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AAPRC Weekly: Chris Cathcart

Chris Cathcart
Founder and President
OneDiaspora Consulting
Los Angeles CA

Many public relations professionals spend their entire careers mastering the art of the pitch. But for Christopher Cathcart, founder and president of Los Angelesbased OneDiaspora Consulting, telling a worthwhile story is as important as selling an image. That conviction has been a touchstone for Cathcart during his 18 years in the industry.

While Cathcart has created successful media campaigns for entertainment and luxury product clients like Hidden Beach Records, Turner Networks and Jaguar Cars, he also has invested a significant amount of his professional and personal time promoting awareness of important social issues such as youth mentorship, the status of African refugees and HIV/AIDS prevention among African-Americans.

“I’ve always been interested in public policy and things that affect people’s lives,” says Cathcart of his involvement with such causes.

The New Jersey native graduated from Howard University with a communications degree in 1986 and began his career as a public relations coordinator for Turner Networks in 1987. He’s quick to confess, however, that he hit a bump or two before finding his niche. “My first job out of school was selling burglar alarms for Honeywell,” says Cathcart. “I was horrible at it, so I quit before I got fired.”

It turned out that Cathcart’s leap without a safety net landed him on the path towards an unquestionably successful and conscience-driven PR career.

With no job on the horizon, Cathcart, who was then living in Washington, DC, purchased several popular magazines from a newsstand and read the mastheads for the publications’ public relations contacts. He also ferreted out contacts at several electronic media outlets and sent letters and resumes expressing his desire to break into the business. Terrie Williams, who at the time was head of PR for Essence magazine, was among those he contacted.

“She was the only one who responded,” says Cathcart. “She called me and said, ‘I don’t have anything available, but when you come this way, call me.’” Not one to let an opportunity grow cold, Cathcart headed to New York City a few days later to meet with Williams. “Terry knew about a job at Turner and she put me in touch with the contact there. Fortunately, I got the job.”

At Turner, Cathcart was responsible for garnering print and electronic media coverage of programming on the company’s CNN, TBS and TNT Networks. He found the work both demanding and motivating. “Having gone to school for PR was one thing, but doing it professionally was another,” he explains. “Just getting acclimated to the pace of the deadlines was challenging and interesting. Very quickly I was talking to all of the frontline writers, and I got rid of my reservations about talking to those journalists.”

Turner was also the place where Cathcart began using his position as a media professional to address some of the social and political issues that had long concerned him. He convinced his boss, Barry O’Donnell, to let him create programming and promotional events targeted at African-Americans. “I think one of the things I’m most proud about is that I got Turner involved with Black media outlets,” Cathcart says. “The company, two years in a row, put together a Black History Month event where they screened vignettes [celebrating African-Americans] to the media.”

Cathcart also made it a point to help other young professionals of color break into the business. He acknowledges he was partially motivated by the fact that he often was the only Black male present at functions for PR professionals. “It wasn’t intimidating, but I didn’t think [Turner] or other media outlets did enough to reach out to PR professionals of color.” In response, Cathcart participated in the company’s recruiting efforts and made a point of encouraging Turner to reach out to candidates of color. And, like Williams had done for him, Cathcart also helped qualified young professionals of color who reached out to him snag interviews with Turner.

Outside of work, Cathcart deepened his commitment to social service. He along with several former Howard classmates created Rescue, Educate And Change Hearts (REACH), a youth mentorship organization that worked closely with African-American teens in New York City to provide positive role models and encourage them towards college educations.

Cathcart remained at Turner for nearly three years before briefly joining The Terrie Williams Agency in 1990. “I wanted to get more into straight entertainment, and Terrie was into music and film projects that were really exciting.” There, he handled press for Tri-Star Pictures, recording group Take 6 and Essence magazine, which had become one of Williams’ clients.

Six months later, however, Turner Networks came calling again with an offer for Cathcart to become PR manager for CNN. He stayed with the news network for two-and-a-half years, but left when he realized he’d have to move to the company’s Atlanta headquarters if he wanted to move up the ranks.

Once again, Cathcart took a brave leap, deciding to freelance until his next fulltime opportunity presented itself. This time, he landed in the political arena, handling media campaigns and acting as a spokesman for some of the mid1990′ s most prominent political figures.

