— First Recipient of Formerly Named Dorf Award in Honor of Philip Dorf Accepts Challenge to Push the Profession Forward —
New York — Lea-Ann Germinder, APR, Fellow PRSA, Founder and President of Germinder + Associates, Inc. received the Makovsky Excellence in Mentoring Award at the June 24 PRSA-NY Big Apple Gala held at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel. Ken Makovsky, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Makovsky + Company presented Germinder with the award. She is the first recipient. The award honors individuals who lead, guide and inspire and selflessly stimulate the careers of PR professionals.
In accepting the award, Germinder says, “I am humbled to accept for doing something I love to do. The call at the Big Apple Gala for more diversity and inclusion in our profession is clear, and I accept that challenge through mentoring. I know there are very high standards to maintain, and I am committed to helping push the profession forward.”
The Makovsky Excellence in Mentoring Award honors individuals who lead, guide, and selflessly counsel and stimulate the careers of PR professionals. Candidates for the award must meet the following criteria:
- Leadership in guiding and inspiring the careers of entry-level and other young PR professionals.
- Demonstration of the highest standards of the profession in a selfless role as a mentor.
- Service to young professionals beyond the scope of the nominee’s professional duties.
Leslie Gottlieb, PRSA-NY president said, “Mentorship is something that is personally very important to me and with all the changes in our profession is more important than ever before. Mentoring helps make our profession thrive. We are very grateful to Ken Makovsky for his generous sponsorship of this important award. We are thrilled Lea-Ann Germinder, one of our past-presidents was named the first recipient. She embodies the spirit of the award and will help carry our mentoring program forward.”
In her acceptance speech Germinder called for all levels of the profession to embrace mentoring through networking, reverse mentoring, cross mentoring and sponsorships. The PRSA-NY chapter has a robust mentoring program and recently introduced a Senior Pros program that has broadened the mentoring discussion.
Natan Edelsburg, chief operating officer of MuckRack and district chair-elect of PRSA-Tri-State nominated Germinder for the award and said: “Lea-Ann is constantly offering amazing mentorship to myself and others. Her mentorship has had a huge impact on my career. When I graduated from NYU and went into PRSA-NY, I was very unsure what it was going to be like. She treated me as an equal, made me feel wanted and that the ideas I had could make a difference. Later she recruited Al Chen and I to revitalize PRSA-Tristate. I’ve met some amazing people in addition to her as a result.”
View the full Natan Ellsburg mentorship interview here:https://youtu.be/SgoJjFZD8ew
Germinder founded Germinder + Associates, Inc. a New York City and Kansas City based public relations firm and publisher of niche digital platforms in 1998. Her company launched Goodnewsforpets.com in 2000 and GNFP Digital in 2017. Germinder + Associates celebrate its 20th Anniversary last year with the Germinder20 Power of Pink Program.
Germinder has been named a national Honoree for Enterprising Women and a Top 25 for Women Who Mean Business by the Kansas City Business Journal and the Kauffman Foundation. Germinder is also a member of IPRA, the New York Women in Communications, the Publicity Club, the Dog Writers Association, the Cat Writers Association, VMAE, Vet Partners, and WPIN.
She and her teams have won dozens of public relations awards including the PRSA Silver Anvil Award of Excellence and a VMX Bronze Vetty Award. Germinder is an accredited Fellow PRSA, a former national director of PRSA, a former national trustee of the PRSA Foundation and served as PRSA Midwest district chair, Tri-State chair-elect and president of the New York City and Kansas City chapters. She is a member of the PRSA Counselor’s Academy and member of the PRSA-NY Past-Presidents Council.
Germinder earned a bachelor of Communication Arts degree from the University of Dayton. She is a PRSSA Champion and as a student was the PRSSA public relations director for the University of Dayton chapter.
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