Media Matters Recap: i3 Academy Success Story
Earlier this fall, Rachel Phillips walked into Media Matters 2025 looking to sharpen her skills. Days later, she appeared on local news five times in 48 hours, a meaningful shift for someone who had spent her career elevating other people’s stories.
Rachel, communications manager at i3 Academy already knew how to build effective stories and work with reporters. What she had not done was represent her organization on camera.
Media Matters closed that gap. The full-day training focused on interviews, storytelling, pitch development, on-camera interview practice and media relationship building. For Rachel, it offered the structure and practice she needed to broaden her media relations approach and step into a more visible role. It also deepened her understanding of Birmingham’s media landscape, from who is covering what to how quickly local stories move.
Media Interview Best Practices
The workshop opened with a session on controlling your message led by Erin Vogt, APR and Hanlon Walsh, APR. Afterward, participants broke into small groups to practice delivering clean soundbites and navigating tough questions. Their interviews were recorded and played back, and our team gave them immediate feedback on message delivery, pacing and body language.
Rachel’s Take
This practice paid off. In November, a mobile planetarium visit from the U.S. Space & Rocket Center created a media opportunity at i3 Academy and Rachel took it head on. What followed was a whirlwind of five interviews over two days, beginning with an in-studio appearance on WBRC 6.
The mock sessions offered what reading about media relations could not. Rachel experienced what it felt like to stay composed on camera and keep her message intact under pressure. When the real opportunity came, she was ready.
Media Relations 101
Later in the day, Casey Stark and Joe Daniel unpacked the art and science of media relations and walked attendees through a five-step framework to increase your likelihood of securing meaningful coverage. They stressed the importance of respecting a reporter’s time. Irrelevant pitches waste it. Generic, spray-and-pray outreach gets ignored.
Rachel’s Take
The session clarified patterns Rachel already practiced, but just as importantly, it gave her the confidence to act more decisively. Through personal work, she was also helping amplify the story of Birmingham ultrarunner Ashlie Ithurburn, who had recently set the fastest known time on the Pinhoti Trail.
Initially, Rachel saw the story’s potential but hesitated to pitch it. Media Matters helped her take the next step.
Less than a month after Media Matters, Rachel secured a feature on WBRC with Sheldon Haygood, coverage in SoulGrown, a mention on Feisty Media’s platforms and an interview with the Mother Runners podcast, all of which she secured directly for Ashlie.
“The training pushed me to stop sitting on good stories and start sharing them,” she said.
Lunch and Media Panel
The lunch panel brought newsroom voices to the forefront. WBRC 6’s Jeh Jeh Pruitt, Birmingham Business Journal managing editor Marie Leech, former AL.com reporter Shauna Stuart and WBHM managing editor Andrew Yeager broke down how they evaluate pitches and what earns a second look. They pointed to strong visuals, a human touch and a straightforward explanation of why a story matters to their audience — what we at Peritus like to call the “what’s in it for me” (WIIFM) factor at the center of every pitch.
Retired PR professional and former journalist Michael Sznajderman moderated the discussion and helped frame the conversation with insights from both sides of the industry.
Rachel’s Take
Rachel connected with Jeh Jeh during the panel, listening closely to his approach and what worked for his audience. “Honestly, this all came out of the panel with Jeh Jeh,” she said. “I was able to connect with him in person and learn what he wanted as a reporter.”
When the U.S. Space & Rocket Center visit came up days later, she put that knowledge to work. “I wrote up an email and followed up with a text,” she said, applying best practices from the panel. “One pitch opened the door for everything else,” she said.
Relationship Building Best Practices
Award-winning food, travel and lifestyle writer Christiana Roussel closed the day with a keynote on the importance of fostering relationships. She emphasized making the personal universal, noting that compelling stories begin with real people and extend to ideas an audience sees themselves in. She also encouraged communicators to meet people where they are and be present in rooms where conversations happen, because proximity builds rapport.
Rachel’s Take
Roussel’s guidance applied to both the i3 Academy story and Ithurburn’s trail run. Rachel drew out concrete details and linked them to broader themes, strengthening the stories’ resonance and reach.
Our PUBLISHED by PERITUS takeaway is this:
Media Matters revealed something easy to miss in day-to-day media work: the clarity that comes from stepping back and listening. The workshop brought practitioners and journalists into the same room, giving both sides space to compare challenges, ask candid questions and understand how they can be a resource to one another. That experience reshaped how we viewed the stories we steward and the responsibility that comes with telling them.
It was also a reminder of the importance of putting the “R” back in PR, viewing media relations as relational rather than transactional.
For Rachel, that shift proved as influential as any skill she practiced that day. Others described the day similarly, citing the “helpful refresh” and “fresh perspectives and actionable takeaways” that were already informing their teams’ work.
One idea stood out: The strength of the story often mirrors the strength of the relationship behind it.
We left with renewed focus, committed to carrying that perspective into everything we do.
Need a partner to help you shape and share your story? Tell us what you are working toward. Our team is ready to help you take the next step and carry this progress into Media Matters 2026.