Eighteen years ago (almost to the day), I resigned from a job I loved at the Dallas Regional Chamber in the morning and sat around a boardroom table at Texans Credit Union as a public relations consultant that same afternoon.
If someone had told me that would happen, I would have laughed.
At the time, starting TrizCom Public Relations made very little practical sense. I had never worked for an agency. I had never worked for a for-profit company. I did not really know how to read company financials. I had two months of savings, no website, no business plan, no company email address and no clear idea what consultants were supposed to charge.
What I did have was a computer, a landline, an AOL email address, a BlackBerry and a deep belief that public relations could help organizations tell better stories.
So, I started.
I took the door off my spare bedroom and placed it across two end tables to make a desk. I changed my answering machine message to sound like a company voicemail. I learned what a 1099 was. I turned my old laptop and printer into my copy machine. I figured things out one problem at a time.
That was the beginning of TrizCom PR.
There was no polished launch. No investor deck. No brand reveal. No perfect office photo.
There was work.
And there was one client.
That was enough.
Constraints taught me more than comfort ever could
I have told the door-desk story for years because it still matters.
Starting with almost nothing teaches you quickly. You learn what matters and what does not. You learn to move. You learn to stop waiting for perfect conditions. You learn that a lack of resources can either stop you or sharpen you.
For me, it sharpened me.
I did not have a large team, expensive tools or a famous agency name behind me. I had to be useful. I had to listen closely. I had to do the work well enough that one client would become two, then three, then enough to build a company.
That lesson has never left me.
Even now, with better tools, more experience and a broader agency platform, I still believe constraints can produce strong thinking. Not because struggle is romantic. It is not. But because clarity often shows up when there is no room for waste.
Public relations changed because the world changed
When TrizCom PR started in 2008, public relations looked different.
Media relations drove much of the work. A strong story, smart pitch and a good reporter relationship could carry a campaign. Those things still matter. They always will.
But the communications landscape has changed.
Today, PR must live across paid, earned, shared and owned media through the PESO Model created by Gini Dietrich of Spin Sucks. It must connect to search. It must support reputation. It must help organizations show up clearly in Google, AI-generated answers, social feeds, newsrooms, boardrooms and conversations companies do not control.
The work is more complicated now.
It is also more interesting.
At TrizCom PR, we have evolved from a media relations-focused firm into an integrated communications agency that uses strategy, storytelling, analytics, digital content, reputation management, thought leadership, crisis communications and AI search visibility to help our partners be understood.
That word matters.
Understood.
Visibility alone is not the goal. Mentions alone are not the goal. Attention without clarity rarely builds trust.
The real work is helping the right people understand who you are, what you do, why it matters and why they can trust you.
Reputation is built before anyone needs it
One of the biggest lessons of 18 years in public relations is that reputation rarely comes down to one moment.
It is built in small decisions.
How quickly do you respond?
How clearly do you communicate?
How do you handle mistakes?
Do people trust what you say?
Can your team explain who you are without overcomplicating it?
Does your public record match your private reality?
A strong reputation is not created during a crisis. It is revealed during a crisis.
That is why public relations cannot be treated as a last-minute fix. Companies that wait until something goes wrong often find themselves trying to explain who they are while everyone else is already forming an opinion.
The better approach is steadier.
Build the story before you need the defense.
Create credible content before people search for it.
Earn trust before you ask for it.
Know your message before the pressure starts.
Relationships still matter most
The tools have changed. The platforms have changed. The pace has changed.
The human side has not.
Public relations is still built on relationships. Relationships with partners. Relationships with journalists. Relationships with team members. Relationships with communities. Relationships with people who trust you enough to call when the stakes are high.
I have always believed we do our best work when we treat clients as partners. That is not a slogan to me. It is how we operate.
When a partner wins, we celebrate.
When a partner is under pressure, we lean in.
When something is not working, we say so.
When expectations need to be reset, we have the conversation.
When the right answer is not the easy answer, we still choose the right answer.
That has not always been the most profitable way to run an agency.
It has been the way I can sleep at night.
Experience teaches you what to stop chasing
In the early years, I wanted to prove we belonged.
I wanted TrizCom PR to be seen as smart enough, strong enough, creative enough and capable enough to sit next to any agency in the country.
After 18 years, I do not spend much time worrying about that.
We have done the work.
We have represented household names, middle-market companies, startups, nonprofits, municipalities, franchise brands, healthcare organizations, financial services companies, automotive brands, entertainment brands, technology companies and organizations facing hard moments.
We have worked with journalists from local newsrooms to national outlets. We have managed campaigns that were joyful, complicated, sensitive, urgent, technical, emotional and everything in between.