Cathcart was contracted by Blackowned, DC-based public relations firm McKinney and McDowell where he worked on media projects for the advocacy group TransAfrica; deposed Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who was campaigning for foreign support in reclaiming leadership of his country; and Ben Chavis, who was seeking the NAACP’s top position. Cathcart’s work with CNN left him well prepared to represent such top news headliners. And, his representation of those political heavyweights provided access to organizations and individuals who were working to address some of the issues he cared most about.

In 1993, the entertainment industry came calling once again, and Cathcart was offered a job at Motown Records. He went to work for the label in New York City as national director of publicity. He led publicity campaigns for Stevie Wonder, Boys II Men, Queen Latifah, and the Temptations, among others. He also handled media relations for the company’s top executives, including then label chairman Clarence Avant. He was with the label until 1995, when he was laid off during a period of record-industry downsizing.

But Cathcart’s ability to simultaneously garner business and entertainment coverage for Motown and its artists, as well as handle corporate big wigs and chart-topping artists while avoiding the drama that typically comes with working in the music industry, won him fans. Label executives asked him to continue representing the company on a freelance basis. He accepted the offer and moved to Los Angeles, where he was closer to the company’s top brass.

Though Cathcart didn’t realize it at the time, Motown was the client that launched his now 10-year-old media company OneDiaspora Group. “I started doing additional independent projects, which I thought I’d do until the next job came along,” he says. “But, then it hit me that I wasn’t waiting for the next job, I was doing it.”

Starting his own company gave Cathcart the opportunity to take on more projects of social relevance. He spent two years as a media consultant/press aide for California Senator Kevin Murray, and he’s taken on media projects for the NAACP; the National Black Baptist Convention, USA; the United Negro College Fund; the Congressional Black Caucus; and Artists for a New South Africa.

Cathcart also launched the OneDiaspora Project, a nonprofit that addresses issues affecting people and areas throughout the African Diaspora. For the past four years, the nonprofit has organized a panel for the African Refugee Network, which is aimed at getting more African-Americans involved with resettlement of displaced Africans.

In 2003, Cathcart’s nonprofit helped put together Straight to the Point, a series of panel discussions about HIV/AIDS aimed at heterosexual Black males. “The HIV/AIDS epidemic is impacting the entire Black community, and we can’t leave it up to only certain segments of the community to address these issues,” explains Cathcart. “So, we just thought it was important that we have sessions where straight Black men talked amongst ourselves about how this illness impacts the community and what role we could play in encouraging testing and treatment.”

Cathcart also helped create VISUAL AIDS, a program that uses a series of short films to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS, and worked with the Black AIDS Institute to launch LEDGE magazine, a student-written publication that addresses HIV prevention among African-American college students.

Most recently, Cathcart joined forces with fellow publicist Karen Taylor Bass, founder and president of TaylorMade Media, to develop a seminar series called Boot Camp. The project teaches participants how to use PR techniques to advance their careers or promote their creative projects.

“We spend so much time as publicists helping clients become rich and famous, we said, ‘Why don’t we teach people some of these skills so we can empower them to move ahead?’” says Cathcart of the new project.

In addition, Cathcart hopes to soon publish “The Art of Giving Back,” his recently completed how-to guide aimed at helping people find ways and time to volunteer. He has also branched out into media coaching — teaching recording artists, political representatives and business professionals interview skills.

“I’m moving away from the nuts and bolts of PR and into more diverse media activities,” says Cathcart of his current work.

But whatever direction his career takes, the committed media professional knows his work will always include social involvement. “That’s more important than any of the business stuff to me. I’ve always tried to get myself involved with whatever community I’ve lived in.”

AAPRC’s Mission
The African-American Public Relations Collective (AAPRC) is an assemblage of professionals who provide communication conduits among clients, journalists, media and our communities. We come together as a collective because we recognize the importance of building those same conduits amongst ourselves.

A great deal of what we do is professional development––updating our skills, keeping pace with technology, refining and streamlining processes, providing a forum to tackle the issues that impact our work environment––but we believe our professional lives benefit most from the forging of effective alliances. Connected to one another, we possess the power of a nationwide body of committed, knowledgeable practitioners with an eye on the future.

As we move into the 21st century at lightning speed, mass media and its potent messages occupy an ever-larger part of our daily lives and our collective psyche. The AAPRC is focused on helping our members gain a deeper understanding of media’s force and supporting their growth as powerful participants in the global communications network.

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By Gwendolyn Quinn on 8/7/2005[read on] [3 comments]

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