A Stellar Week and it’s only Monday!

By Sue Procko

As I sit in my office on a Monday (and if you know me, you know how I feel about Mondays) listening to my music combo of everything from Arturo Sandoval to Eminem, I am amazed at how far I have come.  I grew up in a small town in Southeast Kansas known as Arma (population 1,481).  Those of us in the entertainment industry know it as the Pittsburg/Joplin TV market.  I left at the age of 17 and headed off to Kansas State University, not really knowing what I wanted to be when I grew up.

Fast forward to 2014.  I still haven’t figured out what I want to be when I grow up but in the meantime, I’m truly enjoying what I do day-to-day and that is running a boutique P.R. agency — SPPR, Inc.  Today, I found out that this boutique agency that I opened in 1992 made the Top 30 lists of Public Relations firms in Los Angeles.  Los Angeles – population 9.8 MILLION!

The same publication that noted our firm as #25 on their list, the Los Angeles Business Journal, is also honoring me next week as a 2014 Women Making a Difference.  I am humbled by all of this because never in those years living in Kansas did I think I wanted to be a publicist.  I didn’t even know what a publicist was back then.  I knew I loved TV, music, films, books and dance but to know there was a job that could touch across all those fields was beyond my scope at that time.

I love what I do.  I love spending time and learning from the likes of Andy Garcia, Vera Farmiga, Stan Lee, Dan Waters, John Waters, Leland Orser, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Michael Biehn, Jennifer Blanc-Biehn, Matthew McConaughey, Woody Harrelson and David Cassidy (yes, THAT David Cassidy).  The great actors from MGM were some of my first teachers — Ann Miller, June Allyson, Cyd Charrise, Donald O’Connor and even Gene Kelly.  I’ve been blessed.  I’ve met some of the most talented individuals in entertainment and am proud to call some of them friends.  I’ve worked with great producers, directors, animators, writers and of course some amazing publicists.  I’ve had great mentors like Ralph Tribbey, Henri Bollinger, Ted Green and John Hyde who have taught me the business side of this crazy business.

So thank you Los Angeles.  And thank you Los Angeles Business Journal.  I am humbled and honored.