Helping clients share their stories — and telling her own
“If you don’t share your story, someone else will.” – Filomena Fanelli, founder and CEO, Impact PR & Communications (IPR&C)
Filomena Fanelli and her Lagrangeville, New York-based Impact PR & Communications Ltd. (IPR&C) have been helping people share their stories for 10 years. A real estate company in New Jersey, a credit union in South Carolina, a top-selling cider brand: IPR & C’s clientele – concentrated in banking and finance, real estate and construction, travel and hospitality and mission-driven nonprofits – ranges beyond its Hudson Valley base.
“We only take on work that can make an impactful difference,” Fanelli said of her team of 10, which happens to be made up entirely of women.
Such is their success that on May 9, IPR&C – a New York state-certified Women’s Business Enterprise (WBE) – was named the Women-Owned Small Business of the Year for 2024 by the Metro New York District Office of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) in conjunction with National Small Business Week 2024. Winners were nominated and selected from within the SBA’s Metro New York district, which includes New York City, Long Island and the counties of Dutchess, Orange, Putnam, Rockland, Sullivan, Ulster and Westchester.
The awards ceremony, held in New York City, came 10 years, one month and two days to the date that Fanelli founded IPR&C.
“I created the kind of company that I wanted to work for,” she said, one that embodies certain values – “kindness, putting people first, not only team members but the community, working collaboratively, leading with forward thinking.”
Indeed, looking forward is “a value we hold very dear.” For some PR firms, it’s all about now. IPR&C, Fanelli said, is also looking at what’s next. And that’s because you need to stay ahead of the story. Fanelli recalled working with a developer who quickly developed an unearned reputation as an out-of-towner with no stake in the community. IPR&C was able to turn that around, she said, to reveal the developer’s very different character and intent.
In sharing your story, social media must be a medium, not the message. (Apologies to 20th-century Canadian philosopher Marshall McLuhan, whose phrase,“the medium is the message” anticipated the digital age.)
“Social media should be a megaphone, not the message,” Fanelli said, who is all for embracing new media, including AI. These, however, should be used judiciously, she added.
Fanelli grew up in the Hudson Valley, a product of Dutchess Community College. She knew what she was good at – writing, connecting the dots, bringing people together. She was less certain about how she wanted to use these gifts. But an encounter with a New York City headhunter put her on the path of public relations – “I didn’t know such a job existed” — and Rubenstein, formerly Rubenstein Associates. Founded in 1954 by lawyer Howard J. Rubenstein, the firm today is run by his son Steven and has 180 employees and 400 clients worldwide. It has always been known as the go-to for celebrities who need a fixer when they find themselves in trouble, day or night. (Former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani once dubbed the late Howard Rubenstein “the dean of damage control.”)
Fanelli arrived as an administrative assistant – to answer phones and do filing and faxing. She was told she was “not promotable.” But she came in early and stayed late. She found mentors, and she read all she could about PR.
Even when she became a stay-at-home mom, she kept her hand in – writing copy remotely, volunteering her skills – before she transitioned to entrepreneur.
To celebrate IPR&Co’s first decade further, the agency donated $550 – the price of 10 student memberships for the 2024-25 academic year – to Marist College’s Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA), an organization dedicated to cultivating the next generation of PR experts.
“Marist has a fantastic PR program and is a great school of communications,” Fanelli said of the Poughkeepsie-based college, perhaps best-known for its Marist Institute of Public Opinion, an oft-cited polling organization. “I’ve taught ‘Public Relations Writing Tools’ there. Marist College’s PRSSA is a bridge to the professional world. I didn’t have that foundation.”
But the woman who created the company she wanted to work for is helping to give the foundation she never had to others.
– Impact PR & Communications, a nationally-recognized public relations and marketing agency – most recently named the Women-Owned Small Business for 2024 by the Metro New York District Office of the U.S. Small Business Administration – recently celebrated 10 years in business. For the past decade, Impact PR & Communications has established itself as an industry leader, achieving meaningful results for clients in the banking and finance, real estate and development, and food, beverage and hospitality segments. To further commemorate its 10th anniversary, and to acknowledge up-and-coming public relations professionals, the agency donated $550 – the price of 10 student memberships for the 2024 – 2025 academic year – to Marist College’s Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA), an organization dedicated to preparing and uplifting the next generation of PR experts.