5 PR veterans aspiring professionals can consider as mentors

The relationship between PR professionals and the media has always been idiosyncratic in nature. While they love to hate each other, the two professions are heavily reliant on each other to survive in the professional ecosystem. So we can't lay enough importance on the job that aspiring PR professionals have in hand. While its expected of PR professionals to make a journalist's work and life immeasurably better, there are quite a few who badger scribes with constant press releases and phone calls.

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A good PR official is someone who understands the news and works to uncover and push important stories of their companies. They handle investigations and difficult questions with honesty and they have proven themselves to be good partners to journalists.

Role models to all professionals aspiring to make their mark in PR, here are five PR veterans who are on top of their communications game.

Nandita Lakshmanan - Founder and Chairman, The PRactice

The PRactice has grown to become one of the country's premier independent PR consultancies, since establishment in the year 2000. The company is particularly well-known for representing its technology and consumer clients pan-India. Nandita Lakshmanan took PRactice international through its alliance with Porter Novelli. Since then, under her able leadership, the company has won numerous international awards and continues to do so.

Kunal Kishore - Founder, Value 360 Communications

Kunal Kishore is known for his vision of taking PR from being a mere medium of communication to being a mainstream communication strategy partner. An 'entrepreneur by accident', Kunal Kishore envisages transforming the PR business and ushering in a revolution in terms of the way it operates. He specializes in communication strategy for startups and online ventures.

Amit Misra - Managing Director, MSLGROUP

Amit Misra leads MSLGROUP India and under his leadership the firm has won the 'Great Place to Work' survey for the second time in a row. His career boasts of an extensive experience including roles of public affairs and corporate consulting advisory to multinational business conglomerates across India as well as Asia. Amit Misra's wide portfolio boasts of him being the MD of Zeno Group, Director of APCO Worldwide and Vice-President at Hanmer & Partners before he was nicked by the MSLGROUP.

Archana Jain - Founder and MD, PR PUNDIT

Founded in the year 1998, today PR Pundit is a well-regarded consumer and lifestyle public relations company. Practicing PR since 1990, Archana Jain continues to steer the company to offer a value proposition of efficiency, creativity and innovation. She holds a Masters degree in Business Economics from Delhi University and is the principal trainer for PR Pundit's crisis communications programmes.

Rakesh Thukral - MD, Edelman India

Before joining Edelman, Rakesh Thukral was the COO of Comma Consulting for over four years. A community veteran with over two decades of experience in public affairs and communications, he joined Edelman India in 2010 to set up the firm's Public Affairs and Advocacy practice. During his four-plus years at Edelman, Rakesh Thukral successfully built the Public Affairs practice to one of the largest in the country.

Some of the above mentioned professionals work for large brands, while some run their own agency. However, what unites them all is that they continue to make a great impact in the PR world because of their skills and contacts.