Laura Martin
I discovered the world when I was 19 – I came from a tiny town in the US and travelled around the globe on a Semester at Sea program. The lesson I got from that is we may not all speak the same language; we may not look alike; but we are all human beings. The same interests, loves and hates and fears flow through all of us. You just have to drill down to find that similar spark of humanity.
My Dad, Jerry Martin, got me into this PR business. His whole idea was the world is shrinking every day. That’s when we still had telexes instead of fax and then email. But it’s so true, we’re all in this together, really. Planet Earth is all we have – I’ve often said it would be kind of cool if we did get invaded from outer space because then we would have something to be united about.
I have attended every METSTRADE except the first one. It was so little and cute then, we attended because it was an obvious way to build relationships. I just love this show, the weather’s not been great but everything else here is.
The future is beautiful. I love the fact that the world is getting smaller again and people are speaking and looking into each other’s eyes over the internet. That paves the way for direct one-on-one communication in the future.
My real dream is to visit Bhutan where they measure their product in happiness. That’s where I want to go.
Laura Martin is the President of the Gurnee, Illinois-based Martin Flory Group. Her PR company has 40 clients from all the world’s continents except South America and Antarctica.
