Tom Ciesielka, President of TC Public Relations, has worked in public relations, marketing and business development for more than 25 years and has enjoyed working with clients ranging from law firms to distinguished authors to national and local companies. He feels privileged to have established trusting working relationships with these clients and values every opportunity he gets to help businesses grow.
Tom has had big successes with clients such as New Age Transportation, when he received million-dollar publicity from national outlets for promoting President Carolyn Gable’s 15-minute office dance breaks. He also transformed a small free-speech argument at a Chicago university into an international blogging phenomenon, which caught the Associated Press’ attention.
When he first moved to Chicago in 1984, Tom worked in film sales representing studios such as Paramount Pictures, MGM and New Line Cinema. After that and prior to starting his own agency, he was the marketing director for the Museum of Broadcast Communications, where he promoted exhibitions on American soap operas, rock & roll music, and Walt Disney’s innovations in broadcasting.
As TC Public Relations rock-&-rolls through its ninth year, Tom still enjoys working with his team members and both teaching them and learning from them. He has also felt like a kid in a candy store with new communication and marketing tools emerging every day. It is this constant development and education that keeps him engaged and in love with the industry.
A Philadelphia native, Tom currently lives with his wife on Chicago’s North Side in Portage Park. He used to be seen performing stand-up comedy at clubs around the city, but when his daughter was born, he "hung up the microphone" and made her his #1 audience member. However, he still finds time to volunteer as a clown at patient care facilities and add to his “inanimate” audience of Simpson’s collectibles, classic robots and hand-crafted toys that fill his office.
Check out Tom's blog, PR for Laughs, to see what's amusing him these days.