Allison Lester: From the Newsroom to PR's Front Line

What this episode covers

Allison Lester -- Fletcher Marketing PR's director of media relations (and a former news director in broadcast media) -- joins Kelly Fletcher and Mary Beth West on this episode, discussing best-practices in developing media relationships and forging positive, fair, informative coverage for clients. Allison is a dynamic leader and communication specialist with 13 years of experience in newsrooms across the country. Most recently, she served as the assistant news director at WBIR-TV – Knoxville’s NBC affiliate – for six years. An award-winning journalist and newsroom manager, Allison has covered big news in her career including the April 2011 tornado outbreak during her time producing in Huntsville, AL; the Aurora, CO theatre shooting while working in Denver, CO; the Gatlinburg Wildfire in 2016; and she also led a team of 62 journalists through the COVID-19 pandemic. Focused on research-driven decision-making to recruit audiences and customers, Allison has a proven track record of strategic execution of media projects that have reached millions of people across television broadcasts and digital platforms. Allison graduated from Auburn University in 2008 with a BA in Communication and Psychology. She has won multiple media awards including the 2017 National Edward R. Murrow award for Gatlinburg Wildfire coverage, and Regional Murrow awards for Overall Excellence in 2016, 2017, 2018 & 2019. She won Emmy Awards for Breaking News for wildfire coverage and for coverage of April 27th tornadoes in Alabama. Allison is passionate about the East Tennessee community. She has devoted time to the school system as a community partner with a local Title 1 school, and volunteering with Leaders for Readers, and was awarded a Knoxville Young Professional of the Year award in 2017 for her community efforts.