We have worked with Oprah, Today, GMA, and a growing list of other shows to generate measurable results through integrations. But anyone with Internet access can discover that you can Tweet or email an idea for many of these segments. So why does a client need a PR firm to create, pitch, and manage this as part of a media plan?

The advantage of a PR firm as opposed to working solely with a marketing and advertising department starts with the fact that the same hosts and producers we work with every day handle the segments. Relationships with producers and understanding how they work are essential to making the integration effective (and doing it again down the road). We have the relationships and know how to do it all from pitching the product in to setting up messaging and every last detail. They trust us to deliver.

A smart PR firm also weighs the possibilities for placements. Sometimes there are opportunities on several shows and knowing how to handle the opportunities can result in the best or maximum timing and placements for the client. We ask what the client wants and is best for them. We understand what it takes to make integrations truly work as well as they possibly can. We know that integrations “cost” more than just the deal being offered to make it work. We can help companies look at expectations and margins to understand how much of a giveaway or deal they can do – they have to give more to get a lot!

The biggest step is to help clients create their own landing pages off the show sites to process the orders. That allows for immediate measurement of the impact – they can manage what they can measure and measure what they manage!

But perhaps the most important argument for a PR firm managing the integration is that a PR firm will not use a sales or media-buying approach: we always consider the publicity side of it. We see the bigger picture. We treat integrations no different than any media placement. We come up with a story and the right messaging on air.

Full service packaging and messaging PR firms like K2 step into the fold and get into all of this, because this is a big part of doing publicity today. It is about packaging as much as placement – never just publicity for publicity’s sake. The best clients understand this and put together the most effective deals. It may require some education for them to understand that integrations require a little more work, but we have to get our clients to at least be open to thinking about the possibilities. Because if they are open to the possibilities, the results can be and often are terrific, especially for clients who are measuring companies, as integrations are something that can be instantly measured.

And unlike giveaways, integrated promotions have customers actually buying a product –at a substantial discount but purchasing with the intent to use it. Giveaways make impressions but clients have no idea if the connection was made, no way to instantly measure the effect, and no contact information for the customers. Even if customers buy a product for someone else, they at least bought it! And when those customers use it and like it they have a deeper connection to the brand, which is as much as any company can ask for from a placement.

Missed Parts I & II? Click here.

Season 25 of Oprah was one of the happiest times of my life. Not because we finally got Weight Watchers on the show with Jennifer Hudson (though that was great – our 18th client on the show!). During Season 25, I had my baby. And that baby, who came into the world after so much trying and overcoming of odds, inspired me to look at everything differently. My dream of Tony Robbins and Oprah Winfrey together on her talk show might be dead. But a new chapter was being written all around me, just as it was for Oprah.

I had heard through my Konnections that Oprah was working on her new show that would become “Oprah’s Next Chapter.” Maybe this was an even better opportunity to Konnect them, I thought. As I sat at home on maternity leave, I fired off an email to Andrea Wishom who was working on the project (and who was also one of Tony’s ambassadors from my years of pitching him). I wondered if the new show was going to be about Oprah going out into the world and experiencing things rather than talking to people while sitting in a chair. She said yes. I suggested she experience an “Unleash the Power Within” (UPW) Program and possibly fire walk. She thought was a really cool idea.

She. Thought. It. Was. A. Really. Cool. Idea.

Whoa.

Of course, I said nothing to anyone yet. What does a line like that mean after 15 years? I wasn’t going to get my hopes up as I had many times before so I kept quiet (those that know me know how hard that is for me). Then, I got phone calls from the show asking questions – that means they’re really thinking about it, testing the waters and lining up the details before presenting it to Oprah. The next call was about figuring out exactly what the event entails and how it works. (UPW events are 12-hour days – a lot for any person but that’s the kind of commitment Tony delivers and wants from his attendees.) Oprah’s people wonder if she could just come in and out for a little bit….

PR people know that while pitching is hard, the hard part really begins at, “Yes” or in this case “Let’s See If We Can Make This Work.” Logistics are a bear, especially when the people involved are celebrities as big as Oprah and Tony. This has nothing to do with the people being pitched or doing the pitching. Everyone usually has the best interests of the show at heart – in this case both Tony’s and Oprah’s.

So when Oprah’s people stressed that she probably wouldn’t stay the whole time or necessarily fire walk, it wasn’t just about protecting Oprah. It was about making sure that Tony’s expectations were clear about what would happen with Oprah there. Oprah did not want to be disruptive. She is very sensitive to the needs of the people she works with. She did not want to diminish the experience for any one of the other 4200 attendees. Meanwhile, Tony felt the same way about Oprah: he wanted to make sure that her experience was right for her and that she could do her thing and not be disturbed by anyone else there so she felt comfortable and welcome. For his part, Tony also agreed to let her cameras go where no camera ever had for 35 years: backstage as he prepared and to interview him during “stretch breaks.”

And then all of a sudden we are a go. Holy crap. I held my breath. A PR person in any situation has to let go before the show begins and in those minutes between letting go and lights up, you know you have lost control. You have to trust all you did to help everyone prepare and konnect.

Finally, after 15 years, these kindred spirits had finally met. And I was there with them. I was there, laughing, crying, screaming with them.

