2014

Carrie Fox
A PASSIONATE LEADER TO A MISSION-DRIVEN
AGENCY
SOPHIA VO COMM231
I hope to publish this profile and accompanying materials to
local newspapers and UMD COMM website.
Word count: 873
Grade level: 9.5
Carrie Fox, founder of C. Fox Communications.
Photo: magazine.loyola.edu
Carrie Fox A Passionate Leader to A Mission-
driven Agency

By Sophia Vo -- July 8
COLLEGE PARK, Md.The phone went off again at dinner
time. Carrie Fox jumped at her phone to check emails and
messages from a client who was on a different time zone. His
urgent requests every evening unreasonably became her normal
routine and interrupted Foxs family dinners, movie nights,
workouts and even holidays.
Fox understands every public relation professional has to be
flexible to be available to reporters, producers, clients and
partners as needed. She believes her life outside the business is
what keeps her refreshed and help her do a better job for her
clients.
Carrie Fox, 35, founded
her PR firm 10 years
ago with an accountant,
attorney and few more
advisors, who became
her mentors in life.
She has guided
organizations through
many situations and
remains actively
involved with many
traditional news
channels such as CNN,
The Washington Post,
USA Today, and The
Wall Street Journal.


PRWeek named her to its 40 under 40 list in 2013 for her
contribution in putting hundreds of clients best messages
forward.
After graduating from college, Fox began her career at Ripken
Baseball. She found nothing was easy as a woman working in a
male-dominated sport public relation industry. Fox took the first
big trip with the Ripken Baseball to Tampa, Fla., to help set up a
press conference for Cal Ripkens post-game career. However,
BEHIND HER
PHILOSOPHY
I dont want to do this
anymore, I want to be in a
small firm and hope youll
consider taking my resume.
Carrie Fox recalled when
Don Foley, former
Ketchums North American
Public Affairs leader, wanted
to join her team.
When Fox started her career
in Washington, D.C, Foley
quickly became her mentor
and gave her multiple
business opportunities before
she even realized. Foley also
helped Fox to get in the door
of winning an XPrize
Foundations contract, a 10-
million project.
C. Fox beat a large firm as
Ketchum to win the new
project in 2008 to design
super fueled-efficient
vehicles, which became
Foxs focus for three years.
She would spend long client-
calls during dinner time
because her clients were on a
different time zone.
Soon after, Fox decided to
raise the bar and set
guidelines for her agency.
Now, every client receives a
philosophy document on the
agencys rights.

Determination and confidence have allowed me
to grow my agency.
Carrie Fox.
few Major League Baseball players were giving Fox a hard time.
Fox didnt know how to deal with this problem. At the time, Bill Ripken, a co-owner of Ripken
Baseball, came and backed her up by saying, Youll be good at what youre doing and put them
out of your mind.
From that moment on, Fox knew that she had to prove she deserved a seat at the meeting table,
and her opinions mattered.
She applies the same philosophy to her current agency today because she strongly believes it
should commit to the issue and cause raised by her clients.
Values in the brand C. Fox
It was my idea, my insight, my work. Carrie Fox asserted.
Fox decided her name was on the door because she was the sole owner of the company. She
makes sure that every client her
agency gets will get the philosophy
that she holds strongly.
People know the result when they
hire C. Fox, and the agency put in
the best efforts to meet those
expectations, according to Fox.
Theres some brand value in that name. Fox continued.
As the agency grows, Fox oversees the growth of her agency, gets her hands on everything and
implements communications strategies and solutions for every project.
The importance of individual ity
Sarah Neumann, an employee coming from another big public relation agency in town, started
her second week on the job. Fox asked her to create a memo of strategies to give it to a client.
Sarah assumed she would put Foxs name on the paper because that was how her former agency
operated.
Fox answered, Why would it be my name on something that you did? Its your memo, its your
opinion.
She replied, Thats totally foreign to me.
Her leader, unlike some CEOs, believes everyones opinions are valued, even employees at the
lower level can be talking to the client and give them advice. Employees should be responsible
for their ideas, especially at C. Fox.
I need to be able to step out of the way to let my people shine and do their best work without me
getting in their way, Carrie Fox wittily said.
Carrie Fox regularly speaks on college campuses and public relation seminars and workshops.
Here she was, sitting in front of a class of undergraduates who were seeking for her expertise.
Her first reply on tips to succeed, without any hesitation, was Be over-prepared! Fox linked
her advice to many real-life situations she has dealt with in the past, and gave students the tips on
building and keeping connections, which are important for a PR professional.
Recently, C. Fox Communications celebrated its 10
th
year of using communications to fulfill its
mission, as well as clients and community goals.
Fox hoped to double the size of her agency in the near future and open some satellite shops in
other cities.
###
Interviewee contact information:
Carrie Fox, President
C. Fox Communications
Office : (301) 585-5034
Email : carrie@cfoxcommunications.com