Seattle U PRSSA at Frause!

Today, members of the Seattle University Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) chapter visited Frause for a tour of our offices and a sit-down conversation with some of Frause’s team! The conversation started with an overview by Bob Frause of our work and history, interspersed with advice for communications students. Bob shared two main “theories” that are relevant to beginning a career in the industry.

A Tale of Two Theories
#1 First Job Hierarchy. Bob’s first theory pertains to first jobs and their impact on career paths. He recommended, if possible, beginning at a communications agency for the reason that young professionals learn versatile skills that allow for greater flexibility later as they gain experience. If an agency in not an option, go for a corporate in-house communications position. The third and fourth options are nonprofits or NGOs followed lastly by public sector agencies. These two types of organizations made the bottom tier because Bob hypothesizes once young professionals begin their careers in such sectors it is challenging to transition across the job spectrum later due to industry biases.

#2 Informational Interviews Don’t Exist. Bob’s second supposition is the “theory of how to get a job.” According to this theory, there is no such thing as an informational interview. He claims that any interview is a “real” job interview. Subsequently, be prepared to be smart and up sell your skills. Most importantly, always ask for the job if it is the company where you know you want to be. If that company is not currently hiring, ask to get on “the list” of professionals they will be contacting the next time they are interviewing. Lastly, never walk out of an office without two or three names of other professionals to get in contact with.

Separately from Bob’s great knowledge, pertinent advice was passed onto Seattle U’s PRSSA as freely as our business cards! Richard Kendall suggested doing internships in multiple sectors because internships are as much about shaping interests as determining what you are uninterested in. Nathan Hambley recommended coming to interviews with at least two objectives you wish to accomplish during the internship or the next phase of your professional development. He also encouraged doing something that sets you apart from your peers, whether it is a mood board (Bob loves these!) to visually tell a story or a portfolio or an unsolicited letter of recommendation.

Amy Graham shared her unique experience of having interned for Frause and then being hired full-time. She advised the PRSSA students on how to maintain a work-life balance—of making time for things that provide personal happiness while still delivering top notch work and advancing your career.

The Seattle U PRSSA students had the opportunity to ask questions throughout the conversation, guiding the shared dialogue. It was a formative discussion where the students seemed to be curious and appreciative of the opportunity to stop by. The best part was the student group included Emily Nauseda, which made the event a summit of Frause interns past, present and maybe even future.

A Window of Opportunity

Frause’s intern desk is a small cubicle in the hallway between the reception desk and the conference room. While it is an unglamorous workstation, it is also a desk of opportunity. It is where I work on diverse client accounts and internal projects.

Every week is a professional adventure right from my keyboard and wheelie office chair. I have explored the ins and outs of the communications industry through online communications, public affairs, social media, community relations and media relations. I have researched, typed, brainstormed, compiled, evaluated, emailed and called. I have listened and been heard. I have gained experience in the industries of hospitality and tourism, consumer and retail, natural environment and community development. I regularly participate in meetings and have even had the opportunity to attend a press release workshop and tour the Gates Foundation.

With all that I have checked-off my revolving to-do list, the amazing thing is that I am only half-way into my internship with Frause. Everything I have learned, attempted and accomplished has been in just the last month and a half!

I have no delusion that the intern desk is glamorous, although I love the way working at Frause makes me feel like a grown-up. About two weeks ago, I printed out a picture of a window opening out to a tropical beach and taped it to the wall behind my monitor. This is my way of personalizing the intern desk, and pretending that I have a window whenever I glance up. During these moments when I glance up from my computer to my window, I reflect on the significance of my seat at the intern desk, and the long-term opportunity this seat in Frause’s hallway is providing my young career. It has become what I dubbed, “my window of opportunity.”

Founder Bob

On my first day at Frause, I came across a friendly gentleman in the hallway who introduced himself to me as Bob. My excited response was: “Founder Bob!” He chuckled and said, “Yes, Founder Bob.” One month into my internship at Frause, I had the opportunity to sit down and ask questions of the guy who started Frause in 1998. This is what I learned.

