Hi, I’m Allyson. Or, Ally. Around Mortar, I’m known as Stinchfield, the new resident PR and social media guru. I met Mortar folks years ago on LinkedIn. We recently found each other again there.

I am happy to be here. I’m excited to help Mortar’s diverse set of clients create PR and social media conversations that harness the power of a Mortar360 branding workshop.

There are a few things that have stood out for me during my first official days at Mortar:

• Everyone is having fun and talking out loud, in a good-getting-great-stuff-done kind of way.
• The resident monkey is nowhere to be found.
• Mortar’s clients are diverse. Already, I’ve written a blog about a company lifting farmers out of poverty in Burma (Proximity Designs), sat in a room with a leading SaaS company forever changing the way marketing and sales teams score leads (Marketo), and talked in-depth with some execs about how to better serve Americans in debt (Financial Freedom Network).
• We get to work with smart professors from all walks of life at Golden Gate University (GGU), one of Mortar’s many long-term clients. The media call upon them regularly these days (great job former Mortar PR gurus!).
• The branding conversation with clients is much more direct than the PR ones I’ve been privy to over the last decade. There’s more focus on getting real rich insights upfront from all stakeholders (customers, partners, critics, competitors, people online and on the street, the media, etc.), and less on creating B.S. out of thin air.
• It’s a truthful 360-leadership conversation where everyone contributes. I’ve watched Mortar share information that clients may not want to hear, but need to. For instance, “Your messaging makes no sense to anyone but you and we fell asleep reading all of those atrocious acronyms.”
• The Mortar Foundation is doing good work in the world. Work I care about too. Like helping less fortunate people who need voices to shout out to them every once in awhile, “Hey, we’ve got your back!”

I look forward to my journey as Mortar’s resident, provisional PR and social media guru. Drop me a line anytime. I’d love to hear from you.

Stinchfield

P.S. Using the power of social media and PR, I’ve learned how to speed up help for AFCECO orphans and once for a miraculous little boy named Oliver. I look forward to contributing my skills to The Mortar Foundation and client causes, too.