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AAPRC Weekly: Lauren Tobin

Lauren Tobin
Publicity Director
ABC Television
Los Angeles CA

As a teenager, Lauren Tobin knew she was interested in some aspect of media as a career, and knew for sure that it wasn't going to be publicity. This was the rebel that lives in all adolescents.

Tobin grew up the only child of veteran PR guru, Pat Tobin, and the publicist's daughter was tired of hearing about publicity. When Pat Tobin founded her agency, Tobin and Associates, during her daughter's senior year in high school, it was the last straw. "All I ever heard of was publicity, publicity, publicity," Tobin remembers. "I thought what is this that takes up all of her time? Then, as I was going into college, she decided to open up her own business. Sad to say, I was less than supportive because I thought, 'Okay, she's starting a business. I'm going to college. We're going to be homeless!'"

The younger Tobin's predictions didn't come true, not about her mother's entrepreneurial gamble––Tobin and Associates has been around for twenty years–-and certainly not about her own career path. Tobin went off to the University of Southern California and majored in broadcast journalism, fully intending to become a news reporter. When the time came for her to set out on that journey, though, she gave pause. "It wasn't like it is now where you can just be on a reality show for two weeks and suddenly parlay that into a television job," says Tobin. "Back when I graduated you had to send your tape out and chances are you started in a very small market and if you were any good you worked your way up and maybe in five or ten years you made it to a major market."

Problem with that was Tobin was already living in a major market, Los Angeles, and enjoying a very cool life. Instead of making the trip to the middle of nowhere to be a fledgling reporter, Tobin took a job at CBS Entertainment, first as a page and then as an assistant. While at CBS she heard that producer Steven Bochco had signed a multiseries deal with ABC and that Bochco's vice-president of publicity needed an assistant. She figured her background in journalism in combination with her early exposure to publicity made her up to the task.

Tobin joined Steven Bochco Productions in 1989, providing support to the company that produced some of television's biggest shows at that time, including "Doogie Howser, M.D." and "NYPD Blue." "That basically opened up a new career path for me," she says of the opportunity. "I found that it blended all the skills I'd been gathering…I was there for five years, and because we were just two people, it was the best training."

Tobin found herself with a boss who bounced ideas off of her, listened to her ideas and welcomed her input. "There were a couple of occasions when he would be away and something had to get done, publicity wise," she remembers. "A photo shoot had to be arranged or something had to get done that day and there was nobody else to do it. Either I was going to do it or it wasn't going to get done. That was really good training."

The young girl who'd grown up wanting to do anything but publicity, found herself loving it. "The thing I liked best was when you take an idea or a concept or a show or an actor that is unheard of one minute and then in a very short order of time they're a household name," Tobin explains. "You know that you were the channel through which they went from being anonymous to being well-known."

In 1994, Tobin moved to Fox Network as a coordinator in the publicity department. By 1995, she had been promoted to junior publicist. Shortly after, Tobin was handed an opportunity she couldn't pass up. "ABC had completely revamped their publicity department and decided to hire a bunch of people with varying degrees of experience," says Tobin. "I was fortunate enough to be considered, mostly because of the relationship I'd developed with them during the Bochco years."

She joined ABC as a junior publicist and has been there for nearly 10 years. "Someone asked me once how can you stay in the same job doing the same thing for such a long period of time?" Tobin says. "The thing is it's never the same job day in and day out. There's always a new set of challenges. There's always a new producer or a new actor or a new situation that you have to deal with."

In her first days at the network, Tobin and the other new publicists were allowed to choose the shows they wanted to work on. Tobin chose "Family Matters" and "Hanging with Mr. Cooper," two shows with African-American casts. "I felt like those shows had been underserved and maybe they could use a shot of fresh energy," Tobin explains. "Maybe not everybody else reads Jet magazine but I do and I wanted to ensure that those people [the cast members] got their fair share of publicity, not just in the Black media but in mainstream media as well...Those projects were close to my heart because I knew all about the Black media from my mother. I know how important and valuable it is and I wanted to be able to interact professionally with these people I'd grown up hearing about for so long."

During her long association with ABC, Tobin, now a publicity director, has coordinated campaigns for some of the network's most successful outings. She launched "The Drew Carey Show" in 1995 and, in 2002, the hit reality series, "The Bachelor." She is particularly proud of her association with the 1997 musical, "Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella," which starred Whitney Houston and Brandy. "At the time, the movie's multicultural cast was an unheard of concept," says Tobin of the experience. "It was a fairytale literally and figuratively. We just never imagined an experience could be so fulfilling. The cast was terrific. It was everything you hope a project could be––good music, beautiful costumes, big stars, multiethnic…"

Her work has earned Tobin the respect of her co-workers and colleagues in communications nationwide. As a member of the Publicists Guild of America, she has won once and was nominated four times for The Maxwell Weinberg Showmanship Award, the organization's top honor, which recognizes the year's best television publicity campaign. On two occasions, she has been recognized by the Television Publicity Executives Committee for outstanding television campaigns. In short, Tobin is having a terrific ride and, in the years to come, looks forward to riding in the driver's seat. "Sometimes I look at myself and say, 'Wow you still have so far to go,'" she muses. "I think that I would like to explore opportunities in management…I already know I can launch a show. I already know I can run a campaign. I think there are other skills, like helping other people break into the business, that I'd like to capitalize upon."

Naturally, when discussing her career growth over the years, Tobin can't help but reflect on the role her mother has played. "I think my mother did a very good job in including me as much as possible in everything she was doing and exposing me to the business world," says Tobin. "I met a lot of really neat people and that inspired me and helped show me a career path. I wasn't out trying to get into trouble during my teenage years because she had exposed me to people who had fabulous jobs and great lives…I knew all the things that could possibly await me if I stayed on track."

Tobin also points out that her mother's support went beyond inspiration and guidance. Tobin was a single mother for 11 years while trying to build her career (she married in 2003), and reveals that her mother's sacrifices when her son was young saved the day and perhaps her career. "Even though she had her own business, there were days that she would not go to her office," Tobin recalls. "Occasionally, she would stay home with my toddler son so that I could go to work and be an assistant and not be perceived as the woman with the childcare problems. I think that was an incredible sacrifice."

Tobin's life outside of ABC is filled with family activities and managing the schedules of her pre-teen son and new husband (a bass guitar player). Then there are her pop culture weaknesses––magazines, fashion, music, make-up and HGTV. "I'm addicted to HGTV home decorating shows…hours and hours on the weekends," she laughs. "I know I have errands to do but a really great episode of 'Designer's Challenge' will come on…I've been late for more things than I care to admit."


AAPRC's Mission
The African-American Public Relations Collective (AAPRC) is an assemblage of professionals who provide communication conduits among clients, journalists, media and our communities. We come together as a collective because we recognize the importance of building those same conduits amongst ourselves.

A great deal of what we do is professional development––updating our skills, keeping pace with technology, refining and streamlining processes, providing a forum to tackle the issues that impact our work environment––but we believe our professional lives benefit most from the forging of effective alliances. Connected to one another, we possess the power of a nationwide body of committed, knowledgeable practitioners with an eye on the future.

As we move into the 21st century at lightning speed, mass media and its potent messages occupy an ever-larger part of our daily lives and our collective psyche. The AAPRC is focused on helping our members gain a deeper understanding of media's force and supporting their growth as powerful participants in the global communications network.

AAPRC's Contact
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