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Steph Porter, Founder @ Ink&Iron | Social Media Is Dead, But PR Is Alive And Well

2026-07-30

Public relations used to mean one shot at one placement in one publication and hoping it landed.

In this episode of Forward to Extraordinary, Justin Abrams sits down with Steph Porter, founder of ink&iron PR. Steph started as a theater major, pivoted to communications on the advice of a campus counselor, and built a career running campaigns for brands like Walmart and Tim Hortons before leaving corporate to build her own shop in Grand Rapids.

She calls herself a commsager. She would do this work for free.

This one takes a hard left partway through into something more personal. Both Justin and Steph open up about the loss and adversity behind their reason why, and how that becomes the thing that actually keeps you showing up.

We get into:

  • From performing arts to PR and the counselor conversation that changed everything
  • Create once, publish everywhere, and why one placement should become ten assets
  • Intentional media over mass media, and why podcasts and newsletters now outperform the press release
  • SEO, and now GEO, when people search you through AI
  • Real media training, which is mostly just finding a person's actual passion
  • Never being satisfied and the pursuit of mastery
  • The entrepreneur who never fully turns off
  • Why your reason why is your unique superpower

Connect with Steph:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephporter/
ink&iron PR: https://inkandironpr.com

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