What is this newsletter?

This is me sharing what I like, what I believe, and what I find inspirational. Sometimes I’ll write a lot. Sometimes I’ll throw some links at you. I need not concern myself with quaint notions of “Equal Time” because, sitting as I am amidst partisan blathering and elite onanism, I am “Equal Time.”

Who Are You?

My name is Phil Gomes. I’ve been in public relations and marketing for more than 25 years. [Adjective], [adjective], [superlative] [adjective].

Tell me more?

I'm a unique chimera of corporate communicator, open-source advocate, senior communications counselor, MBA, pylocatabasist, intrapreneur, online crisis HALO jumper, technology buff, blockchain explorer, communications futurist, and cachaça connoisseur.

Only about half of those characteristics are professional qualifications, but I do hope that the rest makes me a more interesting fellow to have around.

I am the chief communications & marketing officer at Bloq, where we build software, services, and innovations for the blockchain-based future. I work with an incredible team of builders, drivers, thinkers, and dreamers.

Previously, I guided The World’s Largest Public Relations Firm(TM) in its initial explorations for two fundamental technology shifts: social media and blockchain. Along the way, I ran a world-class employee development program, built a well-regarded certification system, managed a fair number of online crises, wrote global online behavior policies, tried to fix PR's relationship with Wikipedia, and focused on anticipating the unexpected in a trade that values predictability more than it would like to admit.

I was nearly a decade in Silicon Valley before all of that, where I worked with startups and enterprise companies alike. I helped clients to win the Technology Pioneers Programme Award at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Twice.

I'm also widely considered to be the first PR professional to start a blog (2001) and the first to describe and demonstrate the value of blockchain technology in communications (2015).

The rest of the time, I read more than the average retina is designed to handle, and listen to more heavy metal and jazz than is generally considered healthy or advisable.

Is this newsletter free?

For now. When I do charge, it’ll be a helluva more than a penny, but enjoy.

I have a PR problem. I was wondering if…

Do you work for free? Neither do I. My professional obligation is to the three, sometimes five, brands under my charge. This leaves me time for very little else. I apologize.

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If you offer a penny for my thoughts, and I give you my two cents, you come out ahead. These are my thoughts on business, life, culture, freedom, and only occasionally PR, marketing, and crypto.