Sr. Manager, Public Relations

Since its launch in 1993 with a collection of six essential handbags, Kate Spade New York has always been colorful, bold, and optimistic. Today, it is a global lifestyle brand that designs extraordinary things for the everyday, delivering seasonal collections of handbags, ready-to-wear, jewelry, footwear, home décor, and more. Known for its rich heritage and unique brand DNA, Kate Spade New York offers a distinctive point of view and celebrates communities of women around the globe who live their perfectly imperfect lifestyles. 

Kate Spade New York is part of the Tapestry portfolio – a global house of brands committed to stretching what’s possible.

A member of the Tapestry family, we are part of a global house of brands that has unwavering optimism and is committed to being innovative and wholly inclusive. Visit Our People page to learn more about Tapestry's commitment to equity, inclusion, and diversity.

Job responsibilities:

• Lead the development and execution of an integrated PR and VIP talent strategy that strengthens brand relevance, advances business priorities, and delivers meaningful earned visibility.
• Serve as a senior PR partner to global and regional teams, translating brand strategy into clear communications priorities and supporting locally relevant execution across international markets.
• Drive proactive, high-impact media relations across fashion, lifestyle, business, and culture; cultivate senior editorial relationships and identify compelling opportunities for features, news, and brand storytelling across print, digital, and broadcast.
• Lead the development, approval, and distribution of press releases, messaging, media briefs, executive talking points, and other PR materials, ensuring a consistent brand voice and accurate key message pull-through.
• Shape integrated PR plans for launches, campaigns, partnerships, and events, identifying distinctive storytelling angles and coordinating strategic outreach to maximize coverage and cultural impact.
• Collaborate with Tapestry Corporate Communications team to build executive team’s visibility through select media engagements and speaking opportunities; recommend relevant platforms, strengthen relationships with key editors and reporters, and prepare internal spokespersons for internal and external appearances.
• Apply seasoned communications judgment to sensitive media inquiries and emerging issues, partnering with leadership and relevant internal teams to develop timely, thoughtful responses.
• Own VIP talent strategy and day-to-day execution, identifying and cultivating relationships with established and emerging talent whose style, audience, and cultural relevance align with the brand.
• Build and maintain trusted, high-touch relationships with talent, publicists, managers, agents, and stylists, serving as a primary brand contact and exercising discretion in all interactions.
• Lead VIP dressing, product seeding, gifting, and event engagement, partnering with internal teams and agencies to secure authentic placements and manage outreach, product coordination, and follow-through.
• Develop and evaluate VIP partnership opportunities, including appearances and campaign participation; partner with Legal, Finance, and relevant teams on negotiations, agreements, deliverables, and execution.
• Direct and challenge PR and VIP agencies with clear briefs, priorities, and expectations; oversee scopes, budgets, and execution to ensure proactive thinking, strong coordination, and measurable results.
• Partner closely with Social, Influence, Marketing, Creative, Editorial, Digital and Paid Media teams to connect earned media and VIP activity with broader brand initiatives and amplify relevant moments across channels.
• Develop and advance PR’s role in answer engine optimization (AEO) and large language model (LLM) discovery strategy, partnering with SEO, Digital, and Editorial teams to strengthen brand visibility and accurate representation in AI-generated answers through authoritative earned media, consistent messaging, and credible third-party sources; monitor brand mentions and source citations to inform ongoing strategy.
• Establish clear objectives and reporting for PR and VIP programs, evaluating coverage quality, message pull-through, talent engagement, and strategic impact; use results and cultural insights to refine plans and recommend new opportunities.

Education and experience required:

• Minimum of 6 years public relations management experience in the fashion PR or relevant industries such as beauty or lifestyle categories
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Proven experience managing VIP talent and high touch relationships
• Extensive experience with corporate and spokesperson message development
• Strong understanding of premium fashion brand aesthetics and marketplace
• Detail oriented proactive ability to multi task and prioritize
• Experience developing and overseeing the successful execution of strategic communications programs
• Working knowledge of answer engine optimization (AEO) and large language model (LLM) discovery, including how earned media, authoritative sources, and consistent brand messaging support AI-driven visibility; ability to translate emerging practices into PR strategy in partnership with SEO and digital specialists.
• Proven experience managing direct reports and mentoring talent, with a focus on clear expectations, actionable feedback, and coaching that supports professional growth and career development.
• Bachelor’s Degree

An outstanding professional will have…

●      A strong understanding of the evolving fashion/retail industry, up-and-coming trends, and what drives cultural conversations amongst target audiences. 

