Founder Spotlight: Natalee Gibson

Welcome back to the SPR Spotlight Series. Today, we’re joined by Natalee Gibson, Songue PR’s CEO and co-founder. 

Natalee is a PR veteran who brings over two decades of experience to SPR, working with industry-defining startups, established Fortune 100 giants and everything in-between. A former broadcast journalist and news producer, she deeply values high-quality journalism and its power to spark conversations and shift perceptions. Her editorial training shines through in her ability to shape a narrative and in her award-winning writing. 

Now based in Colorado, but calling the Bay Area and New York City her second homes, Natalee specializes in some of the toughest situations in PR: crisis communications and strategic comms for companies preparing for investment and exit. 

Join us to dive deeper into Natalee’s experience, what drives her in PR, and what she’s most passionate about. 

Take us through your career. What are you most proud of? 

From the time I could talk, I wanted to be a journalist – I was fascinated by the news and had my favorite reporters. I did a lot of news work in college, including producing and serving as the national news editor for my university’s daily broadcast. I covered politics as part of that news beat, which meant I spent a lot of time at the state capitol and had firsthand experience watching the influence of the media in shaping opinions. 

After I graduated, I  landed a coveted newsroom position in a top 50 market. I loved the work - it was demanding, high paced and every day was different. After about a year, an opportunity came my way to move into the business world and help establish a PR footprint for a tech startup. I was excited about trying something new, and was young enough that it felt adventurous but not life changing. I figured I could always go back to my first love, news. 

As luck would have it, just two weeks after I moved to the Bay Area for this new position, the dotcom bubble burst, and the startup failed. Before I had a chance to consider reaching out to newsrooms, I was introduced to a woman who would become one of my biggest mentors: Jane Gideon, the CEO of a PR tech agency, Incendio International. This was not only my first foray into agency life, it was my first introduction to deep tech - enterprise platforms, semiconductors, storage and more.

While I like to joke that I ‘fell into’ tech PR, working outside of my comfort zone taught me a critical skill: how to take complex – and sometimes even dry or overly niche – topics and make them palatable for a broader audience. 

I cut my teeth in those early years learning complicated technology and terms, but it served as a strong foundation for my growing career in tech PR. Over the years, I took on more independent roles, served as a contractor and in executive leadership positions for a handful of boutique agencies. I learned so much from each experience and enjoyed the variety of clients I’ve had the privilege of representing. I’ve also fostered long-standing relationships with media who ‘grew up’ in tech as well.

I’m incredibly proud of my ability to help a company think strategically about their communications programs. PR is so much more than media relations – the right strategic approach can help a company achieve broader business goals, and I thrive working with clients who understand the long-term vision of PR and recognize its impact at each stage. There is both a science and an art to PR, and I love finding the perfect balance of both.

I’m also honored to have established lasting relationships with clients, many of whom I’ve worked with for years.Those relationships are built on transparency and honesty. I value partnership, and the ability to be candid and collaborative in sharing with clients not only what is working well but areas where we need to make adjustments. This kind of candor builds mutual trust. PR is a service industry, and I am wholly invested in helping my clients achieve their professional goals.

What is the thing about PR that keeps you coming back? 

The 30,000-foot view of PR is what appeals to me most. How can we influence the media landscape to understand our client’s industry and their place in it? How can we create a new category or shape the narrative for an entire market? How do we lay a foundation now that will yield benefits six months or five years down the road? It’s easy to become hyper-focused on the day-to-day demands of the work, but I prioritize stepping back and thinking through the big-picture implications of how what we do today will affect the goals we have for tomorrow. 

I also love that every day is different. Each new client presents new learning opportunities, new relationships to form and new milestones to achieve. A good PR person knows how to meet the needs of multiple stakeholders – and often those needs conflict with each other. Finding that balance in a graceful way that yields positive results is incredibly rewarding. 

What inspired you to start Songue? 

I don’t believe meeting Lizi was a coincidence. We met right after a major health issue in my family had completely changed my life. She has been my pocket cheerleader from the very beginning of our relationship. 

We have a very similar work ethic and approach to PR. We’re the kind of people who wake up at 3am on a news day, who work on the weekends, who aim to make ourselves indispensable to our clients. We take their business personally — our tagline isn’t there just for show. 

Lizi has skills that I don’t have, and we complement each other well. We are proud of the team we’ve cultivated at Songue. We are small by design, and we hire purposefully. I’d put our small-but-mighty team head to head with any agency and feel 100% confident that we can deliver results that matter. 

What do you wish more people understood about PR? 

Quality PR takes time. It does not have a direct correlation to sales. PR is about influence, about setting a tone and driving a conversation. It is rooted in thought leadership. It takes patience and it requires strategic thought. The worst kind of PR – and I see it far too often – is reacting for reacting’s sake. It’s ‘spray and pray’ media relations or putting out news announcements with little thought to their value and purpose. It is creating noise rather than building conversations. It is the work a vendor might provide, and at Songue we consider ourselves partners.  

Too often I see companies choose agencies that are too big for their needs or agencies that focus specifically on their niche. The thinking is that a big name or a speciality agency will translate to success. But quality PR should go beyond the boundaries of industries or press relationships. It requires a team with the strategic capabilities to build a bespoke program that is right for your company and your needs, not a cookie-cutter approach that is managed by junior staff, where value is limited to the number of media hits you get.

Our best and most successful partnerships are with clients who recognize PR as a vital part of a robust marketing and communications program and who are patient enough to build the results they want to flourish over the long term.

What’s something we can’t guess about you from your bio? 

I place a premium on relationships, and I have been richly blessed in this area of my life. For example, this year I’m celebrating 30 years of friendship with 14 women I met in my freshman year of college. We still meet up every 18 months and have traveled the country together. Between the 14 of us, we’ve supported each other through almost every life experience you can have. I consider them one of the top 5 blessings in my life. 

The other thing is something I hear frequently from clients, and that is that I am calm in a crisis. This bodes well for companies trying to navigate very tricky waters. That ability has been cultivated over the course of my career, as I’ve had to think clearly and react quickly to manage a variety of challenges. 

What do you like to do when you’re not working in PR? 

My number one priority is my family. My daughter had a catastrophic illness at the age of 11, and it completely changed our lives. My husband and I now care for a special needs child, but she is a light in our lives, and taking care of her is an honor and a privilege. That experience has shaped our entire family dynamic, including her older brother, and has given me perspective in every area of my life. 

It’s cliche, but like many I also love to travel. London and New York are my two favorite cities in the world, but I enjoy a good beach, too. Wailea in Maui and Coronado Island in San Diego are particularly special to me and my family. We also love the coast of Maine and still dream about owning a summer home there.

One of my favorite ways to unwind at the end of a busy PR day is to cook. I’m a sucker for a good recipe and – sometimes to my husband’s chagrin – rarely make the same thing twice. I love trying new things and there are so many ideas out there – it’s hard to repeat!