The rest you can see when the show airs THIS Sunday, February 19 at 9pm EST on OWN but know this: Oprah never left that day. She went all-out in the UPW Program. She wrote in her journal. She participated. And, as you know, she fire walked. Like most people, she was reluctant at first. This is not a trick; those are really hot coals under your feet. But that’s what facing fear is all about: knowing that you can do anything in life. Fear drives results. And after Oprah conquered her fear, she cheered on her team and everyone else as they walked.

So what’s the lesson here? Just what I said: dream big, persevere, and keep those konnections to make things happen. Relationships are the single most extraordinary thing you can have in business. Big ideas and visions don’t ever happen right away. A year? Two? Ten? 15? The best things need time to percolate and you need to let them have that time even as you keep going after other things. But without the Konnections? Big ideas, no matter how good, go nowhere. Thus, everything I do is about creating those Konnections.

Yes, the Oprah Winfrey-Tony Robbins konnection was exceptional: the most profound I have ever made. Sheri Salata congratulated me. “Dreams come true, Heidi!” she said as she waked into the seminar with Oprah.

But as Walt Disney said, “It’s kind of fun to do the impossible.” What fun is there in giving up on the extra-ordinary and simply trying to accomplish the ordinary?

Click here for a preview of Tony Robbins appearance on special expanded two-part Oprah’s Next Chapter on Sunday, February 19 @ 9pm EST on OWN.

It’s taken me a few weeks since I sat in the United Center for Oprah’s last shows to post this. I needed the time to reflect on what this end of an era would feel like for me and for K2. And the answer is: I feel grateful.

Brava Ms. Winfrey! You are the greatest speaker and teacher millions will ever know. The humble humility and grace that I saw expressed at these shows along with genuine gratitude is what true transformation is about. I loved your show for the same reasons we all did: We saw a piece of ourselves in you. We could heal through and with you. You took on the most difficult lessons to learn and laughed with us, healed and touched us.

Brava to the producers who gave Ms. Winfrey the opportunity to feel the love after giving it for so long!

Brava and gratitude to @Lisaerspamer who fifteen years ago, having never met me before, took a meeting from a phone call (remember when publicists made calls and the media answered?) and booked and re-booked parenting expert, child psychologist, and now dearly departed Dr. Ruth Peters — magic moments in my career. These magic moments kept coming throughout my Harpo journey. Through K2, our clients could connect with the right people there, but I would never trade on it, never promise anything but that we would connect the message with the right person. We didn’t always get our clients on the show. Scheduling never allowed Ms. Winfrey to share a classroom with my mentor and friend, Tony Robbins. But I know for sure that these two are destined to connect and combined can move the world!

Brava and gratitude to the village behind the scenes, the passionate storytellers who helped every show make its impact on the world and on me! I will be forever grateful to my “girls” who trusted me, took my endless stream of calls and emails, and always listened even when we both knew what I was pitching wasn’t what they do. The lessons, the love, and most importantly the relationships with all of you will last well beyond this short goodbye, especially as all of them say it’s the next chapter that excites them!

Thank you – everyone at Oprah – for giving our clients a safe and respected platform to share their messages with the world. Thank you for inspiring me. Thank you for sharing. I look forward to our next chapter together.

What do you do when you have an opportunity for a former client to get a huge hit on a major talk show? Yes, I said former. Answer: You do it. How and why it happened is a lesson in doing the right thing without concern for money.

At K2, we work with top media where our Konnections are deep and personal. At this particular show, we had had a few recent opportunities and one such opportunity unfortunately had come and gone because our current client could not see it to fruition. The producers knew I was disappointed. So when the show had something new they felt would still relate to another client, which happened to be this former client, they reached out. This is where our Konnections REALLY matter to our clients. The media knows K2. They know me. They also knew this former client had missed the cut for a previous show but if they could deliver this time, they were ON. They just didn’t know this was a former client.

What to do? I wasn’t going to get paid nor would I ask for money. On the one hand, I could just say, “I don’t work with them” and that would be that. If I passed, told them to contact the company directly, or said I did not work with them anymore, the producers would just go somewhere else. On the other hand, if I passed it along, we would be helping those producers not just a former client.

I realized then the question wasn’t, “What should I do?” but “What is the right thing to do?” What would I want someone to do for me? The answer was easy: Do right by the show, my friends the producers, the former client, K2 and myself. So what if this former client did not exactly end our working relationship with much warning. We had still parted on good terms. The answer was clear, service the media.

I wrote my contact at the former client who happened to be online on a plane sitting next to the CEO. She got approval right then and there.

Sometimes P&L and balance sheets take a backseat to what is right and set you up for some karma kickback in the future.

I’m baaaack! Back in the office, back in the groove, cooking and booking, and loving every moment. I may have just celebrated Mother’s Day for the first time, but I’m on my second decade as a professional “mom” and I really missed my first “baby.”

I was just sitting and thinking in my office the other day that until I had Caden, I had never spent more than a couple of weeks away from K2. And even when I did it was totally with Blackberry in one hand and a phone in the other. When you own a business – and are as committed to and focused on the success of that business as I am – that business is a part of you and always on your mind.

Okay, to be honest eight days after the baby, I was back on the Blackberry and email for big things. I stayed on top of the business side of the business, made and listened in on calls, helped with media, and even went to a few offsite meetings… but for the first time ever I spent hardly any time in the office.

