Originally written and posted on prsafoundation.org
On June 1,2017, the PRSA Foundation will honor Public Relations luminary Patrice Tanaka with its Paladin Award at the Helen Mills Event Space located at 135-137 West 26th Street, NYC. 6:00 – 9:00PM. Patrice Tanaka is a serial entrepreneur, having co-founded three award-winning, PR agencies, Patrice Tanaka and Company, CRT/tanaka, and Padilla CRT (now Padilla) all recognized for being among the best places to work in our industry. Most recently, Patrice has founded Joyful Planet LLC, a Business & Life Strategy Consultancy to help people discover and live their life’s purpose and, in so doing, unleash their greatest success, fulfillment and joy. Joyful Planet is the culmination of Patrice’s personal and professional journey of finding her way to joy. An executive coach Patrice worked with challenged her to rethink her purpose in life, which after some reflection led Patrice to say: “My purpose in life is to choose joy in my life every single day; to be mindful of that joy, and to share that joy with others.” Pursuing her joy led her to take up ballroom dancing, which resulted in Patrice’s first book, Becoming Ginger Rogers…How Ballroom Dancing Made Me a Happier Woman, Better Partner and Smarter CEO (2011). Patrice has been honored by many PR, marketing, business and civic organizations, including the Public Relations Society of America (“Paul M. Lund Award for Public Service”), The Holmes Report (“Creativity All-Star” Award), New York Women in Communications (“Matrix” Award), Association for Women in Communications (“Headliner” Award), Girl Scouts of Greater New York (“Woman of Distinction” Award), Working Mother Magazine (“Mothering That Works” Award), Asian Women in Business (“Entrepreneurial Leadership Award”), University of Hawaii (“Distinguished Alumni” Award), among others. PRSA Foundation is pleased to honor her with the 2017 Paladin Award.
Mike Fernandez accepting the 2016 Paladin Award.
2015 Paladin Honoree Charlotte Otto and her proud P&G colleagues.
Praise for the Paladin Dinner:
“I enjoyed the evening, especially seeing long time friends and colleagues. The food was good and the program was mercifully brief, albeit substantive.” – Harold Burson, Burson-Marsteller
“It was great to see many old friends .. Great event.” – John Graham, FleishmanHillard
“The experience was enlightening. Not only did I gain helpful knowledge about public relations from top industry professionals (Johnson & Johnson, Heyman Associates & MSL Group), I also received reassured career direction from Mr. Harris Diamond’s speech. The speech was the greatest take away. The Paladin dinner is an opportunity any young professional can appreciate. Most of all, to top the night I met the Director of Media Relations at GolinHarris who handed me her card and told me and other PRSSA members, “we are in the middle of intern selection shoot me an email to get in the mix.” Overall, I left thinking wow, what a great night the PRSA foundation established from food to camaraderie.” – David Mathews, president, PRSSA chapter Baruch College
Previous Paladin Winners: 2009 – John Graham FleishmanHillard; 2010 – Marcia Silverman Ogilvy Public Relations; 2011 – Jon Iwata IBM; 2012 – Harold Burson Burson Marsteller; 2013 – Dan Edelman Edelman Public Relations; 2014 – Harris Diamond McCann Worldgroup; 2015 Charlotte OttoBurson Marsteller