Malcolm Carfrae has had a dream career in the communications industry, from being chief communications officer at Calvin Klein, to heading up global communications, PR and media at Ralph Lauren, to founding his consultancy which works with some of the most coveted brands in the world: RH, Zimmermann and Dr. Barbara Sturm, among many others.

During our chat with Malcolm, we got to know how the industry luminary got to where he is today and what he learned along the way. The takeaways:

• Relationships are everything. At the end of the day, it is all about the power of human relationships and strong media relations - there is no replacement for this
• The right mentors both teach you things and help you discover things on your own
• A successful future PR practitioner will go far beyond traditional PR; the days of only doing one thing are over. Great PR people will have to learn how to be savvy in 10 areas, not just one. Think media relations, VIP relations, crisis communications, events, etc.
• Face-to-face quality time is really important, but the pandemic has taught us that one-one-one interactions can happen more sporadically, rather than everyday meetings and excess travel
• That said, if your team is great, you can make it happen in person or remotely
• Best advice he’s received: The role of a PR pro is to guard the spotlight, not be in the spotlight. Keep a client-first mentality