Karen Taylor Bass PR Expert!

                                                                                                             By Miss Rikki

She’s not a professional chef, but Karen Taylor Bass has built a solid career on caviar and chitlins.  Well, sort of.  For the past twenty years she has been in public relations and now thru her book and a variety of other mediums she is bringing her expertise to us! So how did this St. Johns University graduate become the CEO/President of her own company, write a book, and the host of her own blogtalk radio show?  She says she has a gift for forecasting her future and it has helped her in so many ways.

Her journey began back in college when she had a friend who was the roommate of Sean “P. Diddy” (then Puffy) Combs.  She saw how he was getting on different magazines and really marketing himself to the public.  She inquired how Puffy was able to do all that and when she got her answer she decided to make a major/career change.  After she graduated she worked for EMI Records, but because she was a newbie they often gave her the campaigns that they thought weren’t going to do much.  She however persevered and was responsible for the writing campaign for D’Angelo’s Brown Sugar album.  “It was my coming out party,” she recalls.

From there she went on to work at various other labels like Electra, Time Warner, and Sony, but she saw that the industry was changing.  At one point people were even losing their jobs.  The company she was working for at the time wanted to keep her and offered her another position, but it was then that she decided she didn’t want her career in someone else’s hands.  She wanted more control over her own destiny.  So, she started her own company – TaylorMade Media, LLC.

Starting her own company opened up so many avenues for her.  With all her experience in the industry she started a small e-book of about 54 pages called You Want Caviar But Have Money For Chitlins: A Smart PR Guide for Those on a Budget.  It was so immensely popular that she had to make it into a full-fledged book 108 paged paperback book.  “The hardest part was actually doing it,” she said.  “Being front and center.  Naked and vulnerable.”

Ms. Taylor Bass is also a motivational speaker, and after a friend of hers suggested she get a radio show she started the Caviar and Chitterlings show on blogtalkradio.com.    

With all that she does, including being a mother and a wife, it’s a wonder how she keeps it all together.  She says she just takes it one step at a time and is grateful for the great team of people she has around her.  “They see my vision.”  She admits that her life is not necessarily balanced, but she lives in the moment and doesn’t take herself too seriously.

In the future Ms. Taylor Bass desires to take her brand to television and beyond.  She wants to go international, work on a project in South Africa and maybe do some boot camps there.  She described it as “world domination with a smile.”   

As for advice for you SistaGirlz out there, she says that her footsteps are her own so there is no need to try to follow them.  What worked for her may not work for others.  But not to worry SistaGirlz she did drop a few pearls of wisdom:   be kind, be authentic, keep your word and if you can’t tell them why, make time with yourself, seek a relationship with a higher power, love and live, get mentored, volunteer, most importantly do you!

Check out Karen Taylor Bass on her Website and you can catch the Caviar and Chitterlings show on Tuesday evenings at 6 pm EST.