Michelle Songy experienced as a first-time founder just how difficult it was for a startup to access the media in a meaningful way. She couldn’t afford a full-service agency on her bootstrapped budget, and found the process of personal outreach time consuming, and yielding no worthwhile results.

She sold that company to American Express, and after 2 years working there, traveled to a remote area abroad to consider her next move. It was while traveling and talking to local businesses Michelle realized just how many small companies lacked access to the media, a powerful source of revenue and recognition.

Michelle came back in Spring of 2020 and got to work on her new dream - a tech-enabled earned media platform specializing in promoting startups and small businesses. She ran a beta program by summer of 2020 and helped over 50 businesses scraping by on a tight budget throughout COVID. Press Hook launched privately in the fall of 2020 and today has over 1000 products, brands and journalists.

With newsrooms publishing more content online than ever and hundreds of new businesses launching every day, there are thousands of innovative products and stories to be told, and no signs of slowing down for Michelle and her team at Press Hook. They are redefining the earned media game by connecting hundreds of journalists with innovative businesses with more efficiency, affordability, and relevance - every day.