Laurie Riedman is a public relations strategist.
Official Bio:
Laurie Riedman, APR, founded Riedman Communications, a marketing communications firm specializing in high technology in 1988. Prior to that she was a communications specialist at IBM and also worked at Edelman Public Relations and Miller Communications, two successful public relations firms.
Since founding her own company, Laurie has provided strategic public relations counsel to large and small companies including NEC Technologies, Xerox Corporation, IBM, Olivetti, Lotus Development Corporation and a number of small high technology start-up firms. Currently she is providing strategic counsel to Xerox Corporation Worldwide PR organization, specifically in the areas of innovation and corporate social responsibility. She is also managing and implementing a fast-track public relations program aimed at US mobile, entertainment, business and top-of-line publications for Bango. Laurie also consults with a number of public relations firms as a strategic partner.
Laurie is committed to helping our world become a better place through her involvement in many non-profit organizations spanning from financial support to organizations in Africa and Afghanistan to help promote girls’ education to currently serving on the Board of Directors for Empowered Girl Alliance and as a member of the Board of Trustee for Sonnenberg Gardens.
In her limited spare time, Laurie and her husband are very busy raising three girls, restoring an Italianate Victorian house in Canandaigua and tending to bee hives in their back yard. And, when they have time—taking a breath and enjoying outdoor activities such as biking, hiking and boating in New York’s Finger Lakes.
Unofficial Bio:
Favorite: food?
Anything with good dark chocolate
Favorite song?
Song/poem—"I am not yours" by Sarah Teasdale
Favorite recreational activity?
I like to run, bike, hike, and I love to have a good laugh – it feels soooo good!
Favorite old TV show
Dark Shadows & I Dream of Jeanie
You think the world would be a better place if:
We were kinder to each other and had more compassion. I’ve always told my kids two things—kindness breeds kindness and it’s always better to be inclusive rather than exclusive.
The most profound thing you’ve ever heard or seen or experienced is:
I’ve got a few:
The birth of my daughters—it’s a miracle.
Standing on top of a mountain pass viewing a glacier in Glacier National Park, knee deep in snow (in August), surrounded by blue sky, fluffy clouds. No picture can come close to the image in my mind as I recall this view. It truly was breathtaking.
How powerful thought is. That our thoughts can create our reality. I’ve experienced this many times and it still is amazing to me. For example, if you wake up thinking “it’s going to be an awful day”—you shouldn’t be surprised that it usually will be. ON the contrary, if we think more positively, positive things can happen. I believe we can alter the course of our day—and thus our reality—by what we put out there. Try it some time. It works!
It would surprise people to know that you:
Hmmmmmmm not sure if this would surprise anyone but here are a few not-well known facts about me:
I’m afraid of heights.
I almost went to college for acting / theatre. I was really into it and quite good at it in high school.
I played guitar in a band in high school.
Besides PR, your other passions are:
Helping our world be a better place. My husband and I support girls’ education (schools) in East Asia and Africa. I am also involved in a non-profit called Empowered Girls Alliance (www.empoweredgirl.org).
Favorite joke:
My grandfather used to say this and I hear his voice telling me it almost every time I pass by a cemetery.
“How many folks you think are dead in there?”
All of them. : )