Ashton and Mila. Sophie and Joe. Drew Barrymore. Meghan Markle. There’s no celebrity crisis Molly McPherson—consultant, author and podcaster—can’t tackle. She brings her audience honest, unflinching breakdowns of tense, headline-making situations by interpreting coded statements, Notes app apologies and talk-to-camera celeb selfie videos.
@molly.mcphersonMcPherson cut her teeth on some of the world’s biggest crises: in FEMA's Office of External Affairs during post-Hurricane Katrina efforts and as Director of Communications for the Cruise Line International Association. Her first book, Indestructible: Reclaim Control and Respond with Confidence in a Media Crisis, debuted in 2021 and she’s hosted a podcast, Indestructible PR, for the past five years.
But her recent work—using TikTok and Instagram Reels to decode celebrity missteps and (often more importantly) their responses in the aftermath—has earned her the nickname “PR Lady” by her legions of followers. She was a winner of Adweek's Creative Visionary Awards in 2023 and an expert in a recent feature in the New York Times discussing Joe Jonas and Sophie Turner’s divorce. (FYI: Breakup statements using the word “amicable” or “amicably” most often indicate the opposite is true, McPherson told the paper.) Mark our words: We’ll all be watching McPherson’s PR hot takes closely in the coming months (and taking notes for the sake of our own reputations).
McPherson is a crisis expert. One piece of advice she’d give any client? “Sharing a story that subtly illustrates what you learned from your mistake can make it easier to admit it,” she tells us.
