Meet MACLYN’s Finest: Abbey Bobzin

Special effects makeup and PR aren’t all that different. They’re about transformation. About telling the right story in the right light. About making people believe.

A master artist is so skilled and committed behind the scenes that you never notice the brushstrokes. Every project is its own perfect blend of beauty and truth.

So what makes up our kickass new Enemy of Average, Abbey? How did this masterpiece of a Media Relations Account Executive go from a theatre artist working in haunted houses, to a Public Relations artist working with some of the world’s coolest clients?

We start with a palette of her favorite color combo: rose-gold & wine. In her kit you’ll find plenty of liquid latex, silicone molds, and photo references of her favorite animals, hedgehogs, owls, llamas, sea otters (any creature that’s both adorable AND smart).

Get in the mind of the character.

You trained for this at Carthage. You honed your craft devising raw theatre in Milwaukee, innovating independent film, overhauling the Chicago Fringe Festival’s marketing, creating fright and delight at Six Flags’ Fright Fest. Your supervisor eventually handed you a PR team application. You pushed past the fear because you had a gut feeling you’d be good at that, too. You did your first TV interview making the drop on a rollercoaster and trying not to swear on live TV. You nailed it.

Get out your brushes. Begin with a dash of freelance graphic design, poetry-slamming, hands-on creative. Blend in some organic and earned media, live remotes, some media relationships. The character is a total badass #girlboss. Now highlight the #girlpower around you. Good. Talent always sticks together. Doesn’t even need time to dry.

Your FX is like a “fridge magnet pitch”: if you have two words on a fridge that don’t seem like they’d make sense together, and you can move ‘em together in a cool way, you’ve got a pitch. It’s like The Flash Speed Dating on a rollercoaster. Make crazy fun things happen. Warm people’s hearts.

You killed it. Now hold it to the light and judge your work by the artist Abbey’s rules to live by:

1. Have a lot of hustle. You have to know how to pivot at the drop of the hat to change message and be effective. Hop on it.
2. Be really good at tapdancing: when a crisis happens you have to juggle through constantly changing circumstance and not be flustered.
3. PR is about telling stories. About what people connect to and wanna hear. It’s not about you. It’s about them.

Perfect. It’s ready. The world’s been waiting.

Lights. Camera. #EnemyOfAverage.