Meet Melanie Wadden of Berk Communications in Hollywood

Today we’d like to introduce you to Melanie Wadden.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Melanie. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I grew up in Northern Virginia outside of Washington, D.C. and attended Virginia Tech for undergrad, where I studied business economics, minored in Italian and wrote for the award-winning Collegiate Times as a sports reporter. I initially planned to pursue a career in finance, but with the recession in 2008, I reevaluated things. My father was an usher at RFK Stadium, former home of the Washington Redskins, for over 25 years and brought me home from the hospital in a team onesie. Needless to say, an affinity for sports and entertainment was in my DNA – but I wasn’t quite sure how to translate that passion into a career path.

During my undergrad, I reached out to my mother’s closest childhood friend – a legend in our household who I had only heard stories of, but never actually met, since she lived in Los Angeles. Her name is Nancy Kirkpatrick, and at the time I didn’t realize she was one of the most established and respected publicity and marketing executives in the film industry touching films such as Space Jam, the Twilight series, and the Divergent series. I spoke with Nancy on the phone and, to date, it was the most nerve-racking phone call I have ever had. She let me know that she wasn’t used to looking at a kid’s resume and that I did not have a lot of experience but that she would make a few calls.

A few days later, she called to tell me someone from what was then Allied Integrated Marketing would be reaching out about an internship – she reminded me that she went out on a limb for me and that it was up to me from there. During my experience at Allied, now almost a decade ago, I was exposed to the inner workings of film publicity on a regional scale and supported Universal Pictures and Focus Features including two red carpet premieres for G.I. Joe and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. This prepared me for two internships the following year, one in corporate hospitality and one in public relations with the Washington Redskins – both of which I applied for online.

Leading into my last semester of college, I felt confident on job prospects however the NFL Lockout was imminent, and this forced me to reboot again. I decided to go to graduate school and applied to Georgetown University’s Sports Industry Management master’s program. I enrolled that summer and completed two internships as a Hoya – one with the NFL Players Association in their communications department and a second with Octagon supporting PR and events for their football division. Both were eye-opening experiences that showed me two other sides of the sports industry that I previously had not considered, a player union and sports agency.

Following graduation, I was hired as a project employee for the National Basketball Association where I focused on WNBA initiatives. Within a week of the interview, I moved to New York knowing no one and was immediately overwhelmed by the pace and “grid” of the city that I could not for the life of me figure out. About six months later, I could finally navigate Manhattan with ease and started to build a network there. I participated in almost every employee intramural league that the NBA offered and met coworkers from other departments which helped me learn the inner-workings of the organization and start to see the bigger picture.

I also volunteered to help at events and with projects outside of my day-to-day, after work hours or on weekends as much as possible. After about a year at the NBA, I packed up my life again for San Francisco where I rejoined Octagon full-time in a similar yet expanded capacity from my internship. Luckily friends at the NBA connected me with some other league alumni in the Bay Area which made the transition more seamless. The SF culture welcomed everyone and people were quick to introduce you to friends and colleagues doing often disruptive things in business and technology.

At Octagon, our team supported about 80 NFL players around the country where we were tasked with building their personal brands and showing fans who the men were behind their masks. About six months later, I was promoted but following the restructure I had trouble seeing my role in the future of the company. Around this time, I received a call from an NFL agent and co-head of a sports agency based in Houston called Select Sports Group. We had a chance meeting at Super Bowl earlier that year, and they were looking to add a publicist to their staff as they expanded their business fast forward a few months and once again, I packed everything up and moved – this time, to Texas.

SSG gave me the opportunity to direct and develop PR, philanthropic and digital efforts across the agency and their roster of clients in addition to supporting the agency’s growth. It was fast-paced, every day was different, and I worked with some of the most passionate and charismatic people in the industry. I grew tremendously, but after three years, I was ready for a new challenge and in stepped Berk Communications. Berk offered me the chance to continue growing alongside a suite of other PR-minded professionals while also supporting clients outside of the talent sector. After a temporary stint in New York to familiarize myself with the agency and our staff last year, I relocated to Los Angeles earlier this year.

Has it been a smooth road?
I have worked hard to put myself in a position to be successful, however, it has certainly not always been a smooth journey. When I was a freshman at Virginia Tech, our community was shaken to its core when the school was attacked by a lone gunman.

I lost a friend and a lot of my innocence that April morning in 2007. I had previously been enrolled in one of the classes that were attacked and had withdrawn earlier in the semester. I had a lot of survivor’s guilt, and it took a long time to come to terms with the fact that I would never be able to completely comprehend what happened that day and that there was no answer to “why.” To honor my friend and all of those who lost their lives that morning, I have tried to take advantage of every opportunity and to live my life to the fullest. You never know when it may be your time and I don’t want to have any regrets.

On a professional level, the NFL Lockout was my first big bump. While at Georgetown, I interviewed for several roles at various teams and sports organizations around the country but was passed over – they spanned across marketing, community relations, licensing and PR. Each felt like a crushing blow at the time, but in hindsight, I could not be more grateful that those opportunities did not pan out. I like to think that I was redirected rather than rejected and as cliché, as it sounds, each “no” was a learning experience that helped lead me to my next step.

So, as you know, we’re impressed with Berk Communications – tell our readers more, for example, what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
Berk Communications is a boutique public relations firm specializing in sports and entertainment, travel and tourism, food and beverage, tech and consumer products. The company was founded by PR veteran Ron Berkowitz in 1999 and has grown substantially over the years.

I joined Berk last summer as the Vice President of Sports & Entertainment and I oversee our talent roster of athletes and personalities as well as lead our internal efforts for Maxim Experiences – the experiential division of Maxim magazine that throws the most incredible events, and Kor Media Entertainment – an entertainment agency in collaboration with Warner Brothers Interactive.

We have an incredibly talented leadership team at Berk, but I am most proud of how dedicated and collaborative our staff are, and especially my team in New York. We all help each other; we bounce around ideas, we share relationships.

I think that this internal support coupled with our passion for PR and our creativity is what ultimately sets us apart.

Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
It’s hard to pick one moment but working with Colin Kaepernick during the first year of his anthem protest and helping show the public the man and reasoning behind this player kneeling was an incredible experience.

From his “Million Dollar Pledge” and the “Know Your Rights Camps” to land the cover of Time Magazine and launching a national conversation on racial injustice and police brutality; Colin is an iconic and inspirational figure. I am so proud of everything he is doing, and it was an honor to be a part of it.

Some of my favorite client collaborations to date have been Jay Ajayi x NFL International, Danny Amendola x Men’s Health (cover feature), Lance Armstrong x Paper Magazine, Andy Dalton x MLB All-Star Celebrity Softball, Josh Hart x Disney Channel, Justin Pugh x Who Wants to be a Millionaire, CC Sabathia x Do or Dare, Alex Rodriguez x The Ellen DeGeneres Show, and Charles Tillman x The Players’ Tribune.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.berkcommunications.com
• Email: melanie@berkcommunications.com
• Twitter: @melwadd
• Other: www.linkedin.com/in/melaniemwadden

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