The SWFL Chapter of FPRA celebrated the 2009-2010 Leadership Team and also heard from advertising extraordinaire, Mrs. Myra Janco Daniels, at their August Business Meeting, held at Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre.

Last year was the 25th anniversary of the SWFL FPRA Chapter and the theme of “Building Bridges” was a huge success under the direction of  Kathleen Taylor, APR. The year was full of many successful programs and professional development events that gave back to our community and supported our economy. Thank you, Kathleen, for another great FPRA year!

The August 3rd Business Meeting was the last full meeting that current president, Kathleen Taylor, APR, hosted on her own. The next Business Meeting will be held on September 7th at Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre and will be led by the incoming 2010-2011 president, Pamela L. Nulman, APR, CPRC along with Kathleen Taylor, APR. The inductions of the new 2010-2011 Leadership Team will also occur during the September 7th Business Meeting. Click here to register now!

Myra Janco Daniels

Mrs. Myra Janco Daniels, founder of the Philharmonic Center for the Arts and Naples Museum of Art, was the guest speaker at the SWFL FPRA August 3rd Business Meeting.

Daniels was a former Chicago-based advertising executive, who served as president of Draper Daniels, Inc. and before that was executive vice president of the firm Roche, Rickerd, Henri, Hurst, Inc. Daniels also ran her own agency, Wabash Advertising, in Terre Haute, Indiana.

She was the first woman in the country to head up a major national advertising firm and became the youngest person to be honored as National Advertising Woman of the Year by the Advertising Federation of America (now known as the American Advertising Federation).

During the August 3rd Business Meeting, Mrs. Daniels discussed the evolution of public relations and shared her personal experiences as featured in her new book, Secrets of a Rutbuster: Breaking Rules and Selling Dreams.

Daniels explained how she operated her own business at the age of 4 and was happy doing what she loved, because she said you can’t function at high speed, unless you are doing what you love. Her motto is to learn something new every day and teach something new every day.

“I always wanted to think big,” she said as she discussed her plan to cold call all the children’s parents at her school and sell party favors for their child’s birthday parties.

Mrs. Daniels got her first big break when she invented the Heath Ice Cream Bar and earned her first client. She said that writing is merely talking on paper, and she thought if she wrote, she would at least have a record of the good and bad things. Thus, she wrote her book, Secrets of a Rutbuster: Breaking Rules and Selling Dreams.

Daniels founded the Philharmonic Center for the Arts in Naples, where 65 hundred adults take classes to write their own memoirs, take dance or learn photography.

Her passion for the arts enabled Daniels to acquire a Louise Nevelson piece for the Naples Museum of Art. She was the only representative from a museum who went to Atlanta to view Nevelson’s art, wearing her red “power” suit. Her dedication paid off. The artwork will be on display at the Naples Museum of Art on November 13 and 14.

More information about Mrs. Daniels can be found at http://www.myrajancodaniels.com/.