Highly Effective Networking: Marla Malkin Of The Attivo Group On 5 Strategies for Successful…

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series. Before we dive into our discussion about networking, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you share with us the backstory about what brought you to your specific career path?

I graduated with a degree in communications, emphasizing public relations, but rather than going directly into this field, I decided to attend law school. I was working as an intern in a law firm one summer and we had two cases against a very famous celebrity. As an intern, I wrote the motions for summary judgment on the cases. When the firm won both hearings, one of the partners said that we should try to get some publicity for the firm. I said I can do that. As such, I wrote a news release about it and I ended up ‘pitching’ the story to an editor at the Los Angeles Times. The result was a front-page story about the law firm’s wins in the paper. This was just at the time when professionals were starting to market themselves more boldly. For many years it was taboo for law firms to do so. Professionally putting forth a news story about a firm to pique interest creates third party credibility. Someone else shares your story impartially. When I started my own public relations firm, it was with the mindset that reporters need content. A…