Today we’d like to introduce you to Julia Lytle
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I graduated from Boston University’s College of Communication in 2014 and began working in consumer PR the year after I graduated. I subsequently moved into an Account Manager role with a digital marketing agency, which is what brought me to Chicago in 2016. The small, Boston-based agency I was working for at the time secured a large contract with Kellogg’s, and I was one of three people who moved to Chicago to support the Midwest Kellogg’s client. That experience allowed me the opportunity to collaborate with advertising powerhouses Starcom & Leo Burnett, as we were part of an inter-agency team working together to produce integrated campaigns for Kellogg’s brands like Cheez-It, Frosted Flakes, Pop-Tarts & Rice Krispies Treats. I left the agency world in 2018 for a remote contractor position with Turner (now WarnerMedia) in Atlanta, and that gave me a taste of what it would look like to contract full-time. When the Turner contract ended, I found myself contracting with several small agencies in Chicago. I was doing traditional PR for one agency, social & digital marketing for another and experiential & brand marketing for another. It felt like I was working in siloes – these agencies were all extremely specialized, and they operated strictly in their lanes. Based on my varied experience, I was yearning for more of an integrated experience for clients, which led me to start Che Consulting in 2019. Since then, my company has supported clients in creating and executing integrated brand strategies with earned media (aka PR) at the forefront. We provide traditional public relations services, as well as digital & social media, experiential and multicultural services. We have supported clients in a variety of industries, including art & design, entertainment, sports, lifestyle & wellness, nonprofit, finance, tech and consumer packaged goods. Over the last five years, we’ve navigated a global pandemic and recession as a small business ourselves, and I’ve observed the way economic uncertainty causes businesses to pull back when it comes to marketing & PR. I hate seeing businesses miss opportunities to build brand awareness & cultivate connections because they’re scared or unable to invest in professional PR & marketing support. I’m currently refocusing my efforts to educate & empower others to do PR for themselves with a new digital course called Club Che. I believe anyone can do PR when provided with the right insights, tools & resources, and once someone learns how to build an integrated brand strategy and conduct effective media outreach, they don’t have to rely on expensive outside support.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Definitely not. As I mentioned, I started Che Consulting in 2019, just five months before COVID-19 sent the world into lockdown. I lost one of my largest clients in April 2020, which took both a financial and emotional toll. This client was over 50% of my monthly revenue, and he had been with me since I launched Che Consulting. He was a huge part of why I was able to go out on my own in the first place. I learned to rely on my network, connecting with family friends, college professors, former colleagues, reporters, etc. to keep me busy. I took on small projects, working basically for free, and continued following my gut. At the time, I felt completely lost. Looking back, I realize I was getting a crash course in running a business. I learned how to pivot, be creative, maintain a positive attitude, ask for help and, most importantly, put myself out there even when I felt discouraged. I put my ego aside and went back to part-time agency work, subcontracting with a San Diego-based multicultural agency. I am fluent in Spanish, and this work allowed me to gain experience in a whole new practice area. I also co-hosted my first webinar with an artist friend, PR for Artists, which surprised me by being the thing that propelled Che Consulting into our next phase of business. Coming out of that webinar, we landed five artist clients, and those projects eventually evolved into a more broad art & design business niche. In 2021, I relocated to Los Angeles, stopping short on a planned cross-country move to Sayulita, Mexico (that’s another story for another time!). While I was getting settled in LA, we signed a large contract with a workplace interior design firm that plans & outfits office spaces, largely for tech clients in the Bay Area. Through this project, Che Consulting was exposed to new business opportunities in the real estate development, architecture & interior design space. It felt like we had finally gotten our groove back. I let go of my multicultural subcontracting position, and business was the best it had ever been. Then came the Silicon Valley Bank collapse in March 2023, along with the ongoing question of whether or not employees (specifically those in the tech industry) would ever fully return to work. Our largest client was not only a client of Silicon Valley Bank, but they were also heavily impacted by the changing commercial real estate landscape. Once again, we lost our biggest client, and adjacent new business opportunities were at a standstill. 2023 was by far the most difficult year for me as an entrepreneur. I felt like I was back to survival mode. We had just celebrated three years of business with an epic beach party in Venice, and six months later I was letting my team of contractors go. I felt like I had failed in some way, so it took me a while to put myself out there again. I took on smaller, more short-term projects that I could handle on my own. I turned to my network again, and this time, the conversations I was having inspired a completely new idea – a digital PR course. I saw the way shifting budgets were impacting a company’s ability to build brand awareness. PR is the first thing to go when you’re trying to avoid widespread layoffs, I get it. But what if – instead of gatekeeping my skills & only being able to help brands when they have money to invest – I could teach them what I know? The first iteration of our 28-video, digital PR course Club Che is currently open for enrollment. I’m continuing to revise & improve the course, infusing it with takeaways from current work with Che Consulting clients. I have an idea for a non-profit that would arm high school graduates unable to attend college with the tools to create an independent PR career. I hope that development of our educational Club Che course may someday segway into bringing this nonprofit idea to life.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Che Consulting?
