After nearly a decade as a local TV news reporter, Adam Yosim was ready for a change. But the 30-year-old Carey, N.C., native wasn’t ready to leave Baltimore or to stop telling stories for a living.
Instead of moving to his fourth city since graduating from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2010, Yosim stayed after his contract at WBFF Fox 45 expired in February. He wanted to settle down, and he came to the realization he could do that with a career shift from journalism to public relations.
At first, Yosim admits, the change was difficult, but in time, he leveraged the skills he developed as a journalist to help him thrive as an account executive for Stanton Communications.
“It’s fun being on the other side of things now, but I see it as a challenge sometimes to connect with reporters,” Yosim said. “I make sure to research what it is [reporters] are covering locally so that I can tailor my pitch to them directly and not just send out mass emails. That’s key.”
And, as if he isn’t busy enough learning his new job, Yosim dabbles in the local Instagram food scene, does commercial voice-overs and is an active participant at programs for young Jewish adults.
“I have a lot of things that I’m juggling for extra time, so my wife jokes sometimes that we need a phone-free zone and to focus more time on one another,” Yosim said with a smile.
What led you to leave the news business?
It was in Baltimore that I met my wife, Marisa Obuchowski, and when it came time to renew my contract, the terms weren’t favorable. I had been tired of uprooting my life every two or three years, and I had come to love Baltimore. If I moved, I would still be the bottom rung wherever I went, having to work nights and weekends, the unfavorable shifts. Really, I just wanted a better work-life balance and not to be on call 24/7.
How was the transition to public relations?
It was interesting. After seven years of being on the go, under the gun and engrained in the news landscape, I was sitting behind a desk. At first, I asked myself if I had made the right move. Things were different, and I wasn’t quite getting it at first. I was too hard on myself, though. I was expecting to know everything and to be a public relations master right away. Obviously, that’s an unrealistic expectation.
How did you adjust?
A couple months after I started, one of my supervisors told me there was a PR workshop in Washington, D.C., about how to pitch stories to the media. He thought I would enjoy it as someone new to the industry. It was a very eye-opening experience. A lot of the lessons I learned, I was able to use them right away and get immediate results. It was like a paradigm shift, and after the workshop, everything I was doing became fun. I could still do storytelling and be creative, which are the reasons I got into news in the first place.
How do you spend your time outside work?
For years, I’ve been into cooking, and I’m big a food enthusiast. But I was always averse to Instagram. I would always post on Facebook and Twitter, but people would tell me that I should get on Instagram. So I made an account, much to the chagrin of my wife (laughs), and spent a lot of time on it. It was more beneficial to be on Instagram, because I could connect with a larger audience. The reception was much more than I expected, because with Facebook, things are much more closed-circuit with just your friends.
You’re also active in the Jewish community?
I’m active with the young professional organizations, such as IMPACT and Repair the World Baltimore. I also did Moishe House Baltimore when I first moved here. Wherever something is happening with people in their 20s and 30s, that’s where you’ll usually find me.
jsilberman@midatlanticmedia.com
