Five Minutes With Nicole Pajer.
Nicole Pajer - Freelance Journalist & Copywriter
Tell us about your current occupation and how you landed such a fabulous job.
I’m a freelance journalist/copywriter. I came up in corporate America in the entertainment industry before realizing I wanted to write for a living. So I started doing that on the side before I branched off into being a full-time freelance writer. It was a lot of hustle to make the transition (working a corporate job and kicking off a writing career at the same time) but I love what I do, which is something I definitely don’t take for granted!
2. What's your best advice for PR professionals?
I co-founded a PR consulting company called Top Tier Consulting with fellow journalist, Jill Schildhouse, where we do a weekly deep dive Substack newsletter geared towards helping publicists make the most out of their relationships with journalists. We tackle everything from networking and finding the right journalists and publications to feature your clients to perfecting your pitches so that they stand out in a writer’s inbox (sometimes writers receive 1,000 pitches a day from publicists so these little tweaks really help!). We also offer 1:1 consulting sessions for agencies and sololancers and host group workshops on a regular basis.
You can check us out at our website and sign up for our Substack.
To give one tip away, I’d say make a pitch timely. As a writer, I receive pitches all day long about cool clients. But sometimes I don’t make the connection in the moment of scanning the email as to what I could do with that client. If you can suggest something timely to tie a pitch to, that’s so so helpful in helping us to view it as a potential story idea.
3. What's a fun fact about you?
Nobody knows how to pronounce my last name. I work with people for years before they eventually and inevitably ask “How do you say your last name?” line. It’s “pager,” like the old-school beeper!
4. Tell us about your favorite nonprofit and why.
I’m a big supporter of the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network. In 2015, my father was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and passed away within 4 weeks. It’s a nasty cancer and not a sexy one that receives a lot of funding. By the time people show symptoms and are diagnosed it’s almost always too late. Raising funds for research and treatment opportunities for pancreatic cancer is always top of my charitable list.
5. What's your favorite meal, movie, or vacation spot?
My favorite place to travel is Africa. There is nothing more amazing than being outdoors in the wild on a safari with animals. I love being able to witness them in their natural habitat — not to mention the chance to completely unplug from the rest of the world.