Veteran newscaster launches PR firm
Longtime island newscaster and UH Mānoa alumna Diane Ako (Mānoa, MA ’04) has opened her own public relations firm, “Diane Ako PR.” She specializes in media placements for traditional media (TV, newspaper, magazine, and radio) as well as online articles, but will handle a scope of public relations tasks that include media-training, crisis communications, producing company videos and more.
“I have been helping friends or volunteer groups with PR needs for years, because being in the media is a natural fit for understanding how to pitch to reporters. People had long asked me how to get their company featured in the news, and I would explain how newsrooms work and how to get writers interested in their story. I have also continuously provided PR for non-profit groups I volunteer with. I find this fulfilling,” Ako says of her choice to open her own business after a 19-year career as a TV newscaster.
Ako most recently worked as a morning anchor for KHON2 (FOX), where she co-anchored a live newscast for three hours at daybreak. Before that, she anchored and reported at KHNL (NBC) in Honolulu, WBRE (NBC) in Pennsylvania, KOB (NBC) in New Mexico, and CTV (cable) in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Her work won regional recognition; nearly a dozen first place awards from the Society of Professional Journalists’ Hawaii Chapter, and three Emmy nominations from the San Francisco/Northern California Chapter of The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.
In between news jobs, from 2010 to 2014, she served as PR director/spokeswoman for luxury resort Halekulani and boutique hotel Waikiki Parc. There, she refined an intuitive sense of PR to arrive at a fuller understanding of how to achieve success in the PR industry.
For more on Ako, visit DianeAko.com.
Photo credit: Marlowe Holt