“Success will never be delivered to you like an Amazon package. You have to work for it, you have to maintain it and give yourself grace while getting past the hurdles you’ll face along the way.” – Nicole Rodrigues, Founder & CEO, NRPR Group
In a world that’s finally waking up to the extraordinary impact women leaders have in business, there’s an undeniable truth emerging: the future is decidedly female. Women leaders are transforming entire industries, reshaping traditional narratives, and inspiring a new generation to dream bigger and bolder. But this journey is far from easy. It demands resilience, innovation, and the courage to rewrite the rules along the way.
Enter Nicole Rodrigues, a powerhouse of creativity, innovation, and relentless determination, who didn’t wait for opportunity to knock. She built her own door.
As the founder and CEO of NRPR Group, Nicole isn’t just another business leader; she’s a dynamic entrepreneur who’s turning heads and redefining what’s possible in the competitive world of public relations.
With no investors, no partners, just untethered grit and an unwavering belief in her vision, Nicole launched NRPR from the ground up over 11 ago, creating one of Los Angeles’ most acclaimed PR agencies, driven by a fresh, human-centric, results-focused approach.
Nicole’s story isn’t just about building a successful business. It’s about embracing challenges, navigating biases, and harnessing innovation every step of the way. Here’s how she continues to inspire, lead, and leave an indelible mark in the business world, proving to women everywhere that success doesn’t have to come at the expense of authenticity or balance.
A Journey Set in the Flames of Ambition
Since her early college days, Nicole always knew that she would start her own PR agency one day and aspired to be an entrepreneur, even before she started her career. She comes from a family of entrepreneurs and felt that this was her calling from a young age. Nicole went into this industry very purposely and didn’t fall into PR by accident by any means. She was a PR major and instantly fell in love with it from the second she took her first PR class.
She was born and raised in Silicon Valley, surrounded by a large tech industry, prompting her career in tech PR. Nicole had the opportunity to go down a different path after her early stints in TechPR, when she started doing PR for the Oakland (now Las Vegas) Raiders, which is what transitioned her into being a hybrid PR professional in sports and digital entertainment.
She was very lucky to have morphed tech and sports and entertainment early on in her career, something very few people, globally, had the opportunity to do, making her qualified to be among the very first mobile entertainment publicists in the world to do PR for MobiTV, the first company to bring live television to mobile phones.
MobiTV required individuals who understood tech, sports and entertainment, and there were only a handful of professionals out there who had that knowledge at the time and knew how to combine the two. While working for MobiTV, Nicole built a reputable name for herself as a mobile entertainment publicist and formed really strong relationships with media who were just beginning to cover the new phenomenon of mobile entertainment.
Nicole knew that she would eventually have to move to Los Angeles and build a solid network there to have the necessary skills to start her own hybrid tech, events and entertainment-focused agency. After working in the industry for 14 years with a variety of established PR firms, representing great companies—including Hulu, Sony Pictures Entertainment and YouTube—and building connections with clients between Silicon Valley, New York and Los Angeles, Nicole finally had the guts to start NRPR.
She started NRPR completely on her own without any investors or partners, so that if something were to go wrong the responsibility would fall solely on her. Luckily, clients and co-workers Nicole worked with in the past wanted to work with her again. Now, almost 11 years later, NRPR is still standing and thriving as one of the most recognized PR agencies in all of Los Angeles.
Since NRPR’s inception, they’ve created a strong reputation around the world in a short amount of time. From Nicole’s years of experience in the industry, she knew that they would be able to tackle sports, entertainment, events, and more from a different approach and earn great results from everything she learned throughout her journey.
A Foundation of Strong Values
NRPR Group’s core vision and mission fall into two arenas—the first is helping their clients understand that PR shouldn’t come without results. They’re here to help clients understand that the long-term value of media relationships plays a huge role in their brand’s reputation. A majority of executives don’t understand the power of PR and how to use PR to their advantage—executives often think that writing a press release and hoping for the best is enough.
In reality, businesses have to be more proactive and weave PR into their whole marketing scheme for the best outcome. NRPR has been able to teach this approach to their clients, who now know how to unlock the power of PR for effective and real results.
The second arena is being mindful about workload for team members. From Nicole’s experience working with other agencies, those agencies often overload their teams with 12-14 clients, leaving team members feeling completely overwhelmed and overworked, therefore unable to produce meaningful results for clients.
At NRPR Group, they have a policy of taking on an average of just seven clients to ensure everyone who comes onboard receives the proper attention, time, and care. NRPR has also implemented an operations team and a writing arm that helps smooth the organization’s flow; something that was never done at any PR firm Nicole worked at but was incredibly necessary internally. NRPR has reimagined and reconstructed how PR firms operate from the inside, making their work more valuable externally for their clients.
Over 11 years, NRPR has won 72 awards worldwide with dedicated and diligent team members working across the country, from Chicago, Las Vegas, Northern and Southern California, and the East Coast.
Challenges as a Female Entrepreneur
As a female entrepreneur, Nicole believes women tend to not be taken as seriously in business settings. She emphasizes that men inherently support other men because it’s second nature; it’s what they’ve grown up doing. Regardless of how strong a woman might appear, many men feel more comfortable placing their businesses, especially during crisis situations, into the hands of other men. Even when the strategy offered is incorrect or ineffective.
