I always wanted to be a foreign correspondent.  Maybe it was the idea of the trenchcoat and sunglasses.  Or maybe, after my second grade teacher praised a story I had written and that encouragement continued as I grew up, I realized the value of a story and how it’s told.

That interest led me to earn a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Rutgers University—adding a master’s in English from the University of Virginia shortly thereafter. After a brief stint as an editor and writer in Washington, D.C., I headed home to New York and began a career in corporate public relations during a fascinating time in American, and international, business.

I honed my corporate PR “chops” in the 1980’s, heading up the media relations department of Allied Chemical Corporation (now Honeywell), a classic multi-national conglomerate whose merger and acquisition activity during that decade assembled a collection of companies in a range of industries—from its chemical foundations, Allied grew to include the automotive, aerospace and electronics sectors, with locations throughout Europe and North America. Lots of news, lots of press contact. I credit Allied and its many diverse businesses with making me a quick study on complex scientific, technical, and financial topics.

That experience laid the foundation for Pagano & Company. Initially, my client base tracked my corporate experience, but over time, clients came from all sectors of the economy.  I’ve worked with building materials manufacturers, major management consulting firms, innovative healthcare providers and researchers, climate change defenders, educators and others.  I’ve helped take companies public, introduced unique over-the-counter healthcare products to consumers, and built brand visibility for schools and school programs, bioscience companies making strides to improve men’s and women’s health and not-for-profits interested in increasing their donor base. The common denominator, regardless of business focus, has always been the story. As the world becomes more complex and nuanced, the arc of growth, invention, doing something that matters, is as compelling as ever.

So, while I’ve never truly been a foreign correspondent, I have globetrotted, actually and virtually, around North America, Australia, South America and Europe to find and tell my clients’ stories.  Trenchcoat and sunglasses are always at the ready for the next gig!