And now that I am back and back in the proverbial driver’s seat, I feel so refreshed. I feel a rebirth professionally. I feel great, exhilarated. I’m reKonnecting with the media clients present and past. I felt such overwhelming support and love from everyone when I had my baby, and I want everyone to know I am ready to roll. I’m full of new ideas and loving the energy. I’m adjusting to this new life with a vigor I have not felt in years.

Buddha says, “Your work is to discover your world and then with all your heart give yourself to it.” My world and heart is bigger now because of Caden.  I do what I love and love what I do. I’m back, baby. Look out PR world.

In theory I am taking some time for “maternity leave.” But as a small business owner in an ultra-wired connected world, “leave” is a relative term. Caden has much of my attention, but he sleeps. A lot. My professional baby never can. So I check in. Stay on top of big issues. Stay in touch by writing thank you after thank you and emails. But I have detached myself from the day-to-day of the office. Truth is, I had already done that before I left. And what I learned doing so has helped me be a better leader if not business owner and will help me be a better mom too.

Taking a step back – in business and in life – is about having balance. I have trust and confidence in my team. I know now I can’t control it all but why would I want to? I don’t want to limit them; I want them to grow. Yes, I will do whatever needs to be done to deliver on promises and lead by example but not so much so I cripple their development and sap their confidence. I can’t be the conduit for everything. They need to make their own Konnections and relationships. I have learned a lot from my team about how things have changed. I used to wonder why their phones don’t ring as much as mine. But clients are happy and I see results as they Konnect through their Kommunications tools like Linkedin or Facebook or a text. Just recently, the team landed Piers Morgan, Access Hollywood, 20/20, Today, and more without a word from me.

So in letting go I have realized something: Right now Caden is completely dependent on me for survival. But my team and most of all K2 is not.

This post is a continuation from Parts One and Two of my Power of New Beginnings Blog posts.

I was in client-in-crisis crash mode as flew to LA ahead of the Duchess on Thursday. Yes, I was facing an any-moment-now fertility cycle in Vegas, but this was not about me right now.

There was a media frenzy surrounding the secrecy of the Oprah interview. The Duchess was buried in a torrent of media requests and bad publicity. Her life was under a microscope. And she was lost.

I sat with the Duchess in the hotel suite on Friday and then watched as Oprah did an incredible job with the interview as I knew she would. It was personal and raw but compassionate, and the Duchess felt safe. Oprah let the Duchess share her intentions and allowed her to heal as only Oprah Winfrey can. It was transformative: The Duchess let go of her problems and connected to her true self again, finding and figuring out how to make her way back to Sarah. I realized how lucky I was to be there for her in that moment when she started to let go.

And suddenly I realized, it was not just the Duchess who let go: I had let go too. For these few days, I had forgotten all my worry and sadness over my fertility treatments. I had been so preoccupied and focused on what I had to do for the Duchess, I had been the least of my concerns.

That turned out to be the best thing I could have wished for. I felt something different. I felt our time had come. I felt the energy and the need to blog again and finally share the news of the failed cycle and let go of that too. I wrote with hope about the current cycle. I emailed the blog from the plane to Vegas that night to meet Darren for Saturday’s transfer.

Karma kickback I always say: Do good and good happens. I cannot imagine better proof that this is true. Our baby is due in early 2011. That news I shared with the Oprah folks as soon as I could.

And I am grateful the good that happened and the letting go have carried over to K2. I have the right team in place for this all to turn out fabulously for the business and me.

You see I will be involved every part of the day-to-day life of raising my child, but I no longer NEED to be involved in every part of the day-to-day of running the agency. Sure, I weigh in on all the big picture strategies and decisions for the clients and K2. I’ll do that when the baby comes too! But the team handles the day-to-day media relations, tactics, and strategies – I trust them and so do the clients.

And that’s the way it should be and I always wanted it to be but never quite got there until recently. Year after year, I felt I needed to be involved in everything and control every aspect of the accounts and business.

Now I know what Tony Robbins meant when he said that’s the definition of insanity: Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. That is not my job. The team is accountable and responsible for all we do at K2 – it is about the agency and them, not just me.

The Duchess counted on me to help her get to the place where she could let go. And now I count on my team to do that for K2 every day, while I have this baby and beyond.

Of course, they could not have been happier for us when we told them the news. “Don’t worry,” they all said. “We’ve got it covered.”

Count on it.

This post is a continuation from Part One- click here to read the first part

The Oprah team and I were having our usual loud, fun dinner when their Blackberries started buzzing. Something was going on. They’re sending emails, running outside to get better reception. Crazy. “What’s going on?” We can’t tell you. “Tell me.” We can’t. “Come on.” No. “I’m your friend.” Heidi, we are NOT going to tell you.

They didn’t. Wednesday morning it all became clear.

First, news of the “scandal” broke: Sarah Ferguson, The Duchess of York, was caught on tape by a British tabloid seemingly offering to sell access to her ex, Prince Andrew.

Next, I got an email from Sterling Publishing about their new children’s book author: The Duchess of York. Sterling knew K2 and knew I knew The Duchess from our work with Weight Watchers. “What show would you do?” they asked. Oprah was on the list. I thought it was a trick question. Now I knew what the Blackberry buzzing was about on Tuesday night. It was all Konnecting.

