Team Spotlight: Jenny Volanakis, SVP of Client Strategy

What you do at RAISE?

As SVP of Client Strategy, I work across the RAISE client portfolio to develop comprehensive communications strategies that include message development, media relations, executive visibility and thought leadership.

What do you read every day?

I have turned into a newsletter junkie! I start my day with Axios, CNN’s 5 Things and 1440 for a good news overview. Throughout the day I’ll check in on business and trade specific newsletters such as Protocol, Morning Brew and FinLedger. I’m also an avid book reader – so will end the day with the latest rec from our RAISE book list.

First job?

My very first teen job was working the snack shack at my town’s Little League fields, during which time I made an icee machine explode and suffered a few 2nd degree burns from the old-school popcorn machine. My first job out of college was at Sprint in the media relations department working on the launch of the first mobile Internet.

Most unusual story you’ve placed/pitched.

The one that stands out the most from both its uniqueness as well as the sheer amount of things that could have gone wrong and didn’t, was around the anniversary of the ck one fragrance. The client set up a life size perfume bottle in a Times Square building, complete with models dancing in the windows, in a nod to the brand’s iconic commercial. We secured a great amount of national press including a live remote with the GMA weather team.

What’s one of the unintended positive consequences of COVID

Over the past year, there has been a simultaneous recognition of both the importance of our local communities as well as our global interconnectedness. I hope that we as a society are able to use that awareness for the common good going forward.