People often ask where the name Che comes from, and I think it speaks to what we’re trying to accomplish with each of our clients. For six months after college, I lived & taught English in a small, rural town in Argentina. Expecting to simply teach English and achieve Spanish fluency before returning to a PR agency job in Boston, I discovered so much more. I found a community of people that welcomed me with open arms and made somewhere halfway around the world feel like home. A common term in Argentine Spanish, “ché” translates literally to “hey.” Not the greeting, but the exclamation we use to call someone’s attention. “Hey, look at this.” Pairing my passion for community and culture with a desire to catalyze a brand’s presence, I launched Che Consulting with a specific goal of getting people to say “hey, look at this” when talking about our clients. The way we do this is by pairing traditional public relations with an integrated approach to social media, digital marketing, events and brand collaborations. I say “storytelling is our bread & butter, while crafting the story is our passion.” To me, this reflects the fact that I have been doing traditional PR for 11 years – it’s what I went to school for, and it’s the strongest of my skill sets. That being said, the world of media is changing rapidly, and it’s becoming increasingly more important to create a brand story that is worth telling. I see social media, digital marketing, brand collaborations, events, etc. as the fodder that support a brand’s story and elevate anything we are pitching on behalf of our clients. Whether companies work with us to develop a strategy across all these areas or hire us to focus on just one specific piece, we take an integrated approach to bringing our clients’ stories to life. We work closely with internal teams and vendors to ensure consistent messaging, optimized efficiency and maximum brand impact. Right now, we work with clients in a few different ways. We offer full-service retainer support, tailored to fit the specific needs of each client. We offer project-based work under Che à la Carte, as well as a monthly PR subscription service called Che On-Call. Both Che à la Carte and Che On-Call were born during COVID, when we wanted to continue supporting businesses without the large investment of a monthly retainer. Finally, as I mentioned, we recently launched Club Che, which allows brands, business owners & aspiring consultants to learn the ropes of PR & brand strategy through a self-paced digital course. In addition to 28 video modules, Club Che members receive access to lesson-specific templates, worksheets, writing prompts & practical exercises, as well as continued education tools & resources. There is also a Club Che VIP membership, which includes access to the 28 videos and accompanying templates, worksheets, writing prompts, practical exercises & continued education tools & resources, two 1:1 strategy consultations with me, lifetime access to a Club Che online community, weekly group coaching office hours and invitations to industry expert guest speakers. Both memberships include immediate access to new Club Che modules & evolutions made to the existing Club Che core content.
What were you like growing up?
I like to think my entrepreneurial spirit has been with me since I was little. I was always creating new business ideas or pretending to run businesses. I started a line of stationary that I planned to sell, which consisted of individually created cards that I made by gluing sparkles, glitter, beads and whatever else I could find onto cardstock. I don’t think I ever truly got that business off the ground :). My parents also talk about unplugging the hotel phone anytime we were on vacation, so I could play concierge/receptionist. I would “answer” the phone and use the hotel notepad to make or cancel reservations. I always loved the idea of having my own office, maybe modeling myself after people like my dad, who started & operates his own ophthalmology practices. I redecorated our unfinished attic with a desk and bookshelf, and I used to retreat up there every afternoon to do my homework. I have always been really social and actually used to get myself in trouble. One year my teacher wrote “talks too much in class” on my report card. I had a lot of varied interests growing up – I swam, played tennis, soccer, basketball and violin, and I began working as soon as I could. I started as a “mom’s helper” (basically a babysitter when the mom is still at home to supervise) when I was 12 or 13, moved up to real babysitting in middle & high school, and got lifeguard certified, working as a lifeguard through high school and all of college. In college I pursued higher levels of achievement & leadership positions in anything I participated in, with the exception of rowing. I walked on the Boston University women’s rowing team as a freshman & quit after a year. I began lifeguarding freshman year and ended senior year as Head Lifeguard, with certifications to teach swim lessons & train other lifeguards. I joined a sorority and ended up Chief Recruitment Officer two years in a row. I joined PRLab, Boston University’s student-run PR agency, and ended up President my senior year, launching the organization’s first-ever, 24-hour PR & advertising marathon, PRoBono. As I look back on my life, I’ve taken lots of risks, I’ve had plenty of firsts, and I’ve subsequently quit a lot of things that weren’t for me. I don’t regret any of it.
Pricing:
- Full Service Integrated PR starting @ $4,500/month
- Che à La Carte project fees ranging from $750 to $5,000
- Che On-Call monthly subscription @ $1,000/month
- Club Che digital PR course @ $1,750 (or $350/month for 5 months)
- Club Che VIP digital PR course @ $4,500 (or $750/month for 6 months)
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.che-consulting.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/che.consulting
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYqKj6bT4wpZd_65RSK93gQ
Image Credits
Che Consulting