I acted even before I was officially hired. I wrote the Oprah producers: “Duchess of York, do you want her?” They immediately called me.  I told them Sterling was asking about interviews. They said another source told them they already had the interview.

I quickly figured out exactly who the players were and any details I could. I was ready when Sterling brought me in Wednesday afternoon to sit down with the Duchess, hear her story, and help put an action plan together.

The book party was only hours away at this point. Media was attending from everywhere, and everyone wanted the Duchess exclusively for all the wrong reasons. We worked fast to sort everything out and booked Oprah for the private exclusive interview in LA.

But Sarah Ferguson clearly needed someone by her side for more than those few hours. She was genuinely lost. She seemed in need of a kindred spirit. She told me I had to be there that night and in LA Friday for Oprah.

Could I do it? I wanted to be there for her. I felt an emotional connection to her. I believed getting her to and through the interview would be healing for her and allow her to find herself, which she so needed. Yet Vegas loomed. I was supposed to be there a few days early for the transfer to relax for a change.

“So much for relaxation,” I thought. I shared what was going on with me with the Duchess, and she asked Darren for permission for me to fly to LA. He said yes, not just because he sensed the Duchess needed me to do this but that I wanted to as well.

Maybe he saw what I only realized later: There was another person in need of healing in the room. ME.

To be continued in Part Three

I am pregnant. Due early this year. Beyond excited. “Belly bumping” everyone I can.

Success came after FIVE years of fertility treatments during which I kept thinking, “I make a living cooking and booking people, why I can’t I cook and book a person in me? Why can’t I have the same magic I have for my clients? I have the best doctor [Dr. Geoffrey Sher from SIRM], a fabulous husband, and will to spare. Why?”

I grew more and more devastated at each “almost.” I know having a child with a surrogate or adopting are wonderful options. I should know: I’m adopted. But I wanted to carry a baby – our baby.

My experience was so powerful, uncertain, and emotionally difficult that the folks at Oprah asked me to blog about it on Oprah.com. THAT was hard.

 I started blogging in December as I prepared to fly to Dr. Sher’s office. We previously had done our cycles in his New York office, so I felt this one would be different – lucky. After all, it’s Vegas, right? But that attempt failed too. It was painful enough sharing that with myself much the wonderfully supportive – but still public – Oprah.com community. I did not have the strength to blog an update.

 Flash forward to late May. Time to try again. I might have to fly to Vegas any day. But didn’t know when. No one has any control over these cycles. It happens, you act. You are a passenger.  I prayed that this time just maybe…. And then my friends at Oprah called. They were coming to Book Expo America in New York that coming Tuesday and we arranged to have dinner.

 And from that Tuesday on, nothing in my life would ever be the same.

To be continued in Part Two

CREATING BESTSELLERS, BUILDING BRANDS From The Sonoma Diet to The New Sonoma Diet The original Sonoma Diet ran its course over a few years with a follow up cookbook and additional deals. Meredith had changed focus started to wind down its book business. Yet K2 remained involved because of Sonoma’s author, Connie Gutterson.

Connie wanted more than just PR; she wanted a home for her new book idea. She wanted us to become her brand manager and control everything from spokesperson deals to complement her teaching at the CIA in California to brainstorming ideas for her post-Sonoma book career and agenting the proposal.

Now, many authors who start with K2 in PR continue to work with us as partners on their brands. (See “The Oldest First” on how K2’s publishing work extends beyond PR.) But Connie and K2 pushed each other to extend ourselves beyond what we had been doing. And as a result, The Sonoma Diet again helped define the K2 of today.

It started when K2 set up meetings with key editors for Connie’s new book proposal: All they asked about was Sonoma. Then, over lunch, the cookbook buyer at Barnes & Noble convinced me there was new life in the Sonoma brand.

So we decided to resell a new Sonoma Diet and worked with Connie to take it over. (I’ll spare you the complicated and really boring – unless you are a lawyer or my husband – details.) We signed with Sterling and worked with them and Connie to revise, repackage, and re-launch The New Sonoma Diet. We went back to Waterfront, now Everyday Health, and got them interested in being involved again.

The completely revised – 80% new! – Sonoma Diet arrives January 2011. The New Sonoma Cookbook drops in April 2011. Connie’s third book? It will be published in April 2012 by Sterling as well.

But Sonoma launches into a changed world. Publishing has changed. What worked for Sonoma 2006 will not work for Sonoma 2010. Sonoma, like South Beach, was a book that built a brand. Now, a book needs to be a business and a brand. Publicity for the book is just a small chunk that leads to sales. You need to position the author in TV development idea and pitch regular media platforms on TV, online, in print… anywhere that establishes an immediate and highly visible presence.

Of course, it helps to have an author and books as respected as Connie and The Sonoma Diet franchise. We’re getting good traction. But there are so many variables. Connie is counting on us. The publisher is counting on us. This is more than PR. This is business and this is personal. I have the same feeling when we launched Sonoma the first time – only we are even bigger partners in the overall picture.

But it’s all good. I’m excited to see the outcome as part of what we do now at K2: building business, building brands. There’s nothing we love more than the challenges that brings.

