Gas! Gas! Gas!: Christina Monteleone
The Latinx owner of CMB Media shares how she launched her own headline-making beauty & wellness PR agency in the NYC area.
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Christina Monteleone always knew she was destined for entrepreneurship. With a talent for connecting people and a love for beauty & wellness, she harnessed her experience in public relations to launch her own agency, CMB Media, in October 2021.
Now, Christina and her team are securing major media moments for beauty brands, celebrity doctors, and wellness clients in The New York Times, Forbes, and Good Morning America—and she has exciting plans for expansion in 2025. Here, the Hoboken, NJ, resident, wife, and new mom shares her superpower of mastering PR and the importance of hyping up others if you want to thrive in business… and in life.
Christina, I’m so honored to get to share the story of how you started CMB Media. I've looked into your career history to get a sense of how you got here: You went to Penn State for broadcast journalism, then immediately got into PR with an internship at BPCM and jobs at ShopPR, Autumn Communications, and Evolve MKD. When did you decide you wanted to branch out on your own?
Well, thank you for that lovely introduction. So yeah, right out of college, I knew I wanted to be in the beauty space. I interned with fashion companies, and transparently, they just weren't my people. The beauty space felt like where I belonged. I fell right into a great first job at ShopPR, then worked my way up through different agencies. I was a sponge, I would say.
In the back of my head, I always knew I wanted to start my own business. My dad owned his own for 25 years. My mom immigrated here when she was 16 and had to work really, really hard. So, I always kind of had that fire in me: I need to work hard. Don't be lazy.
I was a partner at my last agency and love the team to this day—they're incredible. They taught me everything I know. But, like a lot of Gen Z is finding out now, I didn't love being in an office five days a week sitting in a blazer. I would call my mom during lunch break and say, “The office is freezing…I can't do this.” Even going to the gym at 6:30 a.m. was stressful.
I always had it in me to do my own thing, but It took me two years to actually make the jump to entrepreneurship. I struggled with getting over that feeling of vulnerability. I was about to put my creativity, my work, everything on the line. There was a fear of failure, judgment, and imposter syndrome every day.
I was really scared, but then COVID happened and I started to really lay out my business plan. In October 2021, I went for it.
Did you walk into work one day knowing that you were going to give your notice?
I really respected my company, and I had been there for five years, so I gave them a month's notice. I wanted to make sure that the team felt comfortable, and I wanted to properly off-board and on-board anyone new.
I took three days off between my old job and starting CMB Media. I remember going to the mall with my mom and saying, “The housewife life isn't for me. I need to be working.” I literally took a Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday before launching on Monday.
Besides your business plan, was there anything else that you worked on to prepare for launch?
Transparently, my husband said, “If you're going to do this, we need to make sure that you're going to be successful.” So, I did have a client or two on the side. I would close my laptop for my full-time job at 6 p.m., then work on new business decks, my logo, and getting my LLC set up. It wasn't like I was doing both jobs at once for two years; it was really the last six months when I had my exit plan and was getting ready to go.
That's what I hear often: Entrepreneurs doing a soft rollout while they’re still secure at a full-time job.
Well, listen, I'm a very adventurous person. Aries like to live on the edge! I was ready to quit and just see what happens, but my husband helped me balance things. I was grateful that we were married because I could switch over to his health insurance and prepare in those ways, little by little.
What have been the pros and cons of starting your own company?
Creating your own schedule is amazing. For some, that could be really difficult, but I’m a very regimented person. With my new baby, it's a little different now, but usually, I wake up, have my coffee, work out (now, it’s whenever I can get there), then work when I need to work. If something doesn't get done, I'm going back to it in the evening. You need to have organizational skills, and time management is huge.
Another pro is choosing your own clients. At agencies, you're thrown on any team. One day, I was representing a cool beauty brand, the next day, it was a medical device or pet food brand. It was all over the place. Now, I get to choose who I want to work with, and I always make sure my clients treat me equally and see us as partners; we connect on a business and personal level.
If something doesn't get done, I'm going back to it in the evening. You need to have organizational skills, and time management is huge.
For instance, one day, I might post on social media about a placement we got. The next, I might post my martini on a Thursday night out, and they get that, right? My clients know who I am, and we get each other, and that's why we work so well together.
Your client roster is awesome. It's full of personal trainers, dermatologists, and plastic surgeons in and around New York City and the tri-state area. You also have fitness brands and online training companies. Can you run us through what a typical day looks like for you?
Every day is different, which I think is why I love being in PR so much. Some days I'm running to the city because we have a broadcast segment, then I'm doing a site check for an event venue, then I'm running to a media dinner. Other days, I'm working from home in my pajamas, writing pitches all day, or having internal meetings with my team. That's what keeps it exciting.
How big is your team, and when did you know you needed to hire help?
Right now, we are three people. I learned pretty quickly that it's okay to ask for help, both in running a business and in my personal life.
For the first year and a half, I was not ready to hire people. I had to figure out who my clientele was, the hours I was working, and how I was going to divide the money.
Then, as the clients started to pick up, I realized I was drowning. When I was working 12-hour days, I thought, Wait, I didn't quit agency life to be working the same hours. That's when I knew I needed help.
