Victoria Kennedy of Victorious PR doesn’t have the usual PR story to tell. For many PR professionals, the path to success isn’t linear—but it does follow a specific path from school through work experience.
In the case of Victoria Kennedy however, that’s all turned on its head.
Starting Off the PR Journey … In a Convent?
It’s an unlikely origin story for a PR professional, but it’s exactly what makes Victoria Kennedy different. Her story started out in a convent.
At the age of 16, Kennedy, desirous to devote her life to God, decided to join a convent. But she quickly discovered that it wasn’t quite the idyllic, Sound-of-Music lifestyle she’d once imagined. Her Mother Superior was strict, frequently scolding and correcting. Nearly every night, Kennedy cried herself to sleep.
Within just a few months, the “convent” leg of Kennedy’s journey was over. She decided to leave.
But she didn’t leave without some important life lessons along the way. According to Kennedy, her experience in a convent prompted some major life-altering questions—the consequences of which still reverberate in her life today.
At its most basic, Kennedy found she had to ask herself this core question: what did she want?
More importantly, what life journey was worth it, in her mind? What could she will herself to accomplish if she was willing to get herself through the growing pains of the learning curve? And what motivation could she find in another calling that she couldn’t find in the convent?
Opera Singing and the Next Stage of the Journey
Kennedy entered a local beauty pageant to win scholarship money. That money could quickly be put to good use: pursuing Kennedy’s dream of becoming an international opera star.
“There I was,” says Kennedy, “a former nun—and now, I was on stage in a bikini. Talk about a 180.”
But Kennedy was getting closer to the mark when it came to her calling. The opera singing was genuinely inspiring to her, earning her a scholarship and a seat at her dream college, the University of Southern California.
Kennedy’s efforts in singing eventually did help her reach her dreams. She not only sang in cathedrals and castles across the globe, but even had a #1 hit single on the classical charts in Europe.
But that’s not the end of the story.
How Victoria Kennedy Reinvented Herself a Third Time
Coming back to America, Victoria Kennedy realized that she had to reinvent herself one more time if she wanted to achieve sustained success. While she had learned how to create beautiful music, there was something missing: finding an audience.
That’s when Kennedy entered the world of Public Relations.
Creating Victorious PR, Kennedy built a PR firm from the ground up. And because she’d taken with her some of the lessons she’d learned along the way, it was only a period of about nine months before Kennedy had the PR business up and running at full strength. It wasn’t long before Kennedy had created a six-figure PR company from the ground up, showing the power of reinvention.
In fact, it was Kennedy’s constant ability to reinvent herself that led to some of her deepest insights in PR. She found that for everyone looking to tell their own story, some amount of reinvention is required.
At Victorious PR, Kennedy now advises clients on how to reinvent themselves. Victoria is not shy about her own story, and tells clients that they don’t have to be shy about theirs. In fact, it’s in these formative stories that many of her best clients find the little gems that make their stories shine.
A Blueprint for 180-Degree Change
Kennedy’s experience has led her to fashion a unique blueprint for reinvention. According to her “Three steps,” Kennedy believes that every day is a new opportunity to define oneself. It’s another chapter in a story—and it’s a story that’s not over yet. Kennedy’s wide-ranging experience taught her from an early age that one’s story is all about where one decides they’ll go on any specific day. It’s not about the past, but the future.
Today, as the CEO of Victoria Kennedy PR, Kennedy shares all of her experiences with her clients—including how she built her business from $0 to 6-figures within 90 days. It’s a story about dedication and commitment to the future. But it’s also a story about reinvention, and the lessons that come from a lifetime of reinvention.
Victoria Kennedy is a well-respected authority in public relations. She is a highly in-demand speaker on authority building and personal branding and has helped many clients boost their visibility and revenue. She has spoken on TEDx, the National Association of Real Estate Brokers, Inman Connect, and several other high-profile events, in addition to being featured in over 200 publications including Forbes, Entrepreneur, and Yahoo Finance. Click here to get into top publications: victoriouspr.com