What led to the decision to name the agency based on your last name?

Bob mused that when he founded Frause he “only had $72 to his name. I rolled the dice and went for it solo.” In testing a potential name for the agency Bob pretended to answer the phone. He experimented with, “Hi, this is the Bob Group” or “Good afternoon, Creative Communications, this is Bob” and “The Frause Group, how may I help you?” After he pondered it a bit more, Bob realized his advantage was his “black book.” So he wanted to keep his last name in the title. He ultimately decided on The Frause Group, simply because it sounded like there was more than one person working at the agency. As the agency grew, the name evolved to simply Frause, with a logo created from Bob’s own handwriting!

What do you enjoy most about your job?

“The game,” he said. “Having an idea for building a business, seeing if you can make it happen, and then creating a great place to work. That’s the real challenge.” His idea was to create a place to learn and be happy while making some money doing it. For Bob, working at Frause now is different than when he first started. He no longer has to worry about putting his son through college or some of the many challenges he encountered earlier in his career. Today, he says “It is primarily about having fun and doing great work.”

What do you find most challenging?

For Bob, the challenge resides with the “status quo – I don’t like it.” Bob noted people can become buried in the status quo, and he prefers optimism and innovation instead. Now Bob just wants a “transporter so Scotty can beam me up.”

Frause was founded with three guiding principles:
1. Deliver services ethically.
2. Provide an open workplace where employees are given the opportunity to learn about the business of running a business, and cultivate staff as business partners first and communication professionals second.
3. Build a supportive and desirable place to work, such that when looking back on their careers, employees will think of Frause as the best place they ever worked.

What experiences in your personal or professional life led you to develop Frause with these guiding principles?

When Bob founded Frause he only had one thing to prove, “that I could make it on my own.” But as Bob started hiring employees, he wanted to activate those principles. He has found that by “showing people how to be business people where you challenge and support them and pay them well – they stick around.”

What does the post-Frause world look like for you?

Bob is mulling around several ideas of how to spend his time once he “retires.” Bob shared he might, “buy a van and stock it with tools to become a maintenance man for old ladies. Go work at Home Depot and get an orange apron. Write a book on ethics. Start a business with his son, or even go back to school for a Masters of Fine Arts in welding or painting or a degree in integrated communication.” For Bob it all boils down to “Why not try something new? The only disappointing thing is to not have enough time to try everything.”

On Frause’s website a lot of attention is paid to turkeys. It describes you as a “social pillar/turkey killer” who occasionally lives with turkeys, and the “extras” tab on the website sometimes states, “Turkeys can run up to 20 MPH.” How would you describe your relationship with turkeys these days?

Bob does indeed occasionally live with turkeys! He explained, “The ‘social pillar/turkey killer’ mentioned in my bio comes from the chorus of a song my friend wrote for my 50th birthday.” The biggest argument Bob ever had with his wife was whether or not to get chickens. His wife didn’t want to be tied down by poultry, although they did eventually get chickens. After they got their first set of chickens, their animal kingdom grew to include rabbits and even cattle. They decided to ditch the cattle for a baseball field in their backyard, but this created a sort of animal void. Turkeys were the answer. Over the years Bob has “raised and butchered more than a couple hundred Turkeys.”

Frause has a well developed internship program and sponsors the PR education fund that pays the first year of PRSA dues for recent college graduates. Why do you think it is important to provide such professional development opportunities for students and recent grads?

These are opportunities for interns to sharpen practices and acquire news skills. They provide real world foundations to establishing careers. Bob hopes, “Ideally, every intern will learn to pay it forward and do the same thing for the next generation of communications professionals when they are the big shots.”

Fun Facts:
Favorite color: Blue.
Favorite food: Pork.
Favorite pastime: Amateur radio, gardening, art, piano and carpentry.
Favorite memory from Frause: Winning the Washington State Best Companies to Work For in the small business category for the first time in 2002. The second was a Frause retreat to Palm Springs where we had a Project Runway task with two teams sewing dresses.

