Media Marketplace
Join the most vibrant community of media buyers and planners in Canada.
Get Started Now
Exclusive Networking | Opportunities for Leadership and Influence | Skill Development | Access to Industry Insights and Resources
Elizabeth Krock just spent 18 months relearning the world through a toddler's eyes — and came back to Citizen Relations convinced it made her a sharper PR pro, not a rustier one. She sat down with PR In Canada to talk about what nobody tells you about returning from leave, and why resilience looks the same whether you're pitching media or picking yourself up off the playroom floor.
What’s your background?
Elizabeth - I am a PR gal through and through. I started my career as an intern at the Canadian Cancer Society before moving to the agency side. Since then, I’ve enjoyed the fast-paced and ever-evolving world of agency life.
What problem do you solve?
This is a great question. At a high level, the answer is fixing, improving or evolving the reputation of some of the country’s (or dare I say the world’s) most notable brands. But it’s much deeper than that. It’s crafting thoughtful narratives, determining how they best come to life in an impactful way and—my favourite part—leading a team of incredible practitioners to make it all happen.
You mentioned PR pros could learn resilience from watching a toddler fall and get back up. Was there a specific moment in your return to work where you had to apply that — and what did it look like in practice?
We talk a lot about resilience in my household. No matter what stage of life you’re in, adapting to change requires resilience. Becoming a parent is a massive change, and so is returning to work—one day you’re spending every minute with the coolest little version of you, and the next you’re thrown back into the world of work. There’s a lot of sadness and guilt that comes with that, but every day gets easier and, in my case, you slowly start to rediscover old and exciting versions of ‘you’ all over again. Optional add: We had one really tough day where my childcare provider was late, and the handoff was rushed, which didn’t land well with my little guy. By the end of the day, he was sitting next to me, joining calls and meeting the team. Old me would have dwelled on that for a while, but when you’re a mom, there’s no time for that. You just have to accept what happened, find solutions for the future and move on.
What's one thing about going on leave — or coming back — that nobody told you, that you wish you'd known beforehand?
It seems obvious, but the world keeps moving. When you return to work, there will be new people, new processes and new innovations. Everyone else had 12 to 18 months to adapt, but you have to fast-track, which takes a lot of resilience and grace. Here we are again with that word!
For someone in PR or comms who's pregnant right now and worried about losing momentum or relevance — what would you tell them?
Becoming a mom will only make you stronger in every other aspect of your life, including work. Your creativity skyrockets, your time management skills are put to the test, and you learn so much about human behaviour that’s at the heart of what we do in PR and people management. You also learn to function on far less sleep than you ever could have imagined (laughs).
Looking back, is there anything about how you approached your career before becoming a parent that you'd do differently?
I don’t think there’s anything I would change about my career itself, but I do think I would encourage past me to really celebrate the accomplishments of the mothers I work with – they truly are incredible at what they do and ‘balancing it all’ with such grit and grace.