We have won awards.
We have also made mistakes.
The awards are lovely. The mistakes were better teachers.
Eighteen years teaches you that the goal is not to look impressive. The goal is to be useful. To bring judgment. To ask better questions. To protect the partner. To find the story. To see the risk. To know when to push, when to pause and when to say, “This is not ready.”
That kind of counsel does not come from a template.
It comes from experience.
The team is the company
If I could change one thing about starting TrizCom PR, I would not have put my name in the company name.
I have said this before, and I still mean it.
TrizCom PR was never just me.
It has been built by the people who have worked here, believed in the work, challenged the thinking, served the partners, solved the problems, wrote the pitches, calmed the crises, checked the facts, managed the details and showed up when the work required more than a job description.
Some people stayed for seasons. Some stayed for years. Some helped shape the agency in ways they may never fully know.
I am grateful for all of them.
A company becomes real when it is no longer dependent on one person’s effort. It becomes real when people bring their own talent, judgment and care to the work. It becomes real when the culture has standards that hold even when no one is watching.
That is what I am most proud of.
Not the media placements.
Not the awards.
Not the client list.
The culture.
We built a place where smart people could do strong work, learn, laugh, disagree, try again and care deeply about the outcome.
That is rare.
What 18 years in business has taught me
When I started TrizCom PR, I was building a company.
I did not fully understand that the company would also build me.
During these 18 years, I became a mother. I moved. I changed. I grew up in ways I did not expect. I learned the difference between being busy and being effective. I learned that leadership requires more listening than talking. I learned that being decisive does not mean being rigid.
I learned that you can be strong and still be kind.
I learned that you can care deeply about the work without letting the work consume every part of your life.
I learned that success is not one big moment. It is a collection of small decisions made over and over again.
Keep going.
Tell the truth.
Do the work.
Hire people who are better than you at things.
Own the mistake.
Return the call.
Write it better.
Protect the relationship.
Measure what matters.
Celebrate when you can.
Grieve when you need to.
Then get back to work.
What I know now about public relations
After 18 years, here is what I know.
Reputation is earned in small moments long before it is tested in large ones.
PR is not about chasing noise. It is about creating clarity.
A good story still wins, but only if it is true, timely and useful.
Data matters, but judgment matters more.
Speed matters, but accuracy matters more.
A crisis plan is not optional.
A media placement means more when it is tied to a business goal.
Content is not filler. It is infrastructure.
AI has changed search, but it has not changed the need for credible, consistent information.
The best clients want counsel, not order taking.
The best teams need clear expectations, honest feedback and room to think.
And a strong agency is never built by one person.
Thank you
To every partner who trusted TrizCom PR with your story, thank you.
To every journalist who answered our pitch, asked better questions, pushed for accuracy and gave our partners a fair look, thank you.
To every team member who has called TrizCom PR home, thank you.
To every colleague, mentor, friend, vendor, referral source and cheerleader who helped us get from a spare-bedroom door desk to 18 years in business, thank you.
I do not take any of it lightly.
When I look back, I still see that first day. I see the old laptop. The landline. The AOL email address. The BlackBerry. The door across two end tables.
I also see the woman who had no idea what she was doing but decided to begin anyway.
I am proud of her.
I am proud of us.
Here’s to 18 years of TrizCom PR.
And here’s to the stories still worth telling.
With grace and gratitude,
Jo Trizila
Founder and CEO
TrizCom Public Relations
About TrizCom Public Relations
TrizCom Public Relations is an award-winning Dallas-based public relations agency founded in 2008 by Jo Trizila. The agency helps organizations build, protect and strengthen their reputations through strategic communications, media relations, crisis communications, thought leadership, content creation, AI search visibility, reputation management and integrated digital PR.
Everyone has a story. Let TrizCom PR tell yours.
About the Author
Jo Trizila
Jo Trizila is the founder and CEO of TrizCom PR, a leading Dallas-based public relations firm known for delivering strategic communications that drive business growth and enhance brand reputations as well as Pitch PR, a press release distribution agency. With over 25 years of experience in PR and marketing, Jo has helped countless organizations navigate complex communication challenges, ranging from crisis management to brand storytelling. Under her leadership, TrizCom PR has earned recognition for its results-driven approach, combining traditional and integrated digital strategies to deliver impactful, measurable outcomes for clients across various industries, including healthcare, technology and nonprofit sectors. Jo is passionate about helping businesses amplify their voices and connect with audiences meaningfully. Her hands-on approach and commitment to excellence have established TrizCom PR as a trusted partner for companies seeking to elevate their brand and achieve lasting success. Contact Jo at jo@TrizCom.com.
