Meet Natacha Tonissoo, a Brooklyn-based PR pro. Her international upbringing and affinity for globetrotting no doubt influenced her to become a luxury and experiential travel maven, and after over a decade of agency life, she's branched out on her own to serve clients all over the globe. Read on to learn how Natacha started her career in PR, the unique client roster she's worked with over the past 12 years, plus some of her favorite perks of freelancer life.
Where are you based?
I live in Dumbo, Brooklyn, NY. I used to commute into Manhattan for work, but since the start of the pandemic – and now in my freelance capacity – I've very much become a Dumbonian. I live and work remotely here, mostly from Dumbo House, which isn't a bad spot to admire city views, have meetings and get on with work surrounded by like-minded freelancers.
What are your specialty practice areas?
Luxury and experiential travel. Anyone who knows me will know that I'm a complete hotel junkie, but I also like to get out of my comfort zone and cover adventure travel, as I have been globetrotting extensively and living abroad since I was born. I've represented, and made connections with boutique hospitality brands, award-winning hotels, airlines, cruise specialists and destinations around the world.
Tell us about your career background before becoming a freelance consultant.
I started out my career in London back in 2008. I was an intern at fashion and interior design brand, Laura Ashley, mostly reorganizing sample closets and sending sample packages to media – and I knew from the getgo this wasn't fulfilling me. I knew that I wanted to work in the travel sector in any capacity whatsoever, as that's what I was reading and talking about in my personal time.
Without much experience or knowledge about what travel PR was (I really did think we were booking trips for guests), I had the eagerness to be in this space and was lucky to be hired at one of London's top luxury travel PR agencies, where I started cultivating relationships with my first clients at boutique hotels and hospitality brands that were a total dream: Dormy House in the Cotswolds, La Tremoille in Paris and Aqua Expeditions in the Amazon, and promoting their experiences to editors at The Times, The Daily Telegraph, Stylist and Wallpaper*, among many others. It was just as the world was emerging from the credit crunch, so luxury travel was undergoing a really challenging time and it was the early days of the shift from print to digital and the importance of content creation.
I've since worked in destination PR with clients such as Tahiti Tourisme, the Jerusalem Development Authority and South African Tourism, to name a few. I moved to NYC in 2015 and haven't looked back. I worked at JG Black Book, a curator of travel experiences, where I headed up the collection's PR division. More recently (pre-Covid), I worked at Hawkins International a FINN Partners Company, known as one of the leading agencies dedicated to travel and lifestyle. Over my 12 years of agency life, I've been fortunate to meet and learn from the best pros in the industry, and have built strong friendships and memories with coworkers and clients all over the world. Having a long agency career I think has been instrumental in making me keep up momentum and perseverance. I have to stay on always, and that's certainly an agency mindset.
What are some of your current projects/clients?
I've just pivoted to focusing on having long term projects, versus taking on shorter term/quick turnaround assignments. This way, I can have more ownership over the results, the relationships I make and see a project through to the end.
Since starting out last year, I'm representing a collection of boutique hotels and resorts in Portugal, Martinhal, which is getting ready to open their fifth property later this year and are considered specialists in catering to family travel (particularly for the youngest of guests which is often challenging; the goal is to encourage families to have the confidence to continue to travel internationally and in style, when they have kids). I've also recently started working with JW Marriott Venice Resort & Spa, which commands a unique spot on its own private island on Isola delle Rose, just outside Venice's buzzing city center. It's an exciting time for Venice with this year's comeback of La Biennale and the upcoming film festival. Even more recently I've started working with Cheval Blanc St-Barth Isle de France, which is among one of the most exquisite addresses in the Caribbean, and lies directly on the island of St. Barths' revered Flamands Beach. The Cheval Blanc Maison is only just unveiling its revamp by French designer Jacques Grange following the devastation caused by Hurricane Irma, and its closure during Covid. It has since re-emerged chicer and sleeker than ever.
What are your favorite aspects of freelance life - and least favorite?
Having full ownership of the projects or clients I take on, along with having control over the scope of work I can deliver, and the narrative of a story, are my favorite parts. I find that in this way, I can give my undivided attention to clients, and equally I can give my full and undivided attention to the media I work with.
As an example, I have more time to craft a personalized pitch, research in depth who is writing about what and where, plus what angles pique their interest. I'm enjoying seeing something through from start to finish without delegating, so I have full quality control. Also, I have more time to inform myself about the industry, how it's evolving post-Covid and make recommendations to my clients with complete confidence.
Needless to say, I value the flexibility that working for myself and working remotely offers. That means if I'm traveling or make extra time to be with my family, I can do that and adjust my working schedule, as long as I meet my own deadlines and stay cognisant of my responsibilities, which I've found I'm even more motivated to do so now whether it's a weekday or weekend. While working independently has its perks, I miss having more people around me to bounce ideas off and share opportunities with. I proactively set out to co-work at times with fellow freelancers, but it's certainly a different feeling working cohesively with a wider team that all have the same project or client goals in mind.
Who would be a dream client?
I have been lucky enough to represent clients in the adventure realm, both tour operators or lodge owners, in very remote parts of the world. My press trips (both the ones I've coordinated for media, as well as the ones I've hosted myself) to Africa have actually been among my most memorable, and thus the stories that emerge from these trips I feel are so impactful and motivate travelers to be more conscientious when they explore. So, all in all, to say that a dream client would be in Africa, or one that arranges exclusive experiences to uncover the continent's wildlife and culture in depth.
When we hosted our first media relations webinar in March 2020, we discussed best practices for nurturing the symbiotic relationship between publicists and media during that delicate time. We revisited the topic to get a fresh take on the general state of the media industry and how PR pros can best work with their media counterparts amid today’s continuously evolving landscape. We heard from Kayla Greaves, the executive beauty editor at InStyle, fashion journalist Laura Neilson (who contributes to T, Vogue, WSJ and more ), Cool Hunting’s editor-in-chief David Graver, travel writer Dylan Essertier (Conde Nast Traveler, AD, Travel & Leisure) and NBC’s Today Show writer, Emily Gerard.
The takeaways:
