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by The Notified Team on Jul 23, 2026 6:19:19 PM
How do you make people care about something they don't immediately understand?
That's a question Bridgette Russell thinks about every day as Senior Director of Marketing and Communications at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago.
In our latest episode of Behind the Storyteller, Bridgette shares how her journey from print journalism to communications leadership shaped her approach to storytelling.
You’ll learn practical lessons for public relations and marketing that help you create stories that connect and drive impact.
Subscribe to Behind the Storyteller on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or YouTube.
Key Takeaways From Bridgette Russell
- Good storytelling makes complicated topics easier to understand. You don't have to be a scientist to communicate science. Whether you're sharing research findings, promoting an event or pitching a story, the goal is the same: help people understand why it matters to them.
- The best communicators know how to get more from one story. A press release, social post, media pitch, newsletter or campaign can all start with the same idea. The key is adapting the message for different audiences and channels without losing what makes the story important.
- There’s no such thing as a wasted experience in a PR career. Bridgette's journey through journalism, nonprofit communications, leadership roles and volunteer work all shaped the communicator she is today. Every role teaches you something you can carry into the next opportunity.
How Can PR Pros Make Complex Stories Easier to Understand?
One of the biggest themes from Bridgette's conversation was the role communicators play in bridging the gap between experts and audiences.
At the Field Museum, that often means turning scientific discoveries and decades of research into stories that spark curiosity instead of confusion. Scientists may spend years studying a subject. Most audiences haven't. That doesn't make them less intelligent. It simply means they need context.
As Bridgette explained, the goal isn't to "dumb things down." It's to make information easier to understand and more relevant to the people you're trying to reach.
Whether you're explaining research findings, company updates or industry trends, effective PR starts with one question: Why should people care? The more clearly you can connect expertise to audience needs, the more likely your message is to resonate.
How to Find the Story Angle Audiences Will Remember
Not every announcement comes with an obvious headline.
Sometimes, communicators must help audiences understand why something matters in the first place.
Bridgette shared the example of the Chicago Archaeopteryx, a scientifically significant fossil discovery that required thoughtful storytelling to capture public interest. Rather than leading with technical details, the team focused on the bigger picture: the connection between birds and dinosaurs, Chicago's role in housing one of the world's rare specimens and why the discovery mattered beyond the museum walls.
It's a lesson PR professional across industries can apply. When information becomes too complex, identify the one or two ideas your audience is most likely to remember and build your story around them.
People won't retain everything you say. But they'll remember what mattered most.
Why Content Repurposing Is Essential for Modern Communicators
If there's one piece of advice Bridgette would give communicators, it's this: don't be afraid to reuse and reshape your stories.
Different audiences connect with different aspects of the same message. What feels repetitive to your internal team may be entirely new to someone encountering it for the first time.
A single story can become a media pitch, a social media post, an executive talking point, an email newsletter, an influencer opportunity or a seasonal campaign. The story stays the same. The format changes.
This approach helps teams maximize resources, maintain consistency and extend the value of the content they've already created.
As Bridgette noted, by the time communicators are tired of hearing a message, it's often still brand new to someone else.
Why Transparent Leadership Creates Stronger Communications Teams
Bridgette also reflected on the leaders who shaped her own approach to management.
The ones who made the biggest impression weren't the people who simply handed down instructions. They were the leaders who took the time to explain their thinking.
They shared the reasoning behind decisions, connected individual responsibilities to broader goals and helped their teams understand the "why" behind the work.
That kind of transparency builds trust. It encourages collaboration, empowers people to make informed decisions and creates stronger teams.
Especially in public relations and marketing, people do their best work when they understand not just what they're being asked to do, but why it matters.
Every Experience Strengthens Your Communications Skills
One of Bridgette's most encouraging reminders was that no experience is wasted.
From journalism and nonprofit communications to volunteer leadership through PRSA Chicago, each chapter of her career taught her something she still uses today.
Her advice was simple: everything is usable.
The lessons you learn, the challenges you navigate and the perspectives you gain all become part of your expertise. You may not know exactly where your career is headed, but the experiences you've collected along the way often prepare you for opportunities you never expected.
Behind the Storyteller: A Notified Podcast - Episode 6 Transcript (Bridgette Russell)
Allen Murphy: Hi. Welcome to Behind the Storyteller, a Notified podcast. This is the series where we take professionals from the worlds of IR and PR - the corporate storytellers - and get them here in the studio, in today's case, to hear their story. My name is Allen Murphy, and I'm here with my co-host, Caroline Cullinan.
Caroline Cullinan: Hi, everyone.
Allen Murphy: And Pat O'Rourke.
Pat O'Rourke: Hey, how's it going?
Allen Murphy: And we have a very special guest here with us in the studio today, a Chicagoan like us. We have Bridgette Russell, the Senior Director of Marketing and Communications at the Field Museum of Natural History. I got it out without fumbling at all. That was a mouthful.
Bridgette Russell: That was inspirational.
Allen Murphy: Thank you.
Bridgette Russell: Thank you for having me.
Allen Murphy: Thank you so much for coming.
Bridgette Russell: I really appreciate it. It's so great to be here, especially happy that we have a Chicagoan here.
Allen Murphy: We've been so pumped about this episode for what's actually become weeks or months since we first started talking.
Bridgette Russell: It's been a while.
Allen Murphy: It's been a while to get us here.
Pat O'Rourke: Time is a construct.
Bridgette Russell: For sure. It's not real. Say it again, Pat.
Pat O'Rourke: We're somewhere in the Jeremy Bear Remy of it all. But who watches The Good Place? You'll get that. Enjoy it. If you don't, go watch The Good Place. It's actually a really good show.
Bridgette Russell: Indeed.
Allen Murphy: That's the main takeaway for this episode, right? It's: watch The Good Place.
Pat O'Rourke: The thesis statement right there.
Allen Murphy: And go to the museum. But especially The Good Place.
Bridgette Russell: Indeed.
Allen Murphy: So, Bridgette, the way that we structure this podcast is we think of this episode as a story in and of itself, and any good story is going to begin with a character. We would love to get to know you a little bit. We've been chatting for the last hour in the studio, so lots of off-camera chatting. But for the viewers at home and the listeners tuning in, tell us a little bit about yourself - where you're from and how you got to where you're at at the museum.
Bridgette Russell: Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. So, as you mentioned, I am from Chicago, born and raised in the city. No shade to our suburban friends, but I am from the city of Chicago. I grew up on the South Side. And so, it's like, how far back do we want to go? Like when I was a twinkle in my... But no, honestly, when I was literally about 12 years old, I knew that I wanted to tell stories, but I also knew that I couldn't tell fictional stories. I cannot remember characters' names. I was losing the plot. Literally. So, I decided to become a journalist, and that's the path that I took. But if it tells you anything about my decision-making skills, I wanted to go into print journalism because I thought I was like, "Oh..."
Pat O'Rourke: Everybody's reaction.
Bridgette Russell: Yeah, exactly. I went into print journalism.
Pat O'Rourke: There was a time when printed papers...
Caroline Cullinan: How old do you think I am?
Bridgette Russell: With newspapers, when you could hold the news in your hand, right? So, I thought I was going to work for newspapers, and I did for five years after I graduated college, but I kind of knew that the writing was on the wall. And so, then I had an existential crisis at the age of 27 because if I am not a journalist, who am I? But it's like, you know, Bridgette, you're not just a journalist. You're a storyteller, and there are multiple ways you can tell stories. So, I freelanced for a while, and then I ended up sort of in the world of nonprofits because nonprofits have the best stories, hands down. Fight me. No, I'm just kidding. Just kidding. Peaceful. Peaceful. But I ended up... My first sort of full-time comms job was at Goodwill in Columbus, Georgia, and it was incredible. I also had an incredible team and a boss who was such a strategist. It was the first time I really got a chance to see how to be a connector. Say, you know, if we're talking about this, how does this sort of play into the entire story? And I said, I want to do that. And it wasn't that I looked at it and said, "Oh, I want to be a boss." It was that I wanted to be a strategist. I wanted to build a team and be a connector. And then from there, I decided to go into management. So, my first actual leadership job was at the Columbus Museum of Art and Regional History in Columbus, Georgia. And then I found out not only do I like being kind of a boss and a strategist, I like museums. Like, this is actually really, really cool. And I was living in Georgia at the time, and I had gotten married, and my husband always knew that I wanted to come back to Chicago, that I wanted to come home. And there was a PR Director job open at the Field Museum. And I go, "Hey, listen, don't worry about it. It's the Field Museum. They won't even see my application. I'm just going to do this. It's a good exercise, right? It's just a good thing. Don't you worry your pretty little head about it." And then I got the job, and I was like, "Just kidding. We're moving to Chicago. How do you feel about that?" And of course, he's an incredible partner. And so, my husband, my daughter, and I moved back to Chicago in 2021 so I could take the role. So, yeah, I actually started off in PR at the Field and then got the opportunity to oversee marketing and communications overall, and it's been absolutely awesome.
Allen Murphy: That is so cool. And it's nice that you found that love for museums, too. So that started in Georgia?
Bridgette Russell: It did. It did. It started in an art museum, which is quite different from a natural history museum.
Allen Murphy: How so?
Bridgette Russell: Well, I think what museums have in common is that credibility piece and this idea that there's something for you to learn but also have fun with. Art is different in the way that, and this is completely from the marketing and comms perspective, you ask viewers and visitors to sort of see and feel and interpret in their own way. Natural history is so much about telling the story of the Earth. These are facts, right? Like, this happened. So, there is interpretation there, but it's a little bit different. And I think, in that way, science and history can be a little bit more intimidating, whereas art just asks you to kind of come and feel and understand from your own perspective. Science and those hard facts can be intimidating, and people are like, "Oh no, learning!" So, I think that's one of the challenges you can see across different types of museums in the way that you're talking to visitors, connecting with them, and inviting them into the space.
Pat O'Rourke: Interesting. I absolutely appreciate the way that you describe that. I almost kind of... maybe, for me, it's just showing my ignorance of the art world, but it almost kind of feels the opposite.
Bridgette Russell: Tell me more. My own little focus group here. Let me get my notepad.
Pat O'Rourke: Because I feel like with history, or in a natural history museum, its facts, and it's like, okay, here's a story I can be told - a story I don't necessarily need to come in with a preconceived notion of, or even prior knowledge. Whereas, going into an art museum, if I feel like I don't know enough, I would go in and be like, "Oh, well, what am I supposed to think about these pieces?"
Bridgette Russell: Interesting.
Pat O'Rourke: And feel intimidated by that because I don't have the refinement of knowing pointillism versus, you know, Cubism. Those are like the two words that I can think of right now.
Bridgette Russell: I was going to say, that's actually pretty impressive.
Pat O'Rourke: But, you know, I absolutely love the thought of just going in and asking, "What does this piece make you feel?" I think that maybe if more people started there - that place of, "Just come in and experience it. Just come in and look at it" - we would have more people who really take that in and maybe aren't as likely to think, "Oh, this is..." I don't want to use the phrase "hoity-toity," but like, "Oh, that's only for the people who are really going to understand it." So maybe that's just a preconceived notion of mine.
Bridgette Russell: No, I think that's incredible, right? All of our perspectives absolutely make sense. And that's the challenge of working in marketing and comms at these different institutions because you're trying to get into the head of every visitor. I could absolutely see that perspective. Actually, when I was working at the art museum, we did our best to tell people, "Just come." Just come and take a look. It's not about how much you understand or even what you know about this artist. Just come take a look and see what you think. And if you read the labels to learn more, then that's an option. So that's actually really, really cool to think about, and hopefully my friends working at art museums are taking note. I think that's really cool.
Pat O'Rourke: My favorite part of everything Bridgette was talking about before was when she said she didn't want to "be a boss." But no, this woman is a boss. It's not even just that she's the boss - she is a BOSS.
Bridgette Russell: I absolutely appreciate that. And I mean, that comes along with deciding that you want to be in leadership and strategy. You're going to end up managing people. I've really just tried to be the type of boss that I either had in certain situations or wished I had had - making sure that I'm encouraging my team to get what we need accomplished. So far, so good.
Allen Murphy: This is a bit of a side tangent, but I'm just curious. Talking about management and managing groups of people, what do you see as your biggest green flag in a leader in an organization? I know I totally put you on the spot.
Bridgette Russell: No, no, no, no, no!
Pat O'Rourke: She's like, "Going to the museum."
Bridgette Russell: Obviously. Taking your team to the museum for team building. No, I think it's being willing to explain. It's not just directives. It's not just, "Because I said so," or "Let me give you your marching orders." I think a green flag of a good leader is that they're willing to pull back the curtain and say, "Here is what I think. Here is the information that I can offer you, and here's where I think we should go as a leader." It doesn't mean that you have to ask for permission. Of course, as leaders, sometimes you have information that the rest of your team isn't privy to, and you have to make decisions. You're responsible for those decisions. But don't shut the team down if they're genuinely saying, "Okay, I hear what you're saying, but I don't understand what you're saying. Can you help me?" You should be willing to explain and clarify that position because the whole team is going along with you, and it's best to get that buy-in.
Allen Murphy: Yeah, that clear communication, transparency, and honesty go so far. As you were saying that I was thinking through every boss I've ever had. I'm like, "That person did it really well. That one... not so much."
Bridgette Russell: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because when you have a team that's just doing it because you said so, it's going to pop up in some way. You're going to realize they didn't really understand it - they were just parroting it back to you. Then something is going to come up where they need to make a decision, and they're not going to be equipped or empowered to do so.
Caroline Cullinan: And so much of PR and marketing is creative, and I feel like sharing ideas requires trust - having a trusting environment. So, it sounds like that leadership quality is kind of tied to that.
Bridgette Russell: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you kind of need that, especially as communicators. We should absolutely be communicating about where we're going and why. That would be my green-flag leader. Going back to the boss I had a Goodwill and why she made such an impression on me, it was because as she was creating the team and stitching it together, she explained, "You're going to do this, and it's going to connect to this." And I thought, That is really cool. I think I can do that. I think people being able to see that also inspires them to think about what they may be capable of doing. That's why it's so important for people to see different roles and get behind the curtain so they can decide if that's something they want to do as well.
Allen Murphy: Yeah.
Bridgette Russell: Yeah.
Pat O'Rourke: Oh, and it makes such an impression, no matter where you are in your career path.
Bridgette Russell: Yes.
Pat O'Rourke: Or in life. Because, you know, sometimes we have second acts - or third acts - or, in my case, like 15 acts in the number of jobs I've had and the things I've done in my life. But you don't always know what you want to do or what's possible. When you have somebody who's willing to take the time and say, "Okay, here's why I'm doing this," or "Here's why we're doing this. Here's the method to the madness," it's formative. It shapes how you see your role, the organization, maybe your team, and then the organization as a whole. You start thinking, "Okay, I like that. I can do more." Which is exactly what happened with you. Maybe not in that specific role, but you took that formative experience with that manager and said, "Hey, I'm going to apply this to what I'm going to do for the next part of my life, the next part of my journey." And that's taken you to these other places - and now to the Field Museum.
Bridgette Russell: Yeah, it's a good time. I think it's just - we talk about dinosaurs a lot at the Field Museum because we kind of think of the dinosaurs as ambassadors, right? That's kind of easy to understand. Most of us have at least sort of surface-level knowledge of dinosaurs. But the Field Museum, you know, has like 40 million specimens and collections across botany, zoology, anthropology, and geology. And at the Field Museum, our collections are kind of a bit of a time capsule, right? Because we collect, and we can study bird eggs from 100 years ago. And that's how we know that birds are hatching a bit earlier, and we think it's due to climate change. But collectively, the scientists found this out.
Caroline Cullinan: You'd think that.
Bridgette Russell: I did not.
Pat O’Rourke: Bridgette was on that committee that figured that out.
Bridgette Russell: Absolutely not. But, so, you know, the collections at the Field Museum - we have 150 scientists who study those collections and who are always publishing papers to study what's changed. And we think about the Field Museum as kind of being in the past and its history. And it is, but it also has the keys to, like, the future. And this is an ongoing group project, right? So, what we don't find out today, the collections are there to help some scientist tomorrow figure it out. So, there's a really cool research side of the Field Museum. And then there's the public side of the Field Museum, where people can come sort of see and experience science for themselves.
Allen Murphy: It's interesting.
Bridgette Russell: Super awesome.
Caroline Cullinan: I never knew that there was the scientist side of the Field Museum. Like, obviously, you see the public-facing side.
Bridgette Russell: Yeah.
Caroline Cullinan: At O'Hare, I think I've seen, like, a dinosaur there. But I didn't realize that there was, like, science going on in the background.
Bridgette Russell: Absolutely. The third floor. Listen, so the third floor is where a lot of our scientists and a lot of our curator’s work. And there are labs up there. They're prepping fossils up there. They're putting lichen under microscopes and magnifying it by - I can't even tell you how much - to discover different things about the natural world and about our planet that will tell us, you know, are there, like, red flags going on? You know, what's happening here? Tell us more about different species and how they evolved. So, it's incredible, I think, in the comms space to balance that science and the fact that it exists, and that we're trying to get more people to know and appreciate that - with the public side. Because the thing about the collections is, I think, only about 1% of what we have is on view. So, a lot of the collections are behind the scenes for study and research by scientists from all over the world.
Allen Murphy: So really, the public's just seeing the tip of the iceberg in terms of -
Bridgette Russell: Yeah.
Allen Murphy: Wow, I had no idea.
Bridgette Russell: Yeah, yeah. I mean, it's very, very cool and shameless plug for becoming a member, because during Members' Nights, it's two nights where we open up the whole museum, and the public is able to go on the third floor. They're able to get into those labs where we're prepping fossils and things like that. And it's reserved for members only, and it's actually coming up in May. I don't know, I don't know when this is going to air. But Members' Nights this year are going to be two nights in May. So, we're super excited about that. It's like a member takeover for the whole museum, and they get a chance to go behind the scenes in the collections. My favorite is the paleo storage because it's dinosaur bones - the ones that just, like, aren't on view. Yeah, just random femurs and whatnot, just, you know, the length of this room. And I'm like, no big. No big deal. So, yeah, it's really, really cool. Yeah.
Caroline Cullinan: I love that.
Allen Murphy: That's awesome.
Pat O’Rourke: What has been one of the kind of big - and I know there are a lot of projects that you work on, things that are coming up, exhibits - but from previous exhibits, previous projects that you've worked on, what are some of the highlights? And were there any, like, did you run across challenges on how to really get it across to the public? Like, "Hey, this is coming up. This is going to be great to come enjoy." What was an example like that that kind of sticks out in your mind?
Bridgette Russell: Yeah.
Pat O’Rourke: That kind of sticks out in your mind.
Bridgette Russell: Oh my gosh. It's so many. But so, the thing about the Field Museum - it's a 130-year-old museum. I would daresay most Chicagoans know where we are. But you haven't been there since second grade, you know, since your class field trip. And you're like, "I saw it. It was cool." So, I think, again, kind of that history part is trying to get across to people that we are a dynamic and changing museum and that exhibitions change. One interesting challenge we had was when we got a new specimen that, in the scientific world, is a rock star specimen. Only the 14th ever discovered because - okay, wait for it - birds are dinosaurs. We know this, right? Like, birds are the living descendants of dinosaurs. So, we have the evolutionary proof at the Field Museum. One of the specimens - a real specimen - it's called the Archaeopteryx. Now, see? See where? See how, y'all? I'm losing you a little bit. Stay with me. So, but the thing is, it's in a slab, which means that the bones haven't been taken out and kind of mounted. So, it's in the slab that it was discovered in. It's small. It's cute. It's about the size of a pigeon. It's adorable. It's got a feathered tail. It has teeth. And so, what it is, is that it's a bird and a dinosaur. And this is very, very cool. Now, explaining that - you see how long it took me right now? Putting that in, like, a press release or...and where are we going?
Caroline Cullinan: Yeah.
Caroline Cullinan: You know, what are we doing?
Bridgette Russell: So, we really had to work with the team to get the public as excited as we were about this incredible specimen. It is named after Chicago. Like, London has one. Berlin has one. So, we have the Chicago Archaeopteryx at the Field Museum. And it's really - not big like the T. rex. It's about what it symbolizes and how important it was in proving Darwin right about evolution. So, we had to, back in - gosh, was it 2022? - really sort of pitch that. We had an incredible partner at WTTW that helped us sort of shape and tell that story and got really excited once we explained it to them. And we had a press event where we invited, like, the governor and the mayor because this is the Chicago specimen. And this also, not only for the public to be excited about, but sort of continues to cement Chicago as a scientific capital where more researchers are going to come to study this incredible fossil. But that was hard. That was hard to figure out. We eventually had an incredible press event. We had an incredible run and work with WTTW. But we had to teach reporters how to say it - Archaeopteryx, right?
Caroline Cullinan: Yeah.
Bridgette Russell: And it was in the press release phonetically. And that still didn't come across. I have to show you some of the clips. They tried.
Allen Murphy: Is there, like, a montage of people mispronouncing it?
Bridgette Russell: Yeah, it's very cool. But so, it's challenges like that, where we know it's important. We recognize its value scientifically. We're excited because the scientists are excited. But how do you get people and the public excited about what this means for science and what this means for Chicago? The team really did an incredible job with the press. It was international and national that it got picked up. It was wonderful. But it was brainstorming about how we do this. So, it's like bird, dinosaur, both. And most people - I won't say most - but a lot of people, if you're like, "You know, birds are dinosaurs. Birds are dinosaurs. Tell your friends,” Right? So, I think that got a lot of people interested and really sort of plugged in and invested. And, you know, the Chicago Archaeopteryx is still at the Field Museum. It lives there now. Cutest little thing you've ever seen. Little teeth. I love it so much. Yeah, it's - I mean, another thing is it's flat. And it's in a slab. And, yeah, it's small. Small but mighty. And, just again, incredible value from the scientific perspective. And so that's something at the Field Museum: making sure that we're making that connection and hopefully bottling some of that excitement for the general public.
Allen Murphy: I have to imagine that's a pretty regular struggle in your role, where there are new things going on at the museum that are really, really cool, really, really exciting, also a little complex.
Bridgette Russell: Yes.
Allen Murphy: And trying to get the general public excited about it and to wrap their head around it in as few words as possible. That has to be an incredible challenge because, like, you know, you talked us through it. You know, it took maybe, like, 100 words yourself. That's not going to work well in a tweet necessarily.
Bridgette Russell: Yeah.
Allen Murphy: You know.
Bridgette Russell: Yeah. No, you're right. And I think that's where the team comes in, in brainstorming. Okay, what do we need people to walk away with? You know, if you don't remember anything else: birds, dinosaurs, 14th specimen, Chicago has it, you know, and it's real, right? If you don't remember anything else, especially if you love dinosaurs or if you're familiar with evolution, I think we also understand that everybody isn't going to be excited. And that's also okay. You know, you get to the people who will connect with it, and that's great. And then you try other messages or other projects for other audience segments.
Allen Murphy: Yeah, yeah. It's not going to connect with every single person who reads it.
Bridgette Russell: Yeah.
Allen Murphy: Those that it does, it's - you know, you want it to really be impactful, right?
Bridgette Russell: Right. Exactly. And, you know, another thing - I was just thinking about your question, Pat - we're always trying to figure out how to get people to the museum because it's easy to think about it like the Field Museum is kind of always there. It's open. They're not going to run out of tickets or run out of space. Like, "Oh, we didn't go this week. We'll go, you know, another time." So one thing we've really been thinking about is sort of seasonal activations. One really cool seasonal activation that we started for the first time last year was Halloween. There is an exhibition at the museum called Underground Adventure. It's kind of creepy anyway because the bugs are big, and you get shrunk down to kind of go have this experience to really look at the bugs. And it talks about soil quality and how different species thrive and things like that. And spiders. It's a little creepy anyway, right? Like, I mean, it's creepy just because it's, you know, Tuesday. But for Halloween, it was like, well, what if we creeped it out even more and had a seasonal activation so that from late September to early November, people could come to Underground Misadventure, right? Because now it's all Halloween-ified. And instead of Underground Adventure, Underground Misadventure, because there was some sort of spill and now all the bugs are really big. And we added some enhancements, some different bats and things that would sort of hop out at you. And that was the first time we had done something like that. And it was really cool. And the numbers and the data after the fact showed that Chicago seemed to really come out and respond to that a little bit more, so that Chicago visitation was up in October a little bit more than it would have been. So I think that's an example of how do you lean into those seasonal trends? How can you be flexible with what you already have, right? We didn't build a new Halloween exhibition. It was looking around to see what we have that could be enhanced or could have sort of an overlay and could be activated to respond to this trend that we know people like. We know people like Halloween, right? And so, it was a really great experiment. I think we're going to do it again and maybe make some changes this year.
Allen Murphy: Yeah, I'm going to keep an eye out for that.
Allen Murphy: Yeah, for sure. Especially next Halloween, too. My wife is a big Halloween fan.
Bridgette Russell: Oh my gosh. All right. So, I know who I'm coming to. Yes. Yeah, absolutely, for sure.
Pat O’Rourke: Yes. And we - weird segue, but I think this is a good segue. I know where we're going with this, because we actually met at a PRSA event.
Bridgette Russell: Yes.
Pat O’Rourke: A lot of times, getting to go to those events and hear about events that are happening, or talk to people and, you know, maybe not be in their normal sphere of where you would find out about events that are going on. But going to those events in the communicators’ world.
Bridgette Russell: Yeah.
Pat O’Rourke: It's great to be able to run into people, find out about these things, learn about different events that are going on, and be able to share those things that are happening with like-minded people - people who are thinking about the same things. And then even to kind of pick their brains about, like, okay, well, we've got this coming up. What are we thinking about?
Bridgette Russell: Right.
Pat O’Rourke: What can we do for this? So that's a really - I love kind of tying all of that together, and the fact that we have those types of environments to be able to go to. Because Caroline and I go to a number of the PRSA events, and it's just, you know, not really being the actual communicators ourselves - we help facilitate those communications. But you get to talk to people like yourself and learn about what they do, see how they operate, and it just opens up the mind to so many different things that you all have to think about. And it helps us, you know, do our job better, I think, to be able to say, "Hey, let's help you do this," or "Oh, that's actually something really cool." And think about, "What have you thought about this?" or "Have you tried this tool to help that?" You know, go down that path.
Bridgette Russell: Definitely. And I mean, PRSA. So, I am the immediate past president of PRSA Chicago. I was president last year, and that's where I absolutely met Pat and became acquainted with Notified. And it's been an incredible, you know, run ever since. But absolutely, being able to talk to different communicators, especially in Chicago, where we do have some of the same challenges - we're all looking at data, we're all trying to figure out where AI fits in this whole, you know, sort of craziness. And I think the thing that makes communication so transferable is also what makes it so relatable, regardless of what industry you're in.
Allen Murphy: Oh yeah.
Bridgette Russell: Everyone has an audience. Everyone has to show results. Everyone has to figure out ROI. My ROI looks like visitorship and, of course, things that we all know, like press engagements and influencer this and that. But, I mean, it does give us this common language and this common ground that you're absolutely right about. Having that network of peers, it's like, okay, how are you handling this thing? How are you handling communicating with your team or communicating with your boss about what the strategy is and where you think you need to go? Everyone has those challenges, and organizations like PRSA definitely help us navigate that.
Allen Murphy: And even with, like, the creepy underground exhibit around Halloween time, I'm sure there could be someone watching this or listening to this facing a similar sort of challenge. Maybe they're not working at a museum or anything like that, right? But hearing your example and thinking, "Okay, how can I repurpose something that we already have to try to shine a light on it and get more public awareness?" So yeah, regardless of the industry, for people in comms, people in PR, it all relates, and there are takeaways they can always get, regardless of the industry.
Bridgette Russell: Yeah, for sure. And repurpose is my middle name. My team is like, "How can we take one story and flip it, like, 50 different ways?" It's the same story, but it's tailored a little bit more for this channel or this channel, or we pull out the part that really matters to this group or that group. It's all the same story. We've just figured out how to tell it a couple of different ways, and you're going to be more effective that way. You're also going to have more team collaboration and buy-in because we've all decided that the same thing is important, and we're all invested in, okay, well, how do we get it to this audience or to that audience? And so, yeah, again, it's just like a really big group project.
Allen Murphy: Yeah.
Bridgette Russell: And you need that, for sure. Because if everybody's off sort of doing a different thing, first of all, everybody's exhausted. Secondly, you've sort of divided your resources. So, yeah, absolutely. I repurpose it. Use it again and again, and make some tweaks here and there, but use it until, you know, you get sick of it because it's someone's first time hearing about it. Even once you're like, "I'm done. Okay? I don't want to do any more with that."
Allen Murphy: Yeah, yeah.
Pat O’Rourke: Everything old is new again.
Bridgette Russell: I'm telling you now, that is the truth. That is the truth.
Pat O’Rourke: I mean, you think about fashion, music trends, all of that. Everything is cyclical. It is. So, yes, being able to repurpose that - and I absolutely loved what you just said about it being somebody's first time seeing, hearing, or experiencing this. It may be your 10,000th time, especially because you work there and this is part of what you're doing, but Caroline might go and it's the first time she's been a part of it. Allen might go, I might go, and you get that wonder.
Bridgette Russell: Yes.
Pat O’Rourke: And it kind of helps, I think, for me, revive or rejuvenate the desire to continue to do it.
Bridgette Russell: Absolutely. And, you know, when I was thinking about coming here to talk to you all, I was thinking about how sometimes people ask me, because I work at a natural history museum and work with scientists, "Are you a scientist?" And it's like, no. And here's the thing: if they can get me to understand it, we're golden. You know, like we are. And you never want to lose that, right? You always want to pretend like you're coming at this for the first time. I don't like the phrase "dumbing things down" because that's not what it is. It's just that I'm not the expert, and that's okay. You've been studying this for the last 50 years, and I love that for you. I have not, and most of our audience has not. So, I'm always able to come from the perspective of, "I don't know about this. Tell me about this. Tell me why I should care. Tell me why I should be excited." And I don't want to lose that. So, you know, I'm fine with not having a PhD. There are folks at the museum who are not scientists who do, and, you know, lovely. But it's not a requirement for communications because, honestly, I need to be able to translate it for the majority of people who are not PhDs and who don't study in this area. We have incredible scientists. They're awesome communicators, and they know that that's the role we're trying to play from the PR and marketing perspective: to say, "Hey, how can we package this in a way that's understandable for most people?" And I think that's just an incredible part of what I do. And I can't get too comfortable in terms of thinking, "Oh, I know how to do that," or "I know that, so most of the people we're talking to will know that as well." Yeah.
Pat O’Rourke: You're not dumbing it down. You're making the information accessible to the masses.
Bridgette Russell: Correct. Yeah. Throw out the phrase "dumbing it down." Nobody's going to respond well to that. "Let me dumb it down for you." I beg your finest pardon, you know? So, no, it's not that. People aren't dumb because they don't understand what you've studied for the last three decades.
Allen Murphy: Yeah.
Pat O’Rourke: Yeah, you don't know what you don't know.
Bridgette Russell: You don't know what you don't know. Oh, for sure.
Allen Murphy: Well, Bridgette, I'm seeing the clock and how long we've been talking. I can't believe it's already been as long as it has.
Pat O’Rourke: So, another hour. I have time.
Bridgette Russell: Okay. So, when can we schedule part two? Right?
Allen Murphy: Oh, my God, I would love that. But, you know, to kind of wrap things up, for anyone listening who is either currently in PR and comms or maybe a journalist out there who's thinking about making the sort of pivot like you did, what's one takeaway that you would like the audience to have after listening to this episode?
Bridgette Russell: Absolutely. Everything is usable. I would say every single position that I've been in, every single place where I've worked, there's always been some nugget that I could take to the next opportunity. Even in PRSA, I started off as treasurer, and I was a PR director. I was like, "Oh, numbers. Okay." But I figured out how to get it to a place where it was like, "Okay, I get this." And then I got promoted at work, and guess what? I'm doing budgets, right? So, everything has, especially if you really sit down and think about it, a nugget that you can take on to the next opportunity. And when you look back at it, you've built this incredible library of expertise and knowledge of your own making, right? You're your own resource if you really look at it. So, you know, good luck out there. And you've already got what you need.
Allen Murphy: Yeah, yeah. I love that. That's great. Yeah. Bridgette, thank you so much. Really, this has been great.
Bridgette Russell: This was so fun. It was really worth the months-long wait.
Allen Murphy: I'll be in touch about trying to make part two happen.
Bridgette Russell: For sure. This is great. Thank you all so much.
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