Nicole witnessed this firsthand when she had recently brought on a male client facing a crisis. She informed the client of her specialized skills in crisis management and offered her assistance to help him resolve the issue. However, the client was hesitant and requested to meet another firm (led by a man) specializing in crisis communication. To appease her client, Nicole attended the meeting along with him and the other firm.
At that meeting, not only did the male representative from the supposed “specialized” firm provide the client with a poor plan, but the client also offered to pay that firm triple Nicole’s retainer. Nicole walked out of that meeting, truly astonished at the outcome and immediately gave the client her notice. As a result, the client ultimately lost his business due to his decision to trust another firm, at triple Nicole’s fee.
Nicole has experienced similar situations numerous times and continues to see this bias affect other women. However, she refuses to let this deter her and does not harbor resentment towards men either. She acknowledges that such behavior stems from conditioning, something beyond her control.
Instead, Nicole focuses on controlling her own work ethic and working with great men who appreciate and trust her council. She pushes forward and remains diligent, fully aware that there are male counterparts in her profession who do not perform as effectively or produce quality work but still receive higher compensation simply because of their gender.
Nicole believes only women truly understand these challenges because they have personally faced them. Her advice to women is to keep showing up, continue working hard, build their reputations, and trust that the right opportunities will eventually come their way.
A True Leader’s Achievements
Nicole is immensely proud of being the sole female owner of a well-known PR firm that has been thriving for over 11 years. Her first significant milestone was simply reaching the 5-year mark, as most female-owned businesses reportedly fail within three to five years. Now, NRPR Group has doubled that milestone and is celebrating 11 successful years in business this year.
More than a decade later, the firm remains strong, sustaining its solid reputation and maintaining its dedicated team despite navigating a global pandemic, economic instability, and situations where clients irresponsibly walked away from their retainers, exposing Nicole to the harsh realities of business. She acknowledges that business can be harsh, especially concerning finances, and that her team had to rapidly pivot at times simply to survive.
Nicole believes that in some situations, businesses naturally thrive, whereas in others, the main goal is just to stay afloat. She sees the longevity and success of NRPR Group, particularly amidst recent global economic challenges, as a genuine miracle.
After the firm’s 9th year, NRPR Group was recognized among the top 10 PR firms in all of Los Angeles. Every other agency on that list had VC backing, partners, or investors, making NRPR Group the only independent firm without any external financial support; an accomplishment Nicole is incredibly proud of.
Rewriting the Definition of Success
To Nicole, “success” is being blessed to do something one loves, having the luxury to get paid for it, and also having supportive people around you who cheer for and love unconditionally.
True success, according to Nicole, is about achieving enough balance so that neither one’s personal nor professional life solely defines them. She has observed many people around her work tirelessly for self-recognition, yet lack a genuine support system, ultimately returning to an empty home feeling lonely.
Nicole doesn’t consider that success, she views it as chasing validation. In her eyes, success is having a happy home, someone to share the day with, enjoying simple pleasures like staying up watching favorite shows, and waking up each morning with purpose, doing what one truly loves.
The Midas Touch of Inspiration
Nicole is thankful for every part of her journey. She openly admits the downs have been incredibly hard yet acknowledges they’re an essential part of the experience that shapes a person to emerge stronger.
Nicole recognizes the significant challenges involved in being a business owner, a path she does not recommend for everyone. The daily responsibilities and trials that she has endured would push many people beyond their breaking points. She candidly states that carrying the weight of people’s livelihoods on one’s shoulders is genuinely stressful. It requires enduring setbacks and making sacrifices for the sake of one’s team and the business’s longevity.
Nicole emphasizes that not everyone is equipped to handle such immense responsibility. Nevertheless, through it all, she has learned gratitude—realizing that every experience, good or bad, provides valuable lessons.
Nicole expresses that being featured on the cover of this edition is a true honor that fills her with immense pride, especially as a mother to a daughter. Her daughter recently graduated from college and secured a job at her dream company, and Nicole feels deeply fulfilled knowing she deliberately set an example of pursuing dreams and goals. Accomplishing this feels like her life’s greatest mission.
Nicole hopes that, by inspiring her daughter, she can inspire many more women to recognize that professional success does not have to come at the expense of personal fulfillment. Nicole cherishes her family above everything, consciously separating herself from work whenever possible, knowing it makes her a better leader. She aspires to change the negative narrative that women must handle everything alone and instead wants women to feel empowered to pursue their passions with the support of loving partners and families.
Nicole aims to represent the voice of balance for women who work hard to achieve their ambitions, but who also value coming home at the end of the day to nurture their families. She feels honored to demonstrate to other women that it truly is possible to strike a harmonious balance—working hard and chasing dreams yet knowing nothing is more precious than returning home to loved ones after a long day.
Nicole Rodrigues’ journey as the founder and CEO of NRPR Group illustrates not just the power of determination, but the transformative impact of authenticity, resilience, and innovation. Her story resonates deeply with anyone who has ever faced adversity in pursuit of their dreams—especially women navigating the complexities of leadership and entrepreneurship.
Through steadfast commitment to excellence and a passionate belief in balanced success, Nicole has built more than just a renowned PR firm; she has forged a blueprint for aspiring leaders everywhere. In doing so, she proves that strength lies not only in overcoming challenges, but also in embracing them wholeheartedly.