We have worked with Oprah, Today, GMA, and a growing list of other shows to generate measurable results through integrations. But anyone with Internet access can discover that you can Tweet or email an idea for many of these segments. So why does a client need a PR firm to create, pitch, and manage this as part of a media plan?

The advantage of a PR firm as opposed to working solely with a marketing and advertising department starts with the fact that the same hosts and producers we work with every day handle the segments. Relationships with producers and understanding how they work are essential to making the integration effective (and doing it again down the road). We have the relationships and know how to do it all from pitching the product in to setting up messaging and every last detail. They trust us to deliver.

A smart PR firm also weighs the possibilities for placements. Sometimes there are opportunities on several shows and knowing how to handle the opportunities can result in the best or maximum timing and placements for the client. We ask what the client wants and is best for them. We understand what it takes to make integrations truly work as well as they possibly can. We know that integrations “cost” more than just the deal being offered to make it work. We can help companies look at expectations and margins to understand how much of a giveaway or deal they can do – they have to give more to get a lot!

The biggest step is to help clients create their own landing pages off the show sites to process the orders. That allows for immediate measurement of the impact – they can manage what they can measure and measure what they manage!

But perhaps the most important argument for a PR firm managing the integration is that a PR firm will not use a sales or media-buying approach: we always consider the publicity side of it. We see the bigger picture. We treat integrations no different than any media placement. We come up with a story and the right messaging on air.

Full service packaging and messaging PR firms like K2 step into the fold and get into all of this, because this is a big part of doing publicity today. It is about packaging as much as placement – never just publicity for publicity’s sake. The best clients understand this and put together the most effective deals. It may require some education for them to understand that integrations require a little more work, but we have to get our clients to at least be open to thinking about the possibilities. Because if they are open to the possibilities, the results can be and often are terrific, especially for clients who are measuring companies, as integrations are something that can be instantly measured.

And unlike giveaways, integrated promotions have customers actually buying a product –at a substantial discount but purchasing with the intent to use it. Giveaways make impressions but clients have no idea if the connection was made, no way to instantly measure the effect, and no contact information for the customers. Even if customers buy a product for someone else, they at least bought it! And when those customers use it and like it they have a deeper connection to the brand, which is as much as any company can ask for from a placement.

Missed Parts I & II? Click here.

Season 25 of Oprah was one of the happiest times of my life. Not because we finally got Weight Watchers on the show with Jennifer Hudson (though that was great – our 18th client on the show!). During Season 25, I had my baby. And that baby, who came into the world after so much trying and overcoming of odds, inspired me to look at everything differently. My dream of Tony Robbins and Oprah Winfrey together on her talk show might be dead. But a new chapter was being written all around me, just as it was for Oprah.

I had heard through my Konnections that Oprah was working on her new show that would become “Oprah’s Next Chapter.” Maybe this was an even better opportunity to Konnect them, I thought. As I sat at home on maternity leave, I fired off an email to Andrea Wishom who was working on the project (and who was also one of Tony’s ambassadors from my years of pitching him). I wondered if the new show was going to be about Oprah going out into the world and experiencing things rather than talking to people while sitting in a chair. She said yes. I suggested she experience an “Unleash the Power Within” (UPW) Program and possibly fire walk. She thought was a really cool idea.

She. Thought. It. Was. A. Really. Cool. Idea.

Whoa.

Of course, I said nothing to anyone yet. What does a line like that mean after 15 years? I wasn’t going to get my hopes up as I had many times before so I kept quiet (those that know me know how hard that is for me). Then, I got phone calls from the show asking questions – that means they’re really thinking about it, testing the waters and lining up the details before presenting it to Oprah. The next call was about figuring out exactly what the event entails and how it works. (UPW events are 12-hour days – a lot for any person but that’s the kind of commitment Tony delivers and wants from his attendees.) Oprah’s people wonder if she could just come in and out for a little bit….

PR people know that while pitching is hard, the hard part really begins at, “Yes” or in this case “Let’s See If We Can Make This Work.” Logistics are a bear, especially when the people involved are celebrities as big as Oprah and Tony. This has nothing to do with the people being pitched or doing the pitching. Everyone usually has the best interests of the show at heart – in this case both Tony’s and Oprah’s.

So when Oprah’s people stressed that she probably wouldn’t stay the whole time or necessarily fire walk, it wasn’t just about protecting Oprah. It was about making sure that Tony’s expectations were clear about what would happen with Oprah there. Oprah did not want to be disruptive. She is very sensitive to the needs of the people she works with. She did not want to diminish the experience for any one of the other 4200 attendees. Meanwhile, Tony felt the same way about Oprah: he wanted to make sure that her experience was right for her and that she could do her thing and not be disturbed by anyone else there so she felt comfortable and welcome. For his part, Tony also agreed to let her cameras go where no camera ever had for 35 years: backstage as he prepared and to interview him during “stretch breaks.”

And then all of a sudden we are a go. Holy crap. I held my breath. A PR person in any situation has to let go before the show begins and in those minutes between letting go and lights up, you know you have lost control. You have to trust all you did to help everyone prepare and konnect.

Finally, after 15 years, these kindred spirits had finally met. And I was there with them. I was there, laughing, crying, screaming with them.

