Empowered Publicity Joins A Sailors Wife Blog To Give Back to Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago
Empowered Publicity Gives Back to Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago
For nearly two decades, Jonathan Masiulionis, the President of Empowered Publicity, has been helping creatives, entrepreneurs, and entertainers across the country promote their talents and expand their audiences. But now, Jonathan Masiulionis has taken on another task of helping give back to the children at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago. Alongside A Sailors Wife Blog and some of the rising stars in the KidLit community, Jonathan is bringing his legacy of giving and service to the community in Chicago.
With enthusiasm and determination, Jonathan is a seasoned professional at taking ideas and turning them into realities. So when A Sailors Wife Blog connected with this talented publicist, to help children’s authors share their gifts with the world and give back to the children of Chicago, it was a match made in heaven.
So, who is Jonathan Masiulionis?
As a publicist for inspirational, spiritual, and children’s authors, Jonathan understands the challenges that aspiring and rising artists face, as they step out in faith and follow their own paths of service. His positive energy and dedicated support, networking savvy, and well-developed organizational skills have helped him promote and establish name recognition for all of his clients. Jonathan also possesses an understanding of the importance of alignment, authenticity. integrity, and compassion when it comes to human relationships.
About Empowered Publicity
With nearly 20 years of industry professionalism, Jonathan created Empowered Publicity, a heart-centered PR company that is committed to helping authors share their gifts and their inspiring stories with the world. By providing press/media and media coaching & mentoring services, and through The Empowered Publicity Children’s Books Spotlight Series and the Story Time with Mr. Jonathan, he works with authors to create awareness and visibility for their message, while helping to transform their heartfelt dreams into reality.
Empowered Publicity Gives Back
Empowered Publicity’s philanthropic efforts are rooted in the company’s purpose of helping children worldwide discover the love and joy of reading and the value that children’s books bring into the minds and hearts of our little ones. Supporting and giving back has been, and will continue to be, Empowered Publicity’s focus.
For over ten years, Empowered Publicity teamed up with the Child Life Department of Children’s Hospital in Buffalo, bringing professional wrestlers, musicians, and children’s authors to the hospital to provide emotional support, comfort, and reassurance for children going through cancer, dialysis, and those who are recovering from surgery, along with their families. These beautiful souls helped the children open their hearts to receiving more love and positive energy in their greatest time of need.
So it was only fitting that Empowered Publicity would take its philanthropic efforts to Chicago.
For the next ten weeks, A Sailors Wife and Empowered Publicity will work together to shine some light on new up and coming children’s authors and give back to the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago at the same time. 100% of the proceeds from these efforts will be donated to this hospital’s children and families.
We hope to help speed the healing of children at the main hospital and their outpatient centers by bringing our little neighbors some joy.
When we are blessed with health, wealth, skills, and talents, they are not ours to hold onto. It's up to us to be custodians for these gifts, to utilize them for the highest and greatest good and to share them with others.
Q & A with Jonathan from Empowered Publicity
Q. How did you get into PR?
Jonathan: When I was in college, I majored in broadcasting. As a junior, I was presented with the opportunity to host my own wrestling radio show. Bring a life-long fan of professional wrestling from childhood to that time, I jumped at the opportunity, and Monday Night Mayhem was born.
When MNM was launched in 2002, two of the most popular wrestling companies, Impact Wrestling and Ring of Honor were starting, so we were able to get in on the ground level with those companies, interviewing their wrestlers and helping them to promote their matches and Pay-Per-View events.
But there was a lot of work behind the scenes as well, especially as the show grew in size, morphing into one of the first-ever professional wrestling podcasts and into one of the longest-running wrestling radio shows in the industry.
In addition to facilitating the interviews for Monday Night Mayhem, I helped to put together press releases for the program, while also operating Monday Night Mayhem’s social media platforms. Plus, I was blessed to have been able to bridge relationships with VH1, CMT, and the Buffalo Bills as well.
The 10+ years of my life with Monday Night Mayhem was valuable on so many levels. Little did I know that all of these experiences were actually preparing for a career in PR and opening up my own company.
Q. Tell us about how Empowered Publicity was born.
Jonathan: Shortly after my grandmother transitioned in the summer of 2013, I decided to release Monday Night Mayhem, as I was no longer resonating with the world of wrestling and the show itself was no longer serving me.
In early 2014, I began doing a health, wellness, spiritually-aligned, and inspirationally-based podcast, called Soul Luminous Radio, where I had the opportunity to interview New York Times best-selling authors, such as Jack Canfield and Anita Moorjani, while also becoming connected with some of the top transformational leaders and spiritual teachers in the world.
After returning from Hay House’s I Can Do It! event in Toronto, I had the desire to help, support, and be of service to others, and so the Universe gave me the chance to begin working with a few amazing authors.
Later that summer, I followed my intuition and guidance to open up my own business, and from there, the magic carpet ride began.
Q. What’s your favorite part of your job?
Jonathan: There are so many things that I love about my job!
I love interviewing children’s authors and illustrators from around the world on The Empowered Publicity Children’s Books Spotlight Series (which is celebrating its second anniversary and 100th episode this fall) and sharing some of the newest and most heartfelt children’s books to the little ones on Story Time with Mr. Jonathan.