We know people who know people

On Friday, Frause had the opportunity to take a private tour of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation! We took an office fieldtrip to the foundation’s new campus, an exciting privilege considering the visitor center is not slated to open to the public until late 2011 or early 2012.

We disembarked from the Monorail in the shadow of the Space Needle and crossed the street to 500 Fifth Avenue North. The moment we were inside the lobby there were oohs and ahhs about the architecture, furnishings and art. After making it past security with a new visitor badge, you can’t help but feel like you are in a place where awesome things happen. Our tour started with a presentation about the Foundation’s work and how the new campus came to be from the desire to create a place that both showcases the foundation’s work around the globe and reflects the natural beauty and innovative culture of the Northwest.

We noticed the communal desk layout that far surpasses the den-like environment cubicles can foster, the use of natural light to reduce the need for electricity and the worldwide representation of museum-quality art from many of the foundation’s grantees. A favorite art piece was a wall instillation called “Seeds of Hope” by Ghanaian artist El Anatsui. He visited during the construction and observed the open space of the campus’ central atrium. The piece was made specifically for the central atrium where it now hangs out of discarded metallic liquor labels and bottle tops held together with copper wire. The name “Seeds of Hope” was inspired by the foundation’s works.


In our admiration of the different facets of the campus, “We need to get that for Frause’s office!” echoed throughout our tour.

The Foundation’s new campus was recently awarded LEED-Platinum certification from the U.S. Green Building Council, one of the highest ratings for commercial building energy conservation and environmental design. Along with the flood of natural light, other environmentally-friendly and sustainable design highlights included living roofs and marshlands that mimicked the natural surroundings; a million gallon cistern tapped to water plants and toilets; and a heating system the works to heat “the individual” in the building rather than the entire building. There was even a happy family of ducks that had already made their home in one of the campus ponds.


After coming to the conclusion if we at Frause were ducks, we too would live at the Gates Foundation, it is a safe assumption that we really enjoyed the tour!

Frause Portland: Through the eyes of Krista Hildebrand

There are 174 miles, seven right-hand turns and three to the left between the Seattle and Portland Frause offices. A small distance when considering the exceptional collaboration that exists between the two offices. Because I am currently the only intern, the Portland office has received short shrift from the intern blog. A negligence that is at last being given attention via a Q&A with Krista Hildebrand, the Managing Director of Frause Portland.


1. What sorts of expertise do you (and your staff) have that is localized to the Portland office?
Matt Smedley, the Portland Account Supervisor and Social Media Practice Lead, and I both have areas of expertise, but they are not localized to just Portland. Matt’s deep knowledge of social media benefits the entire Frause team and our clients, whether they are in Portland or Seattle.

When I started at Frause almost five years ago, I brought more than six years of experience in economic development communications. This experience has grown into one of Frause’s knowledge centers, which now has several members both in Portland and Seattle.

Elana Silverman, the Portland Assistant Account Executive, brings the ability to successfully pitch just about any story to the media and has lent this skill to landing stories for clients in Oregon and Washington.

2. What is it like to collaborate with the Seattle office through mostly technological means?
Technology certainly helps us stay in touch on a regular basis, especially for our daily morning huddles when we actually “join” the Seattle office through Google+. It is a far cry from trying to sort out what is going on, and who is saying what, over a conference call, which is what we did for the last three years. GoToMeeting is another tool we have that allows us to see presentations real-time, making us feel like we’re in the same room.

However, there is no replacement for personal contact and interacting with the team on a one-on-one basis. So, I try to get to Seattle regularly. Matt is a frequent visitor as well, especially when he lends his social media expertise to client meetings and new business presentations. We love when the Seattle folks come work out of our office and lend their expertise to our clients. Matt, Elana and I always feel very connected and rarely out of the loop.

3. What do you most enjoy about your job?
It sounds corny, but I love working with my clients. I am blessed to work with smart people who understand the value of strategic communications and consider Frause an important part of their marketing teams.