I started with college students who were internship-based, but now I have an amazing colleague who’s also a freelance writer, poet, and copywriter, and a social media person. I feel like that's key because social media can get out of control really quickly. It’s a ton of work.
How have you won clients? Is it a lot of outreach or through word of mouth?
All of my clients have been word of mouth. I have been very fortunate that way, but, I'll be real with you. During maternity leave, I was very scared that people were not going to stay on, or would wait till I got back and then not continue. Gratefully, my clients have stayed on and I even took some new business meetings during my maternity leave to prepare for the new year.
Entrepreneur life. There's never really an off time.
Are there any preconceived notions about working in beauty and wellness PR that you’d like to debunk?
People hear PR and think Samantha from Sex and the City—this glamorous life. And I'm like, “No, the times when you’re going to a really cool event? You're working it. You're the one dressed in all black, getting there hours early and leaving hours later. You're not sitting there with champagne and passed hors d'oeuvres.”
Are there cool things you get to do? Absolutely. But it comes down to how hard you're willing to work. The times when I take on projects with celebrity clientele are usually the most chaotic. You have to be available 24/7, events pop up, or they suddenly can't attend something, so you're canceling on their behalf.
There are definitely exciting times when you get to do celebrity events, VIP dinners, and go to a TV segment. But, I would say 90% of the time you're behind a computer writing pitches that go unread.
That process hasn't changed much. Even though media itself is changing rapidly, I still rely primarily on email pitches to learn the who’s who in each industry.
Yeah. I also make a lot of my connections through Instagram DM, which sounds crazy, but I have locked in so many deals via DM. For my PR peeps, if you are trying to get an RSVP and people aren't answering you, DM them. I know editors sometimes don't love that, but influencers aren’t checking email; they're checking their DMs.
Invite me to a networking event and I will come home with 10 emails and 10 new Instagram friends—and I actually follow through with them.
With CMB Media, what are you the most proud of?
In general, starting my own business and being able to proudly tell people that it's a Latinx-owned business is very important to me. My grandma came here when she was just a few years older than me with my mom and uncle, who were 15 and 16 at the time, and worked three jobs back-to-back just to survive. Being a Latinx owner is something that I'm very proud of, and my goal is to work with more Latinx-owned companies.
On a smaller scale, I’m proud of getting my clients more exposure in creative ways. I mean, press is changing, right? People aren't necessarily reading stories online. It's evolving the company, and we've been working on that behind the scenes. Like, what else can we offer our clients? Sure, getting them a Forbes article or Good Day New York or Good Morning America feature is amazing, but those aren't happening every day. So, what else can we do? I think my team has done a really good job at coming up with new ideas—whether it's brand partnerships or exclusive event collaborations—and really wowing our clients with them.
Where do you look for creative inspiration?
I love connecting people. Invite me to a networking event and I will come home with 10 emails and 10 new Instagram friends—and I actually follow through with them. I'll connect with people and store them in the back of my brain.
Then, when a client says, “Oh, I'd really love to be at South by Southwest.” I'm like, “Well, I did meet this person at this dinner...” So, I think just using my network, as silly as that sounds. I don't have a huge following, but just befriending people and staying connected with them always comes around.
A little tip I would give to anyone, whether you're trying to make friends in life or connect on a business level: Engage with them on social media, because it makes such a huge difference.
My closest friends make fun of me. They say, “Christina, we can always count on you to comment five times on our Instagram posts.” But I like to be that hype woman! Even for people who I don't know that well. I like hyping people up, and I feel like it breaks that wall. They start doing it back to me, and it’s silly, but that's how you build relationships now.
Do you feel like CMB Media is fulfilling your passion? And is there more in store for you and the agency?
We definitely have some new business in the works that would take CMB Media to another level, but I don't want to jinx that yet.
I love balancing both my career life and mom life. I think that's what fulfills me. And yeah, there's definitely more to come in 2025.
What advice would you give to someone who’d like to follow in your footsteps—whether that’s gunning for a career in PR, beauty & wellness, or starting their own business?
One of the hardest parts is just getting started (the vulnerability thing I talked about earlier). I think we already covered that.
Next, don't be afraid to ask for money. Ask for what you believe you're worth because, if you're going to do a good job, people are going to pay for your business. As females, we always want to offer a discount or something. I used to say, “Oh, well, in exchange for this, I'll do your PR.” But it doesn't work like that; you need to make an income. Men aren't afraid to ask for their income, so don't be afraid to ask for yours.
Ask for what you believe you're worth because, if you're going to do a good job, people are going to pay for your business.
In the beginning, I took on more clients at a lower fee, but once it felt like that trial period was over and I started seeing success, I felt more comfortable charging my current rates. The clients will pay if you prove yourself.
Also, set boundaries. When running your own business, you're going to be working crazy hours. I had West Coast clients with whom we actually ended our partnership because of a lack of respect: A Q&A was due for an editor on a Friday at 6 p.m., and they got it to me at 11 p.m. EST. That wasn’t going to work. So, set boundaries no matter what.
The only other thing I would say is, and this is more in the communications/PR space: Don't be afraid to educate your clients. A lot of times, they’ll come to me and say, “I want to be on the Today show.” And I’m like, “Listen, first, you need media training. And, next, what are you offering?” That's part of being their publicist: Having those important conversations, even if it's not easy.