The rest you can see when the show airs THIS Sunday, February 19 at 9pm EST on OWN but know this: Oprah never left that day. She went all-out in the UPW Program. She wrote in her journal. She participated. And, as you know, she fire walked. Like most people, she was reluctant at first. This is not a trick; those are really hot coals under your feet. But that’s what facing fear is all about: knowing that you can do anything in life. Fear drives results. And after Oprah conquered her fear, she cheered on her team and everyone else as they walked.

So what’s the lesson here? Just what I said: dream big, persevere, and keep those konnections to make things happen. Relationships are the single most extraordinary thing you can have in business. Big ideas and visions don’t ever happen right away. A year? Two? Ten? 15? The best things need time to percolate and you need to let them have that time even as you keep going after other things. But without the Konnections? Big ideas, no matter how good, go nowhere. Thus, everything I do is about creating those Konnections.

Yes, the Oprah Winfrey-Tony Robbins konnection was exceptional: the most profound I have ever made. Sheri Salata congratulated me. “Dreams come true, Heidi!” she said as she waked into the seminar with Oprah.

But as Walt Disney said, “It’s kind of fun to do the impossible.” What fun is there in giving up on the extra-ordinary and simply trying to accomplish the ordinary?

Click here for a preview of Tony Robbins appearance on special expanded two-part Oprah’s Next Chapter on Sunday, February 19 @ 9pm EST on OWN.

It’s taken me a few weeks since I sat in the United Center for Oprah’s last shows to post this. I needed the time to reflect on what this end of an era would feel like for me and for K2. And the answer is: I feel grateful.

Brava Ms. Winfrey! You are the greatest speaker and teacher millions will ever know. The humble humility and grace that I saw expressed at these shows along with genuine gratitude is what true transformation is about. I loved your show for the same reasons we all did: We saw a piece of ourselves in you. We could heal through and with you. You took on the most difficult lessons to learn and laughed with us, healed and touched us.

Brava to the producers who gave Ms. Winfrey the opportunity to feel the love after giving it for so long!

Brava and gratitude to @Lisaerspamer who fifteen years ago, having never met me before, took a meeting from a phone call (remember when publicists made calls and the media answered?) and booked and re-booked parenting expert, child psychologist, and now dearly departed Dr. Ruth Peters — magic moments in my career. These magic moments kept coming throughout my Harpo journey. Through K2, our clients could connect with the right people there, but I would never trade on it, never promise anything but that we would connect the message with the right person. We didn’t always get our clients on the show. Scheduling never allowed Ms. Winfrey to share a classroom with my mentor and friend, Tony Robbins. But I know for sure that these two are destined to connect and combined can move the world!

Brava and gratitude to the village behind the scenes, the passionate storytellers who helped every show make its impact on the world and on me! I will be forever grateful to my “girls” who trusted me, took my endless stream of calls and emails, and always listened even when we both knew what I was pitching wasn’t what they do. The lessons, the love, and most importantly the relationships with all of you will last well beyond this short goodbye, especially as all of them say it’s the next chapter that excites them!

Thank you – everyone at Oprah – for giving our clients a safe and respected platform to share their messages with the world. Thank you for inspiring me. Thank you for sharing. I look forward to our next chapter together.

What do you do when you have an opportunity for a former client to get a huge hit on a major talk show? Yes, I said former. Answer: You do it. How and why it happened is a lesson in doing the right thing without concern for money.

At K2, we work with top media where our Konnections are deep and personal. At this particular show, we had had a few recent opportunities and one such opportunity unfortunately had come and gone because our current client could not see it to fruition. The producers knew I was disappointed. So when the show had something new they felt would still relate to another client, which happened to be this former client, they reached out. This is where our Konnections REALLY matter to our clients. The media knows K2. They know me. They also knew this former client had missed the cut for a previous show but if they could deliver this time, they were ON. They just didn’t know this was a former client.

What to do? I wasn’t going to get paid nor would I ask for money. On the one hand, I could just say, “I don’t work with them” and that would be that. If I passed, told them to contact the company directly, or said I did not work with them anymore, the producers would just go somewhere else. On the other hand, if I passed it along, we would be helping those producers not just a former client.

I realized then the question wasn’t, “What should I do?” but “What is the right thing to do?” What would I want someone to do for me? The answer was easy: Do right by the show, my friends the producers, the former client, K2 and myself. So what if this former client did not exactly end our working relationship with much warning. We had still parted on good terms. The answer was clear, service the media.

I wrote my contact at the former client who happened to be online on a plane sitting next to the CEO. She got approval right then and there.

Sometimes P&L and balance sheets take a backseat to what is right and set you up for some karma kickback in the future.

I’m baaaack! Back in the office, back in the groove, cooking and booking, and loving every moment. I may have just celebrated Mother’s Day for the first time, but I’m on my second decade as a professional “mom” and I really missed my first “baby.”

I was just sitting and thinking in my office the other day that until I had Caden, I had never spent more than a couple of weeks away from K2. And even when I did it was totally with Blackberry in one hand and a phone in the other. When you own a business – and are as committed to and focused on the success of that business as I am – that business is a part of you and always on your mind.

Okay, to be honest eight days after the baby, I was back on the Blackberry and email for big things. I stayed on top of the business side of the business, made and listened in on calls, helped with media, and even went to a few offsite meetings… but for the first time ever I spent hardly any time in the office.

