On the Road – Page 2 – the Hip Quotient

Castles, Kafka, Controversy: My Days in Czechoslovakia

November 1, 2015July 5, 2010 by Dana Spiardi

I touched down in Prague in April 1991 to launch a PR campaign for Westinghouse Electric Corporation – 16 months after the collapse of communism. And that’s when my real PR education began. Forging relationships with skeptical journalists is hard enough, but imagine the difficulty of communicating to audiences stifled by 50 years of communist propaganda. I wanted to communicate facts, but first I had to gain trust. Sometimes I felt a bit like a propagandist myself!

Those Ukraine Girls – and Guys – Really Knocked Me Out

November 1, 2015November 14, 2009 by Dana Spiardi

Some of my most interesting work experiences took place in Ukraine on behalf of the Westinghouse Electric Corporation. In 1994, I conducted a 3-day public relations workshop joining PR personnel, communications specialists and technical experts from my company and Ukraine’s nuclear organizations. People traveled from remote plant sites to attend this first-of-a-kind workshop. The Ukrainian people are very warm. At the end of our workshop women were giving me their personal jewelry to take home, so that I’d remember them. And indeed I do. We spent our after-hours singing, dancing, dining and drinking – forging friendships despite our communication barriers and that long, awful Cold War history that we all grew up with.

Propaganda Village – On the Border of North Korea

May 31, 2016November 12, 2009 by Dana Spiardi

My father was a U.S. Army Private in Korea in the early 1950s. I was always fascinated by the photos he took of the barren landscapes and war-weary women and children, and I hoped that someday I’d have a chance to see this part of the world. A USO tour gave me just such an opportunity.