She is our team’s Sagittarian go-getter, restaurateur’s best friend, sports fan, fitness queen and we’re thrilled to now call her a senior account manager at Obsidian – Murray Lace! For almost six years (including her internship), Murray’s been impressing us with her stellar work ethic and leadership skills. Simply put, we’re so lucky to have her on our team. Find out what makes her fabulous with this month’s staff spotlight.

Murray, you’ve done PR for just about every industry, but your forté seems to have become restaurant and entertainment PR. What’s your favorite part of planning for your restaurant clients? 

Helping shine a light on what restaurant clients are doing is just so fun. Whether I’m planning a pre-opening food tasting for media or helping a bartender name new cocktails, I am always having a good time. 

You’ve been a cat mom for about two years now! What is your favorite thing about hanging out with Lou? 

Lou is a hoot! She has quite the personality, so she keeps me laughing. I talk to her more often than I probably should. She hasn’t responded to me… yet.

We all have our favorite and least favorite tasks. What is one PR tactic that you LOVE to tackle versus one you would rather not add to your list?

In my next life, I want to be a speech writer, so I really enjoy crafting statements on behalf of clients. Whether it’s an internal note to rally a team during a difficult season or a social media post speaking out about a social issue, I like capturing a specific client’s voice. 

If I never had to schedule a social media post again, I would not be mad about it. Ha! Scheduling is such a great tool, but it is so time-consuming.

This pandemic has been hard, huh? What have you been doing to stay active and entertained over the last few months? 

I spend a lot of time in the gym and enjoy going on walks around Downtown. I moved to the Edge District in June 2020, so I love walking from my apartment to South Main Street. It’s been nice to see exciting construction projects wrap up and the foot traffic increase in the area over the last few months. I’ve also watched a lot of sporting events. Some have been more enjoyable than others…pray for Razorback fans, y’all. The heartbreak Hogs are wild.

If there’s one piece of advice or bit of knowledge you’ve learned over your years as a PR pro that you think every PR newbie should know, what would it be? 

PR professionals need to know enough about a lot of industries to be dangerous. You never know what sector you’ll be working in next or what questions a client may ask about something they saw in the news that may or may not be related to their business, so it’s important to continue learning and take in a great deal of news every day.

When you’re not home in Memphis, where is your favorite place to be? 

Easy! Take me to Gulf Dunes Lane in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida. A lifelong friend has a beachfront house we visit often. It is truly my happy place.

What does your ideal client look like? 

An ideal client is transparent. They are responsive and keep me in the loop on what’s happening in their business. You never want to be the last to know something as a PR professional!