Our team of media training instructors are all award-winning journalists straight out of newsrooms in the largest markets.
GET THE RIGHT STORY TOLD ABOUT YOUR ORGANIZATION.
Our clients have appeared on Late Night with David Letterman, Today Show, Good Morning America, CBS Morning Show, CBS Evening News, ABC World News Tonight, NBC Nightly News, CNN, FOX News, MSNBC, Dr. Drew’s Show, FOX Business, CNBC, ESPN and This American Life with Ira Glass. They have also been featured in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Chicago Tribune, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, USA Today, Time Magazine, The Economist, Cosmopolitan, The Food Network, Daily Mirror, Times of London and regularly appear in the trade and business media.
Our clients include politicians from both political parties, CEOs, well known trial lawyers, doctors, university presidents and professors, health and wellness experts, school districts, authors, tourism experts, non profit leaders, professional athletes, think tank spokespeople and law enforcement professionals.
Why it works every single time.
Our curriculum is about simulating reality. When you’ve completed our training, it’s like you’ve already conquered your first interview.
Our trainings have four major phases in a full-day workshop:
Benchmarking
Messaging Development
Controlling the story, tough question management
Interview Simulation
Individual Q&A
Experienced journalists and reporters are on-site with camera crews performing interviews just as they will be in the field. You will complete the training feeling confident, polished and ready to tell the world the RIGHT story about yourself or your organization.
Media Training near you.
Our media training has launched individuals and organizations into the next stages of their growth.
Our award-winning media trainers will be on-site working with you and your team. Meet our trainers:
Anne Kavanagh
Emmy award-winning Anne Kavanagh worked as a television reporter for almost 30 years covering news, politics, business and sports. Anne spent most of her career working as a TV reporter at FOX News Chicago where she won 11 Emmy awards. Anne founded Media Pros 24/7, a boutique communications company in 2010 staffed entirely by Chicago and national level journalists. She was part of the original team that launched FOX News Chicago in 1987. Anne spent 24 years and covered some of the biggest stories of our time in Chicago and around the world. She has reported stories from the streets of Chicago to Vietnam, Romania, the Vatican and Latin America. A sports documentary Anne hosted, wrote and produced was shown at the White House in 1998. She hosted numerous live Chicago Marathon telecasts and other televisions news and sports specials at FOX. Anne has also written award winning magazine articles for both Chicago and national publications. Anne‘s work has been honored many times by the Midwest Emmy Academy, Chicago Headline Club, the Illinois Associated Press, United Press International and the Chicago Society of Black Journalists. After leaving FOX in 2010, Anne launched MediaPros 24/7 providing communications services for high profile businesses, colleges and universities, law firms, politicians, local governments, think tanks, health care providers, tourism bureaus and major charities and non profits in Chicago and around the the world. Anne’s client’s regularly appear in national and local media outlets. Work includes media strategy and relations, messaging, story development and publicity, media training and interview prep, media event planning and video and written content production. Anne continues to produce documentary films and smaller website films. Anne still appears on television and radio programs as a commentator and communications expert.
Anne has a masters degree from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. She served as an advisory board member at DePaul University’s College of Communications and has taught investigative journalism there.
Lauren Cohn
Lauren is an Emmy nominated TV news anchor, radio host, and print journalist. Lauren has worked for both local and national news outlets in major markets across the country, including in New York, Chicago and Philadelphia. She has tackled just about every beat, from breaking news to politics, business, consumer, health, education and has interviewed thousands of experts for engaging and informative stories and panel discussions.
She has received four Emmy nominations for best anchor and reporter in Philadelphia and Chicago. Lauren has also expanded her news base abroad, covering the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens and taking part in a travel show in Bali, Indonesia.
Lauren began her career in her hometown, New York City. After graduating from NYU, Lauren moved up to a Field Producer position at WPIX-TV in New York, where the stories she covered included the Tompkins Square Park Riots and Princess Diana’s trip to the Big Apple. She then got her first on-air break as a freelance reporter for WLIG-TV in Long Island and worked both jobs until she moved to Fresno, California in 1990 to work as a general assignment reporter for CBS affiliate KJEO-TV. Her stories included interviewing Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev and a 48-hour Special on the raging wildfires at Yosemite.
In 2004 she moved back to the East Coast to work at NBC10 in Philadelphia and fill in at MSNBC. Lauren anchored the weekend evening news in Philly, including the late news edition on WB17 produced by NBC10. In September of 2010, Lauren returned to Philadelphia to anchor the 5/6 and 10pm weekday news at Fox 29. In January of 2013, Lauren once again returned to Chicago, to host radio at WLS AM 890.
Today Lauren is a news anchor on WLS AM 890 in Chicago as well as a powerful media trainer and media relations consultant, tapping her deep experience and media contacts for clients around the country.
Tracy Slutzkin
Tracy Slutzkin is an innovative communication leader with an extensive national network of media contacts. She has a depth of knowledge of news operations from a more than 20 year career in broadcasting at Cumulus Media, Westwood One, Fox and ABC News. Tracy has reported and produced investigative news, spot-news, feature stories and news talk programming at some of the most influential media outlets in the U.S. She developed special segments with high-profile newsmakers including four U.S. Presidents. She has covered the RNC and DNC Conventions since 1996. Tracy also served as Program Director at WLS Radio in Chicago for four years.
She has developed and implemented successful media relations and digital strategies for companies such as Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, Zhongli North America, law firms and professional services organizations. Tracy has earned several coveted industry awards for programming and news coverage, including being named one of the “Most Influential Women in Radio”. She has a B.S. in Communications from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois.
Hayley Bierkle Burns
Hayley Burns is a communication, public affairs and marketing leader with a record of helping clients achieve aggressive business goals. Hayley has built successful communication strategies for clients in some of the toughest political and business environments including automotive, cyber-security and education.
Hayley’s career began in broadcast journalism where she covered breaking news, business and politics at NBC Chicago, Fox News Chicago and the CNN Midwest Bureau.
Hayley has created and led communication initiatives for Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, Quicken Loans, Mopar, Kraft, Principal Financial Group, Chicago Public Schools, and Ronald McDonald House Charities, among others. Hayley has a master’s degree in Public Affairs Journalism from Columbia College and a B.S. in Communication from Regis University in Denver.