Living in Sin - 027

Marked safe from inappropriate braids at the Met Gala.

Hi y’all!

Chatting event-focused PR, long-lead pitching, and Dave Portnoy this week.

Pride

I am so proud to be part of the Adams Morgan BID team as we celebrate another wildly successful Spring PorchFest! With over 100 live acts across 20+ stages/porches/stoops, this event transforms Adams Morgan into a living showcase of DC’s creative talent.

What makes PorchFest so successful isn’t just the scale; it’s the spirit. It’s the way local businesses, artists, neighbors, and visitors all come together to our small spaces into mini-concert venues, filling the streets with music, joy, and connection. From a PR standpoint, this event vacks AdMo’s reputation as one of DC’s most vibrant, eclectic hubs. It’s a true honor to play a part in bringing this event to life — it’s the kind of work that reminds me why I love what I do. We even got to help pull off a proposal at the event this year.

Sloth

This week’s long read to luxuriate into comes to us from the Philadelphia Inquirer and their ongoing coverage of Dave Portnoy’s response to antisemitism at one of his Barstool bars. To catch you up, an antisemitic sign was flashed at a bottle-service table, Portnoy pretty immediately took to Instagram, communicating that he’d be taking intense action and firing people, but then pivoted, offering to send the offenders on an educational trip to Auschwitz. Portnoy then reversed course again, revoking the educational experience after social media posts surfaced of the offenders denying responsibility. Portnoy then went off on a 6ABC reporter after her line of questioning pivoted away from the topic at hand and to Bartsool’s editorial history, by asking, “Who’s creating more hate in the world right now, Barstool Sports and white men, or college campuses?”

From a PR POV, this is a fascinating (and messy) case study in reactive reputation management. Portnoy’s instinct to turn a shameful incident into a public-facing “teachable moment” gives him a redemption narrative — but the chaotic follow-through (revoking the trip, public spats, media blowups) undercuts that strategy. It’s a reminder that when facing a crisis, speed matters, but consistency and follow-through matter even more.

Greed

I’m officially an under-the-desk treadmill babe now. I need to know what y’all’s best working-while-you-walk tasks are. It does make the boring admin email clean-up a little less daunting.

Gluttony

At another time, I will tell you about my personal PR crisis of doing some PR that touched on the National Turkey Federation in 2020— a year you might remember— and every food writer under the sun kept writing stories about how turkey was irrelevant, and we should all just make chicken and social distance.* It’s hard to believe, but we’re ready in the window for Thanksgiving 2025 print pitching. Here’s what I’d be putting on my pitching plate: Global flavors, plant-based feasts, or even camping- or tailgate-inspired Thanksgiving spreads. Editors are looking for fresh, eye-catching spins on the classics.

If you don’t rep a food brand, but still want to get involved in the editorial moment. I’d push for sustainable decor, reusable tableware, upcycled centerpieces, and zero-waste kitchen practices to be front and center in lifestyle pages.

I’m also planning to do some storytelling this year on cannabis-infused beverages and Green Wednesday. AKA the day before Thanksgiving, where folks hit up dispensaries ahead of the feast. for

Lust

This week, I’m lusting over (read: horrifiedly obsessed with) another classic-Zuck PR faceplant: Meta’s “Digital Companions.”

Everyone is in a race to the top of the AI assistant game. For some reason**, we’re trying to make chatbots that can flirt, role-play, and get romantic. And of course, Meta didn’t put any guardrails in place when testing this feature and allowed the bots to engage in sexually explicit role-play with underage users.

Not only that, Zuck ignored the internal employee concerns about the product, got scooped by the press, then downplayed the problem once they gave comment. (“it’s a hypothetical!”) It’s the same Zuck playbook we’ve seen again and again — push the limits, wave off risk, and treat public backlash as an unfortunate price of innovation.

For anyone in PR or tech, this is a masterclass in what happens when speed and scale are prioritized over ethical foresight. If I were on the Meta PR team, I would have advised that we acknowledge the mistake. Admit the product crossed ethical lines, and launch an audit with the support of child safety advocates, AI ethics researchers, and regulatory consultants.

Envy

I’m reading Becoming, and reading the book in 2025 is a reminder of how masterfully Michelle Obama’s PR and personal brand have been handled over the years. What strikes me isn’t just the memoir itself but how crystal clear she’s always been about the resources, support, and boundaries she needed to succeed. She made her team understand something a lot of public figures miss: longevity isn’t just about the moment; it’s about setting up sustainable scaffolding for the years after.

I also love her post-White House style, it’s somehow relatable and aspirational.

Wrath

As always, I have no time for wrath, so instead you get a recent camera role gem: I want to frame this.

okay bye, babes!

-M

*And worst of all, I actually like turkey.

**The men are lonely, I’ve heard it’s an epidemic.

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