What Baton Twirling Taught Me About Building a Boutique PR Agency
Before I worked in public relations, I was an athlete.
I started competitive baton twirling at five years old and continued through college, eventually twirling for the University of Miami. Most people think of baton twirling as performance: sequins, smiles, football fields, halftime routines. But behind the scenes, it was years of discipline, repetition, resilience, and pressure.
Hours of practice, late nights, perfecting small details, recovering quickly after mistakes, and performing under pressure in front of judges, crowds, and teammates depending on you.
You learn quickly that success comes from consistency.
Looking back, so much of what I learned as an athlete shaped the way I approached my career in PR, and ultimately, the way Tess Darci and I built our boutique agency.
Because PR is performance-driven too.
Our industry operates in constant cycles of urgency: nonstop emails, breaking news, media deadlines, launches, events, client demands, and the pressure to always be available. For years, agency culture often rewarded burnout and equated exhaustion with ambition.
When Tess and I launched our agency, we wanted to build something different.
Not smaller simply for the sake of being smaller, but leaner, smarter, more intentional, and more sustainable. It would be rooted in strong relationships, thoughtful strategy, and long-term performance instead of constant chaos.
In many ways, I believe the best boutique agencies today operate like executive athletes.
They are agile and highly prepared. They understand the value of trust and chemistry within a team. They prioritize quality over sheer volume. And most importantly, they recognize that recovery, boundaries, and sustainability are essential to doing great work consistently.
Clients increasingly want senior-level strategic partners, not bloated teams. They want agility, creativity, responsiveness, and authentic relationships — and boutique agencies are uniquely positioned to deliver that.
As athletes know, you cannot perform at your highest level without recovery. You cannot stay creative if you are constantly depleted. You cannot build strong teams without trust, communication, and support.
The strongest agencies today are not necessarily the biggest. They are the ones building cultures that allow people to stay creative, move quickly, and sustain performance over time.
Jamie LaDuca, Partner at 143PR