●      An excitement for creative thinking and bringing new ideas to the table as we work to push our brand’s boundaries and think outside-the-box.

●      The ability to work collaboratively with cross-functional teams and contribute to group discussions.  We love to hear all perspectives!

Our Competencies for All Employees
Courage: Doesn’t hold back anything that needs to be said; provides current, direct, complete, and “actionable” positive and corrective feedback to others; lets people know where they stand; faces up to people problems on any person or situation (not including direct reports) quickly and directly; is not afraid to take negative action when necessary.
Creativity: Comes up with a lot of new and unique ideas; easily makes connections among previously unrelated notions; tends to be seen as original and value-added in brainstorming settings.
Customer Focus: Is dedicated to meeting the expectations and requirements of internal and external customers; gets first-hand customer information and uses it for improvements in products and services; acts with customers in mind; establishes and maintains effective relationships with customers and gains their trust and respect.
Dealing with Ambiguity: Can effectively cope with change; can shift gears comfortably; can decide and act without having the total picture; isn’t upset when things are up in the air; doesn’t have to finish things before moving on; can comfortably handle risk and uncertainty.
Drive for Results: Can be counted on to exceed goals successfully; is constantly and consistently one of the top performers; very bottom-line oriented; steadfastly pushes self and others for results.
Interpersonal Savvy: Relates well to all kinds of people, up, down, and sideways, inside and outside the organization; builds appropriate rapport; builds constructive and effective relationships; uses diplomacy and tact; can diffuse even high-tension situations comfortably.
Learning on the Fly: Learns quickly when facing new problems; a relentless and versatile learner; open to change; analyzes both successes and failures for clues to improvement; experiments and will try anything to find solutions; enjoys the challenge of unfamiliar tasks; quickly grasps the essence and the underlying structure of anything.
 
Our Competencies for All People Managers
Strategic Agility: Sees ahead clearly; can anticipate future consequences and trends accurately; has broad knowledge and perspective; is future oriented; can articulately paint credible pictures and visions of possibilities and likelihoods; can create competitive and breakthrough strategies and plans.
Developing Direct Reports and Others: Provides challenging and stretching tasks and assignments; holds frequent development discussions; is aware of each person's career goals; constructs compelling development plans and executes them; pushes people to accept developmental moves; will take on those who need help and further development; cooperates with the developmental system in the organization; is a people builder.
Building Effective Teams: Blends people into teams when needed; creates strong morale and spirit in their team; shares wins and successes; fosters open dialogue; lets people finish and be responsible for their work; defines success in terms of the whole team; creates a feeling of belonging in the team.                                                                                                    
 

Kate Spade. is an equal opportunity and affirmative action employer and we pride ourselves on hiring and developing the best people. All employment decisions (including recruitment, hiring, promotion, compensation, transfer, training, discipline and termination) are based on the applicant’s or employee’s qualifications as they relate to the requirements of the position under consideration. These decisions are made without regard to age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic characteristics, race, color, creed, religion, ethnicity, national origin, alienage, citizenship, disability, marital status, military status, pregnancy, or any other legally-recognized protected basis prohibited by applicable law.

Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)

Tapestry, Inc. will provide applicants and employees with reasonable accommodation for disabilities or religious beliefs. If you require reasonable accommodation to complete the application process, please contact Tapestry People Services at 1-855-566-9264.

Visit Tapestry, Inc.

Base Pay Range

Here are some of the benefits that we offer: Medical insurance, Dental insurance, Vision insurance, 401 (K), Paid Paternity and Maternity leave, Commuter Benefits, Disability insurance and Tuition assistance. Please click here for a complete list of U.S Corporate Compensation & Benefits.