{"id":258744,"date":"2013-10-11T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-10-11T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdnews.com\/small-business-owner-proves-that-pr-can-carry-an-ethical-message\/"},"modified":"2013-10-11T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2013-10-11T07:00:00","slug":"small-business-owner-proves-that-pr-can-carry-an-ethical-message","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/small-business-owner-proves-that-pr-can-carry-an-ethical-message\/","title":{"rendered":"Small business owner proves that PR can carry an ethical message"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you\u2019d told Brook Larios 10 years ago that she would someday own her own business doing public relations for socially responsible companies and working as a freelance journalist on the side, she would likely have been incredulous. She would have been particularly skeptical if you\u2019d told her this as she was graduating from Cal State San Marcos with a psychology degree and a minor in visual and performing arts.
\nBut it was this degree, it turns out, that led Larios on this unlikely path. “The psychology department had a writing requirement, and it was daunting for most. But it was, I think, what saved me,” she said. “I ended up just loving the writing aspect, so when I realized I wasn\u2019t going to go on to get my master\u2019s right away, I decided I needed to find another outlet, and writing was it.”
\nOut of undergrad in 2002, Larios got an internship with the San Diego Community Newspaper Group and was soon hired on as one of our reporters, a position she held until 2004.
\nAfter deciding that her writing skills could be put to work in other fields as well, Larios made the jump into public relations. She did a few projects for small local agencies, learning as she went and using her knowledge as a journalist to guide her in making pitches to local publications. “Of course, there was always that nagging thing in the back of my mind, saying, \u2018This is the dark side,\u2019” she laughed. “But I decided to take the leap, and in the end, I was getting a ton of writing assignments in tandem with my PR work. What I recognized is that I still had that journalistic integrity.”
\nLarios\u2019 first real PR job after her initial foray into the field as a consultant was as a PR manager for a nonprofit.
\n“I didn\u2019t have the skill set, necessarily, to be a PR manager, but I had the tenacity,” she said. “I recognized there are a million ways to do things, especially at a nonprofit where you have very little budget to work with.”
\nLarios built on her experience and went on to work with other nonprofits, all the while continuing to write on the side. Through her connections, she made inroads into San Diego\u2019s food scene, writing columns and articles about the sustainable and locavore food movements. After a stint doing PR for Vista\u2019s celebrity health spa, Cal-a-Vie, she finally broke out on her own, representing farm-to-table Terra American Bistro as her sole client in 2007.
\n“That\u2019s when I recognized, \u2018I can do this,\u2019” she said. “I started my own agency, slowly building my client list up.”
\nIn 2008, Larios\u2019 PR agency, PlainClarity, was born. She started the venture with her husband, Joe, out of their home. Clients started showing interest when it became clear, she said, that she would “advocate for them.”
\n“Clients understood that I wasn\u2019t just doing this for money, but because I cared and was concerned about the direction of our food culture in San Diego,” she said. Through word of mouth, Larios began to get to know the movers and shakers San Diego\u2019s food world, and they began to get to know her. “At first it was a little shocking, because before I found my niche in food, there was a little bit of self-loathing,” she said. “I thought, \u2018How can I continue to do PR when my heart was always in writing and I believe so strongly in journalistic integrity?\u2019 That integrity was really built at the San Diego Community Newspaper Group. It left an indelible mark.”
\nOnce she was able to start helping small business owners realize their dreams, however, Larios\u2019 sense of self-loathing dissipated. “I realized I could contribute to our food culture and make it better,” she said.
\nFor five years, PlainClarity operated out of Larios\u2019 home office, but in June, she and Joe moved into an office on Girard Avenue above Harvard Cookin\u2019 Girl and Ariccia Market. Larios set her sights on hiring a team to help grow the business, with the goal to bring on at least two new clients in the first few months. She hired a full-time publicist and brought on four. The agency now represents eight clients.
\n“We\u2019ve progressed beyond what I anticipated, and each month we\u2019re bringing on a new client,” she said. “We\u2019re able to turn down work we don\u2019t feel is the right fit for us.”
\nPlainClarity, Larios said, generally works with restaurants that are already or soon plan to work with a sustainable, farm-to-table model. Though its main focus is on food, the agency will also work with other companies that employ sustainable tactics and socially conscious business practices. The agency\u2019s new office, even, represents Larios\u2019 approach to sustainable business. The d\u00e9cor includes reclaimed objects given a new life as interior design, with Larios\u2019 intent to practice what she preaches.
\nLarios hopes the agency\u2019s new office location will, by proximity, give her access to some of the La Jolla businesses that embody PlainClarity\u2019s ethics.
\n“One of my intentions right now is to become an integral part of the La Jolla community. I want to work with more clients in La Jolla,” she said. “This is our home now, and we\u2019re invested in the community. We strive to be that agency that is an extension of our clients. We live and breathe what they do.”
\nFor more information about PlainClarity, visit www.plainclarity.com<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you\u2019d told Brook Larios 10 years ago that she would someday own her own business doing public relations for socially responsible companies and working as a freelance journalist on the side, she would likely have been incredulous. She would have been particularly skeptical if you\u2019d told her this as she was graduating from Cal […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":258745,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11560","_seopress_titles_title":"Small business owner proves that PR can carry an ethical message","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11560,11551],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-258744","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-la-jolla-village-news","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258744","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=258744"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258744\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/258745"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=258744"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=258744"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=258744"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}