Samantha Martin launched Media Maison over 14 years ago, and as the firm's Founder and CEO, she considers herself an entrepreneur before a publicist.
Her business-oriented thinking means that she not only knows the in's and out's of PR, marketing and branding but can also use her entrepreneurial expertise to assist her clients in many ways not offered by traditional PR firms. Often called the "6-month CEO," Samantha has helped launch brands and build businesses from concept through branding, packaging and production to retail launches in record time.
Born and raised in Hong Kong and fluent in Cantonese, Samantha comes from generations of toy industry inventors and manufacturers. Samantha started her PR career at Burson Marsteller, leaving her senior level executive position and founded Media Maison which today has offices in New York City, Hong Kong, the Hudson Valley and employees in Portland, Oregon and Los Angeles, California. She has unparalleled industry knowledge and access, crisis communication expertise, and her work with clients goes far beyond traditional media placements.
Samantha is the go-to professional for start-up companies, brands looking to expand and celebrity brand development all looking for national print, broadcast and online exposure.
She possesses a highly coveted rolodex of high level CEO's, Fortune 100 companies, A-List celebrities, big box and specialty retailers, media and social influencers. Her extensive network across many industries has helped her to forge lasting relationships with top-tier global media outlets who have come to rely on her for her responsiveness and knowledge of what's "new" on the market. She has launched the careers of several influencers and her work with start-ups have resulted in them being purchased by large corporations.
Her events and event styling of pop-up stores, brand experiences/product launches to lavish galas with impeccable taste are legendary. Her team at Media Maison manage everything from the invitations to a well curated guest list of media, celebrities and potential investors to the event's theme and design and the gift bags for each guest. She seamlessly knows how to make sure the right people attend and the right people meet.
Whether a celebrity brand or a brand born from the idea of a child – every client is treated with the same care and consideration and she considers her relationships – partnerships - not clients.
The culture she fosters at Media Maison is "no excuses, no exceptions, and out-of-the-box thinking," and she is immensely proud of the success that motto has had. She understands how to look at a brand from every angle. Getting the most amount of media exposure for a single SKU to in depth company profile pieces to securing "thought leader" contributor articles for CEO's - she continues to find angles and niche places for story telling.
Believing that in order to maintain success you must give it back, Samantha founded The KELY Organization a Hong Kong based non-profit dedicated to working with addicted teens and the prevention of substance abuse and the organizations just celebrated it's 20th anniversary. She is on the Board of several charities including animal rescue, children with terminal illnesses, the Lupus Foundation and mentoring women entering the workforce.