4. What sort of growth and development do you predict for the Portland office?
I wish I had a crystal ball, but with the economy still struggling, it’s hard to predict. We were fortunate to weather the past three years and, in spite of the poor economy, brought on some significant long-term clients. I would hope to do the same in the next year or so.

5. Are the walls of the Portland office also bright green like they are in Seattle?
Yes, of course. Our office is just a mini-Seattle!

It Takes a Village to Raise an Intern

In 1996, then First Lady Hillary Clinton published It Takes a Village: And Other Lessons Children Teach Us. The book highlights how influences outside of the family impact a child. Clinton puts forward her vision of a society, similar to that of a village, which supports the whole person as they grow-up. The title of Clinton’s book comes from the African proverb:“It takes a village to raise a child,” a saying that has also become integrated into Western culture.

To apply this proverb to Frause, it takes a village to raise an intern. I am being raised from an inexperienced student into a developing communications professional through the mentorship and support of the Frause villagers.

Here is a glimpse of the guidance and advice I have received so far.

• Develop workplace skills, like how to assert my knowledge and competence without being too pertinacious. One of the best ways to do this is through
observation.
• Reality check: there is no such thing as a home and work balance, but more of an ebb and flow.
• Provide impromptu status updates on projects because people appreciate it.
• Seek clarity when confused. Asking questions also assists the project lead in defining their needs for requirements and what needs to be done.
• Be on time and always have a notepad to write things down.
• “Work towards finding the no.” The translation: internships are as much about figuring out what your interests are, as discovering what you do not want to do with your career.

At Frause we are a village, a community of colleagues who raise each other up. I am more than happy to be the apprentice of such village chiefs.

Gourmet Group!

Last week some of the Frause team prepared freshly made pesto pasta for the office! The pasta was made from scratch by Chefs Bob Frause and Nathan Hambley by simply mixing flour and water until it morphed into a dough like consistency. Everyone involved had a chance to roll out rustic noodles between their hands from cut strips of dough. The noodles then were boiled to pasta perfection!



Brook Sorgen became the gourmet guru of the pesto sauce by combining handfuls of fresh basil (also grown by Bob) with olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, pine nuts and Pecorino Romano cheese and then pureeing it until it was the consistency of, well, pesto. Finally, the meal came together with the help of Katy Harrison, kitchen connoisseur.



Once Katy clicked send on an all-office email with the subject line, “Come EAT!!” and the email body reading, “Pasta is ready!,” everyone flocked to the kitchen. The pasta was devoured with coos and compliments, and appreciative praise for a great lunch! Plus, one impressed intern sat hoping this type of gastronomic magic happens every week.



The only disappointments were that there was not enough for a second serving and learning these types of lunch happen only as occasional treats!

The Almost Famous Kate Hudson

Hi, I am Kate Hudson (but no, Goldie Hawn is not my mom). I am Frause’s new autumn intern! I am in my senior year at Seattle University, majoring in strategic communications with an English minor. My life synopsis is best described by my Twitter handle: “Bred in Seattle. Lover of dogs, the Northwest outdoors, Puget Sound, Seattleites, travel, the news & the nonprofits I adore.” What my Twitter bio leaves out is how excited I am to be at Frause!

Dictionary.com’s first listed definition for the word intern is:

in•tern
verb (used with object)
1. To restrict to or confine within prescribed limits, as prisoners of war, enemy aliens, or combat troops who take refuge in a neutral country.

While I have been fortunate in my internship experiences, I have peers that have not been so lucky. Acquaintances have reported internships where supervisors lurk over every project or where tasks included taking out the garbage every Tuesday. For those friends, the internship experience was more in line with the aforementioned definition: an obligatory internment serving to only increase one’s job prospects after college.

My time at Frause will be no such thing.

This morning’s breakfast huddle—a morning meeting that sounds as if it was named after an athletic team’s early morning powwow to get energized—demonstrated for me how Frause is a team. A team of professionals that foster camaraderie and support, while encouraging wit. I felt welcomed and was encouraged to continually ask questions.