Another thing that I really love doing is helping authors share their inspiring stories and their new books in their local communities, through television, radio, and newspaper interviews and through book signings and other-related events.
When people gather together to hear someone share their inspiring story, healing, transformation, and magic happen.
One of the silver linings from COVID-19 is that neighborhoods and communities are becoming closer together. When we are on the other side of all of this, I fully believe that people will be congregating together once again and wanting to immerse themselves in events that will nurture their minds and hearts.
For now, I am grateful to be able to help authors share their message virtually and make an even greater impact in the process, for themselves and for others. It’s such a good feeling.
Q. Can you tell us more about The Empowered Publicity Children’s Books Spotlight Series?
Jonathan: My grandmother inspired me in the summer of 2018 to begin interviewing children’s authors and illustrators. And so, I trusted her guidance and created The Children’s Books Spotlight Series that fall.
I honestly had no idea how the program was going to turn out. But two things were crystal clear: The intention behind the program was pure. Plus, I was committed to creating an engaging platform for children, parents, and families to connect with their favorite children’s authors and illustrators.
It’s long since been said that the best things happen when you least expect it. Fast forward nearly two years later, and The Children’s Books Spotlight Series has become one of the top online destinations for children’s authors and illustrators (from first-time authors & illustrators to New York Times best-selling and Caldecott award-winning authors/illustrators) to share their inspiring stories and the release of their new books.
The Children’s Books Spotlight Series are not your traditional, typical interviews. I help to peel the veil back a bit, so that my listeners and viewers (my friends and neighbors, as I affectionately call them) can learn more about the author’s/illustrator’s creative process, but also the human and spiritual experience of each author/illustrator. We all have fears, doubts, insecurities, challenges, obstacles, and problems. The question is: How do you get to the other side of those? What are the things that help you move through those trying times?
Each episode of The Children’s Books Spotlight Series answers these questions and so much more, including one of my personal favorites: Who are some of the people who have helped to love you into being? This being an homage to one of my favorite neighbors, Mister Rogers, who has has inspired me in countless ways, both personally and professionally, in my work at Empowered Publicity.
Q. What differentiates Empowered Publicity from other brands?
Jonathan: When people envision a publicist, they may think of someone who wears a three-piece suit, someone who lives in a New York City penthouse suite, or someone who puts profit over people. That is not who I am and that is not what Empowered Publicity is about.
Empowered Publicity is PR from the Heart. It’s about listening to our clients, truly tuning in to their needs, to see how we can most efficiently and effectively help, support, and serve them. It’s about creating aligned, authentic, professional relationships, where integrity, reciprocity, and respect are expressed through thought, word, and action. It’s about providing quality PR services with care, compassion, and understanding. And yes, it’s about uniting together for the greater purpose of bringing more inspiration, love, and healing into the world, at a time when our planet needs it most.
Q. As a publicist, what kind of tips do you have for any new authors?
Jonathan: The first thing that I can recommend is to believe in yourself. If you do not believe in yourself, if you do not believe in your message, if you do not believe in whatever it is that you’re doing, no one else will.
The second thing is to dedicate the time to go inward and work on your self-development and healing. If you take the time to do the right things inside and out, no matter what’s in it for you. Life has a way of reflecting back to you, like a mirror effect. I encourage people who are just starting out to take the time to send blessings to people that are more “successful” than yourself. The time you spend sending blessings on to that person will come back to you in some way, shape, or form another.
Third, trust your intuition. Many of us tend to believe that we shouldn’t trust ourselves because of certain decisions that we made in the past. If you choose to let the past go, it no longer has the power to control you or your choices. Trusting your intuition might be difficult at first, but give it time and trust it bit by bit. It will be worth it.
Finally, stay true to yourself, follow your heart, and be open to receiving. Take the time to work with and co-create with people who support you and who believe in you and your message. When aligned opportunities present themselves, such as school visits and interviews, be open to receiving those. They will lead to even greater opportunities over time.
Q. What does your life-long vision look like?
Jonathan: To open up a children’s hospice for terminally-ill children in La Jolla, California. I envision this being a hybrid of a children’s hospice meets Make-A-Wish, where children can connect with their loved ones and their favorite authors, athletes, and entertainers, experiencing the feeling of being in heaven before going to heaven.
Where can you learn more about Empowered Publicity?
For those who are wanting to learn more about Empowered Publicity and how they support inspirational, spiritual, and children’s authors, we encourage you to visit their official website, EmpoweredPublicity.com.
If you are interested in exploring a professional working relationship with Empowered Publicity, you can schedule a free 30-minute discovery call, which allows Jonathan and his team to learn more about your journey, along with your vision and goals for the release of your new book, providing Empowered Publicity the opportunity to share how they can best be of service to you.
By liking and following Empowered Publicity on Facebook and YouTube, you can be directly connected to all-new episodes of The Children’s Books Spotlight Series (airing Mondays @ 7PM ET/6PM CT) and Story Time with Mr. Jonathan (airing Thursdays @ 7PM ET/6PM CT).
