Meet Holly Landeros | CEO and Co-founder, HJ-PR
We had the good fortune of connecting with Holly Landeros and we’ve shared our conversation below.
Hi Holly, how has your work-life balance changed over time?
Work life balance and mental health in the work place is something I feel very strongly about. After graduating university in London in 2013 I jumped straight in head first into a sector that is known to be notoriously competitive – Fashion. I started off as an assistant, but soon wore a number of hats, from marketing, event managing to even designing. My work life balance was somewhat non-existent. As someone in my early 20’s living in LA, a cool new city so different to London, I desperately needed this to change. Unfortunately when I bought it up to my boss, in the most professional way I could, I didn’t just get a “no” I got the boot.
I couldn’t believe it, and also had a dreading feeling, is this what it is supposed to be like? Am I in the wrong? Fast forward nearly 10 years, I’ve worked for a number of PR agencies both in LA and London, and just before I was on the brink of quitting the sector all together, after feeling the constant demands and no time for myself I was offered a role at a leading PR firm in central London. I thought to myself, this is my last shot, but I wasn’t holding much hope. To my absolute relief and immense gratitude to the founder and the team, this was probably my favourite company i’ve ever worked for. Here is where I learnt the importance of work life balance. This was embedded to me on day 1. I was part of one of the hardest working teams, who were incredibly efficient, but something else they were good at was shutting off and leaving the office on time. Whether you were meeting friends after work, had a personal appointment, or just wanted to get home on a cold winter’s evening, it was doable, appreciated and most importantly you were not made to feel guilty.
Now I have my own agency, I can happily say that job taught me a lot about respect for co-workers, the need for personal time and that mental health is and should be a priority. How can you be expected to perform at your best when you’re burnt out? How can you work efficiently when you’re juggling more than you can hold? The answer if you can’t.
I find when my co-workers are happy and are able to take frequent breaks they perform at their best and most efficient, and that’s what we strive for. We work in a creative industry, and sitting staring at a laptop all day is draining! Go out to that morning yoga session, take an hour lunch break, go enjoy happy hour! (As long as the work gets done, ha ha!).
Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
We are a Public Relations, Influencer Marketing and Social Media Management agency specializing in the sectors of cannabis, fashion, food & beverage, hospitality, spirits and wellness brands. We have clients spanning across the US and UK, so are able to represent brands locally and globally whilst providing business strategies individually tailored to each client’s needs.
I founded the agency with my husband, Fernando, we actually come from two separate backgrounds, which has really been the foundation to build what now is a creative, culturally connected and result-driven agency. We align a 360-degree lifestyle approach to brand building, public relations and hyper-targeting influencer communities, covering brand stories from every angle to gain commercial success.
I have 8+ years of experience in Public Relations, and began my career in London, England, working for a number of boutique agencies specializing in F&B, Hospitality and Lifestyle Brands. After working my way up to management level at one of London’s top PR agencies, I embarked on a journey stateside, where I gained international experience, specializing in creating memorable moments for major F&B, spirits, cannabis and fashion clients.
Fernando, who was born and raised in Mexico City, is currently responsible for managing the end-to-end operations on all HJ-PR brand client’s influencer marketing campaigns as well as overseeing daily business development activity and client relationships. Fernando has worked with start-ups his entire career – catapulting their success and turning himself into the catalyst of success for all of his past positions by triplicating revenue and exponentially growing their size and revenue.Taking all our experience and rolodex of contacts, we decided it was time to venture out on our own, and that is when HJ-PR was born.We moved to Mexico during the pandemic, so our cost of living is a lot lower than it was in LA, so something that sets us apart is our competitive prices! We can offer clients a rate that most LA firms couldn’t, but no lack on the quality of the work we produce.Integrity is a big thing for us. We don’t follow the typical agency guidelines of over promising and under delivering, honest is the best policy for us, managing expectations and being true to not only ourselves but our clients, we find clients appreciate our honest opinion more than us telling them we’ll get them on the cover of Vogue in a month, for example!
Nurturing our staff is also extremely important to us – especially today, where we all work remotely, maintaining momentum, excitement, and avoiding burnout is important. I always say this is PR not ER!
Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.We’d start by taking a morning hike up Runyon Canyon, my favorite thing to do first thing in the morning before work, it’s amazing for clearing the mind and getting some fresh air before I start any work calls!Some of my favorite breakfast spots include:
Lazy Daisy Beverly Hills – do the BEST breakfast burritos ever
Cheebos for a chilled post-hike breakfast on a SundayZinc DTLA – best brunch vibes, and they do green juice mimosas, so it’s kinda healthy, right?My favorite lunch spots:
Gracias Madre – amazing vegan Mexican food
Locali – they do a really good vegan buffalo sandwich which is to die for
Grand Central Market – for all the food cravings under one roof, there is a Thai spot in there that is to die for
Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?I want to dedicate my shout out firstly to Fleet Street Communications, every single one of you for making work feel like a little family, fun and ultimately rewarding. Thank you for showing me you can be both successful in your career and your personal life!
Also a big shout out goes to my husband, aka my co-founder! We would not be here without him and he is who motivates me every single day to get up and do what I Iove doing, so thank you for that!