Throughout the rest of fall, I am eager to contribute to the office’s rapport I witnessed today in both the morning huddles and just walking down the alarmingly bright green halls. I anticipate that Frause will challenge me and dare me to inquire. I expect that I will learn. Maybe I’ll even get to teach.

Frause uses the tagline, “Not all internships are created equal.” While not all internships are created equal, neither are interns. I am enthusiastic to make my mark at Frause like no intern before.



-Kate Hudson

Farewell, Frause!

Thirteen weeks ago, I began my internship at Frause with a to-do list. Over the weeks, that list grew and grew, until it became three notebooks worth of completed tasks. Looking back at some of my lists, it is clear that the Frause team valued my work. I wasn’t just getting coffee for people or taking notes at meetings- I was a part of a team that respected my ideas and opinions. Seeing as I began this blog with a post about lists, I thought it would only be fitting to end on the same note. So, as a farewell, I present to you the list of my top ten moments at Frause:

1. Going to the Sounders game with the Frause team. I still don’t know all the rules of soccer, but I certainly got to know my coworkers a lot better that night.

2. Attending a PRSA meeting with Erika Schmidt. The meeting about video in social media was outstanding, but the most valuable part of the night was being able to learn more about the industry from Erika, a definite PR pro.

3. Watching Frause grow with more team members. Since my time here, we have welcomed a new Assistant Account Executive, Anthony Matlock, and a new Vice President, Natalie Price!

4. Morning meetings. Although I was particularly fond of Word Wednesdays, it was fun to connect with the team every morning over breakfast and video chat with the Portland office.

5. Working for a client, from start to finish. This is a rare opportunity for any intern, and I learned plenty, from building media lists to pitching journalists over the phone.

6. Dog Doogity. Need I say more? Hands-down, this was the most fun campaign I have ever witnessed.

7. Incorporating my love of the environment and food through working with Little Water Cantina, whose building is in the process of receiving LEED Platinum certification.

8. Writing and implementing a social media plan for Frause's Facebook and Twitter accounts with the Frause social media team.

9. Writing creative briefs for clients. Sure, this is a common project assigned in school, but it was exciting to write a creative brief for new marketing materials and being able to see the finished product.

10. Getting to know all of the members of the Frause team. Everyone has very distinct personalities, but together, they make Frause the ultimate work environment.

- Emily Nauseda

Musings on Careers

Choosing a career path for the rest of your life can be a frightening notion, but it is a reality most college students face. Although I was lucky to find work I truly love, others have not fared as well. According to the Department of Labor, the average American transitions careers 3-5 times in their life, and I suspect that one reason for this is our need to specify our career paths early on. Throughout Europe, young adults have the option of taking a “gap” year for the sole purpose of finding their passions, instead of defining their futures. Here in the U.S., on the other hand, it is a common expectation for people to know exactly what career they want for the rest of their lives — before they are old enough to vote.

Even within my major at Seattle University, students are expected to know which industry they want to practice public relations in. I would be speaking to a classmate about internship opportunities and she would limit herself to the hospitality industry for the simple fact that she knew nothing about construction. Another friend would tell me he already decided it was his destiny to work with nonprofits, while I stood there, feeling the pressure to specify a lifelong career at the ripe age of twenty. I joined the Frause team without any inclination towards a specific industry, and twelve weeks later, I am proud to admit that I still do not know.


By working at a smaller agency like Frause, I am able to work on multiple accounts across a vast field of industries. On any given day, I will simultaneously work on a press release for a government organization and pitch a luxury resort to local media. I like to think that I am diversifying my arsenal of knowledge for the future, and it is already paying off. I can use what I learn from clients specializing in sustainable building to help restaurants that want to promote their eco-friendly features, among other paradoxes. I’ve learned that the best thing any young professional can do is stop focusing on the end result, and aspire to be a great generalist, absorbing all the knowledge they can before delving completely into any one industry. This client diversity is yet another reason that I love the field of public relations, as well as working at Frause.

- Emily Nauseda