And now that I am back and back in the proverbial driver’s seat, I feel so refreshed. I feel a rebirth professionally. I feel great, exhilarated. I’m reKonnecting with the media clients present and past. I felt such overwhelming support and love from everyone when I had my baby, and I want everyone to know I am ready to roll. I’m full of new ideas and loving the energy. I’m adjusting to this new life with a vigor I have not felt in years.

Buddha says, “Your work is to discover your world and then with all your heart give yourself to it.” My world and heart is bigger now because of Caden.  I do what I love and love what I do. I’m back, baby. Look out PR world.

In theory I am taking some time for “maternity leave.” But as a small business owner in an ultra-wired connected world, “leave” is a relative term. Caden has much of my attention, but he sleeps. A lot. My professional baby never can. So I check in. Stay on top of big issues. Stay in touch by writing thank you after thank you and emails. But I have detached myself from the day-to-day of the office. Truth is, I had already done that before I left. And what I learned doing so has helped me be a better leader if not business owner and will help me be a better mom too.

Taking a step back – in business and in life – is about having balance. I have trust and confidence in my team. I know now I can’t control it all but why would I want to? I don’t want to limit them; I want them to grow. Yes, I will do whatever needs to be done to deliver on promises and lead by example but not so much so I cripple their development and sap their confidence. I can’t be the conduit for everything. They need to make their own Konnections and relationships. I have learned a lot from my team about how things have changed. I used to wonder why their phones don’t ring as much as mine. But clients are happy and I see results as they Konnect through their Kommunications tools like Linkedin or Facebook or a text. Just recently, the team landed Piers Morgan, Access Hollywood, 20/20, Today, and more without a word from me.

So in letting go I have realized something: Right now Caden is completely dependent on me for survival. But my team and most of all K2 is not.

This post is a continuation from Parts One and Two of my Power of New Beginnings Blog posts.

I was in client-in-crisis crash mode as flew to LA ahead of the Duchess on Thursday. Yes, I was facing an any-moment-now fertility cycle in Vegas, but this was not about me right now.

There was a media frenzy surrounding the secrecy of the Oprah interview. The Duchess was buried in a torrent of media requests and bad publicity. Her life was under a microscope. And she was lost.

I sat with the Duchess in the hotel suite on Friday and then watched as Oprah did an incredible job with the interview as I knew she would. It was personal and raw but compassionate, and the Duchess felt safe. Oprah let the Duchess share her intentions and allowed her to heal as only Oprah Winfrey can. It was transformative: The Duchess let go of her problems and connected to her true self again, finding and figuring out how to make her way back to Sarah. I realized how lucky I was to be there for her in that moment when she started to let go.

And suddenly I realized, it was not just the Duchess who let go: I had let go too. For these few days, I had forgotten all my worry and sadness over my fertility treatments. I had been so preoccupied and focused on what I had to do for the Duchess, I had been the least of my concerns.

That turned out to be the best thing I could have wished for. I felt something different. I felt our time had come. I felt the energy and the need to blog again and finally share the news of the failed cycle and let go of that too. I wrote with hope about the current cycle. I emailed the blog from the plane to Vegas that night to meet Darren for Saturday’s transfer.

Karma kickback I always say: Do good and good happens. I cannot imagine better proof that this is true. Our baby is due in early 2011. That news I shared with the Oprah folks as soon as I could.

And I am grateful the good that happened and the letting go have carried over to K2. I have the right team in place for this all to turn out fabulously for the business and me.

You see I will be involved every part of the day-to-day life of raising my child, but I no longer NEED to be involved in every part of the day-to-day of running the agency. Sure, I weigh in on all the big picture strategies and decisions for the clients and K2. I’ll do that when the baby comes too! But the team handles the day-to-day media relations, tactics, and strategies – I trust them and so do the clients.

And that’s the way it should be and I always wanted it to be but never quite got there until recently. Year after year, I felt I needed to be involved in everything and control every aspect of the accounts and business.

Now I know what Tony Robbins meant when he said that’s the definition of insanity: Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. That is not my job. The team is accountable and responsible for all we do at K2 – it is about the agency and them, not just me.

The Duchess counted on me to help her get to the place where she could let go. And now I count on my team to do that for K2 every day, while I have this baby and beyond.

Of course, they could not have been happier for us when we told them the news. “Don’t worry,” they all said. “We’ve got it covered.”

Count on it.

This post is a continuation from Part One- click here to read the first part

The Oprah team and I were having our usual loud, fun dinner when their Blackberries started buzzing. Something was going on. They’re sending emails, running outside to get better reception. Crazy. “What’s going on?” We can’t tell you. “Tell me.” We can’t. “Come on.” No. “I’m your friend.” Heidi, we are NOT going to tell you.

They didn’t. Wednesday morning it all became clear.

First, news of the “scandal” broke: Sarah Ferguson, The Duchess of York, was caught on tape by a British tabloid seemingly offering to sell access to her ex, Prince Andrew.

Next, I got an email from Sterling Publishing about their new children’s book author: The Duchess of York. Sterling knew K2 and knew I knew The Duchess from our work with Weight Watchers. “What show would you do?” they asked. Oprah was on the list. I thought it was a trick question. Now I knew what the Blackberry buzzing was about on Tuesday night. It was all Konnecting.

