Meet John Guidry of BLK Pr in West Hollywood

Today we’d like to introduce you to John Guidry.

John, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I moved to Los Angeles after graduating from Indiana University with the intentions of finding my way to NYC. I worked for Prada on Rodeo drive for two years, where I became the company leader in Men’s made-to-measure suiting. Because of that, I often got to assist the West Coast Director of PR, Celine Khavarani, with the majority of the brands men’s celebrity red carpet fittings. Celine is now the SVP of communications at the amazing fashion startup Tamara Mellon and has since become one of my mentors. Working with CK at Prada gave me my first peek behind the celebrity/ fashion marketing curtain while and opened my eyes to greater possibilities within the luxury fashion market.

From there, I was recruited to work at Tom Ford on Madison Ave in NYC where I was fortunate to get exposed to people from all over the world. I had the opportunity at Tom Ford to meet and often times work with almost all of the industry’s biggest celebrity stylist, personal shoppers and costume designers. This was pivotal for me as I was able to quickly realize that there are additional opportunities and paths that I can evolve in to. It was also around this time that I swiped right (via bumble) with my girlfriend and business partner, Kate Bedrick. Kate comes from an impressive fashion background; has helped launch brands into household names & with her traditional PR background seemed to be an effortless conversation about us going into business together! We started BLKpr (Kate’s initials backwards) with the simple objective of offering companies we are passionate about genuine honest support and consulting.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
There are always challenges when it comes to starting a new business and we have definitely seen our highs and lows. The amazing thing about working together is we full heartily support each other and have the same common goal. We focus on working with people that we truly believe in them as people and their brand as a whole. We’ve both worked for companies in the past that care primarily about money first and foremost and will tell clients anything they can just to get a check from them. We believe and operate in a win-win philosophy. We know that the brands success will be our success and we will all be able to grow together.

Please tell us about BLK Pr.
BLKpr is a full-service creative PR agency with extensive experience in overall brand development, influencer marketing, celebrity placement & impactful media mentions. We are curated group of genuine and talented creatives that are well-connected, authentic and result-driven.

We work collaboratively with international brands and the next generation of ground-breaking talent across the fashion, beauty, art, design & wellness space. We create unique PR strategies individually tailored to each client & aim to be a seamless extension of our client’s internal team along the way.

I know that Kate and I go by the idea of building memorable relationships first and foremost whether it be with a potential client, a stylist or an editor and the rest will follow. In less than two years of BLKpr being in business our brand retention is unparalleled and our media and celebrity placements are consistently top-tier. Our clients respect that we do what we say we are going to do and our team has fun while we do it.

Is our city a good place to do what you do?
I wholeheartedly believe that L.A. is currently the best place in the world right now for the services that we offer to brands. We’re able to directly work with and meet executives of all industries that are critical to the entertainment and sports industry. L.A. also offers the highest concentration and most of the best content creators in the entire world. All these advantages set us apart from our global competitors.

I would recommend for someone to start with a company that will allow them the opportunity to work primarily in L.A. but also has business in NYC as it’s also critical to have strong editorial contacts. We’re in New York for various projects 4-6 times a year and always make it a point to set meetings with as many editors as possible while we’re there.

Contact Info:

• Address: 6426 W Orange St
  Los Angeles, CA 90048
• Website: www.blkpr.com
• Phone: 3175080592
• Email: info@blkpr.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/blk_pr/

Image Credit:
Baz Lee, Darrel Hunter

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