that they meet about 60% of it and go, yep, great, and apply for it. And a lot of them get the job because they're confident. Whereas women, if we don't feel like we tick a hundred percent of the things on that list, we won't even try. We just don't want to fail. We we just think we're not gonna get the job, any of that. And when I saw that even years ago, it it changed the way that I approached things. Because I went, you know what? If a guy can do that at 60%, all right, I can do it at 60%. And I'm gonna learn the rest. And I think a big part of it is you might not have the skills, you might not even have the knowledge yet to do exactly what it is you're hoping to do. But if you've got the right attitude, Right. You will be able to learn the rest. You can't teach attitude. You can't teach that spark that some people have that others don't. Like you've got to have the right attitude.

KJ:

You do. You know, I'm sure you say it to your kids all the time. You can be anything you want to be when you grow up. And I wish that someone would keep saying that to us as adults. You can do anything you want to do. You can do anything you put your mind to. I have run marathons. I do not like running. From the second I running, I think of how, oh, running, this is terrible. And the first two miles are like, this is awful. I hate everything about running. And then somewhere around mile seven, I'm like, forget that I'm running and I'm just listening to the music or talking to my friends or doing whatever. And you know, like mile 17, I again start hating running, which is why I don't do marathons anymore. But literally, the human body runs marathons. Some people run like a hundred mile races, right? Like you can do anything you put your mind to. Some people can fast for a huge amount of time. I can't go five minutes without snacks. But again, if I really put if it was really important to me, I could put my mind to it.

Mel:

Yeah.

KJ:

Like we are so much more capable of what we believe. And the only thing holding us back is ourselves.

Mel:

Yeah, I completely agree. Like, well, the time goes so fast, but I'd love to hear a bit more of this book that you've got coming out. So Pitchworthy, set to come out in January. What inspired you to actually write it in the first place?

KJ:

So I wrote on my original book, How to Be a Media Darling, in 2019. And it was the 12 tenths of public relations because I wanted all of my girlfriends who had like side hustles on Etsy or were just showing arts on Saturday morning at the farmer's market. I wanted them to have access to PR and how to promote their stuff. I wanted them to know when they're on social media this is how you think, talk, act like a brand. Go out there, be a professional. Um, I have a lot of friends now. You know, a lot has changed since 2019. Tools have changed, internet's changed, there's AI. The world has kind of gotten to be an angrier place, or we're more bold about stepping out, you know, like trolling and doxing and all this fun work kind of weren't around in 2019. They're there now. And so I actually was having coffee with one of someone I admire, a businesswoman I admire. And her whole job is creating giftable packages she can give. And she said to me, KJ, I love your book. I want to give it to all my entrepreneur friends, but it's ugly. Your book is ugly. I can't gift it. And you know, anyone else would be like, She just called my book ugly. Like, she just call my child ugly. But I honestly, in that moment, I looked at her, I thought about my book. She's right. It's not giftable. It's not something that you'd want to sit on your desk like a coffee table book. But it's also, I needed to update it anyway. So if I was gonna update the book, I thought, you know what? I'm gonna put everything I know in there and include the pep talk I wish I had when I was starting a business. And now I am so proud of my new book. I it is gonna help so many people, but I'm just I have poured my heart and soul into it. And so half pep talk, half PR Bible, it will teach you everything you need to know, but also it is blazing hot pink and you can't miss it. Uh and it is something to go on the coffee table, right? Yeah, because you know what? If if you're passionate about business, why can't a business book sit on the coffee table?

Mel:

Yeah. Uh look, I've I would show you, but I've got a shelf above me with all the books, and every single one of them is uh, you know, your rich dad, poor dad, and your persuasion and the think and grow rich. And it's all these, it's all these business books. Like, that's what I immerse myself in is how to grow, how to get better. I mean, people come to my house and they think, what the heck are you on? Look at all these books. Like, where's all the good fictional like Twilight or something? And I'm like, no, no, no. I want to grow. I want to grow as a person. That doesn't help me grow. That's just that's how I am. But look, with your book, would you say that it's suitable for people in other countries outside of the US?

KJ:

Oh, a thousand percent. A thousand percent. I I don't think that there's anything in the book that's just for people in the US, to be quite honest. PR has been the same since it, you know, PT Barnum did it when he invented the circus. He said, You're either leading the parade when they talk about you, or the parade's running you over. And yeah nothing has changed about PR since then. It stood the test of time, it's making a resurgence again. It will always be there, you know, like medicine on Instagram a million times. But PR stay the same. It's someone else's opinion that you refer is gonna move your business further than anything else.

Mel:

It's a smarter way of doing it, really, because just kind of like how even with the podcast, you put it out there, the material stays out there. Whereas, yeah, you put something on Instagram, see you later 24 hours. Exactly, exactly. So, well, thank you for coming on. Now, I want people to be able to connect with you. So if anyone listening is thinking, all right, I'm ready to step out, I need a little bit of extra help. I want KJ to be the one to help me. Where is the best place for them to find you?

KJ:

The best place for them to find me is on my website, hearsaypr.com, or on Instagram at KJ Blattenbauer.

Mel:

Perfect. I'll have all the links in the description, making it nice and easy for everyone. But thank you so much for coming on today, KJ.

KJ:

Thank you for having me.

Mel:

You're welcome. If you like this episode, don't forget to hit subscribe so you don't miss what's coming next. And if you want to continue the conversation, you can connect with me on Instagram @shes.organised or for some free resources, head over to beyondorganised.com/ toolkit. Remember, organising is a tool to live the purposeful life of beyond it. See you next time.time.

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Mel Schenker

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