I acted even before I was officially hired. I wrote the Oprah producers: “Duchess of York, do you want her?” They immediately called me.  I told them Sterling was asking about interviews. They said another source told them they already had the interview.

I quickly figured out exactly who the players were and any details I could. I was ready when Sterling brought me in Wednesday afternoon to sit down with the Duchess, hear her story, and help put an action plan together.

The book party was only hours away at this point. Media was attending from everywhere, and everyone wanted the Duchess exclusively for all the wrong reasons. We worked fast to sort everything out and booked Oprah for the private exclusive interview in LA.

But Sarah Ferguson clearly needed someone by her side for more than those few hours. She was genuinely lost. She seemed in need of a kindred spirit. She told me I had to be there that night and in LA Friday for Oprah.

Could I do it? I wanted to be there for her. I felt an emotional connection to her. I believed getting her to and through the interview would be healing for her and allow her to find herself, which she so needed. Yet Vegas loomed. I was supposed to be there a few days early for the transfer to relax for a change.

“So much for relaxation,” I thought. I shared what was going on with me with the Duchess, and she asked Darren for permission for me to fly to LA. He said yes, not just because he sensed the Duchess needed me to do this but that I wanted to as well.

Maybe he saw what I only realized later: There was another person in need of healing in the room. ME.

To be continued in Part Three

I am pregnant. Due early this year. Beyond excited. “Belly bumping” everyone I can.

Success came after FIVE years of fertility treatments during which I kept thinking, “I make a living cooking and booking people, why I can’t I cook and book a person in me? Why can’t I have the same magic I have for my clients? I have the best doctor [Dr. Geoffrey Sher from SIRM], a fabulous husband, and will to spare. Why?”

I grew more and more devastated at each “almost.” I know having a child with a surrogate or adopting are wonderful options. I should know: I’m adopted. But I wanted to carry a baby – our baby.

My experience was so powerful, uncertain, and emotionally difficult that the folks at Oprah asked me to blog about it on Oprah.com. THAT was hard.

 I started blogging in December as I prepared to fly to Dr. Sher’s office. We previously had done our cycles in his New York office, so I felt this one would be different – lucky. After all, it’s Vegas, right? But that attempt failed too. It was painful enough sharing that with myself much the wonderfully supportive – but still public – Oprah.com community. I did not have the strength to blog an update.

 Flash forward to late May. Time to try again. I might have to fly to Vegas any day. But didn’t know when. No one has any control over these cycles. It happens, you act. You are a passenger.  I prayed that this time just maybe…. And then my friends at Oprah called. They were coming to Book Expo America in New York that coming Tuesday and we arranged to have dinner.

 And from that Tuesday on, nothing in my life would ever be the same.

To be continued in Part Two

CREATING BESTSELLERS, BUILDING BRANDS From The Sonoma Diet to The New Sonoma Diet The original Sonoma Diet ran its course over a few years with a follow up cookbook and additional deals. Meredith had changed focus started to wind down its book business. Yet K2 remained involved because of Sonoma’s author, Connie Gutterson.

Connie wanted more than just PR; she wanted a home for her new book idea. She wanted us to become her brand manager and control everything from spokesperson deals to complement her teaching at the CIA in California to brainstorming ideas for her post-Sonoma book career and agenting the proposal.

Now, many authors who start with K2 in PR continue to work with us as partners on their brands. (See “The Oldest First” on how K2’s publishing work extends beyond PR.) But Connie and K2 pushed each other to extend ourselves beyond what we had been doing. And as a result, The Sonoma Diet again helped define the K2 of today.

It started when K2 set up meetings with key editors for Connie’s new book proposal: All they asked about was Sonoma. Then, over lunch, the cookbook buyer at Barnes & Noble convinced me there was new life in the Sonoma brand.

So we decided to resell a new Sonoma Diet and worked with Connie to take it over. (I’ll spare you the complicated and really boring – unless you are a lawyer or my husband – details.) We signed with Sterling and worked with them and Connie to revise, repackage, and re-launch The New Sonoma Diet. We went back to Waterfront, now Everyday Health, and got them interested in being involved again.

The completely revised – 80% new! – Sonoma Diet arrives January 2011. The New Sonoma Cookbook drops in April 2011. Connie’s third book? It will be published in April 2012 by Sterling as well.

But Sonoma launches into a changed world. Publishing has changed. What worked for Sonoma 2006 will not work for Sonoma 2010. Sonoma, like South Beach, was a book that built a brand. Now, a book needs to be a business and a brand. Publicity for the book is just a small chunk that leads to sales. You need to position the author in TV development idea and pitch regular media platforms on TV, online, in print… anywhere that establishes an immediate and highly visible presence.

Of course, it helps to have an author and books as respected as Connie and The Sonoma Diet franchise. We’re getting good traction. But there are so many variables. Connie is counting on us. The publisher is counting on us. This is more than PR. This is business and this is personal. I have the same feeling when we launched Sonoma the first time – only we are even bigger partners in the overall picture.

But it’s all good. I’m excited to see the outcome as part of what we do now at K2: building business, building brands. There’s nothing we love more than the challenges that brings.