
Profile
Public Relations +
Mary Lou Janson offers a full spectrum of communications-related services designed to meet the specific needs of an organization, association, business, individual or event.
Excellent writing skills, strong media relations and a clear understanding of how to offer story ideas and assist in developing coverage of those topics are her specialties. Delivering within deadline and within budget are always priorities.
A Tampa-based professional publicist and writer, her journalism career spans more than 30 years. Following a 10-year career as a newspaper reporter, she was named the public relations manager of the primary destination marketing organization for Tampa/Hillsborough County where she received a national award for the comprehensive press kit she researched, wrote and developed to position the Tampa area as a primary travel destination.
Throughout her career, Janson has worked with – and written for – major worldwide print, broadcast and electronic media outlets. Media outlets she has worked with over the years include the following: New York Times and Wall Street Journal; ABC News, The Today Show, MTV and the BBC; Lonely Planet and Michelin guidebooks; Southern Living Magazine and Florida International Magazine and Florida Travel & Life and CitySearch.com, tampagold.com, sohotampa.com.
Publishing credits and writing credentials include:
Tampa Bay Insider for Tampa.VisitSouth.com
Contributor to Tampa Bay Metro Magazine, a luxury lifestyle regional publication.
Copywriter for 2005/2006 Destination and Meeting Planners guidebook, an annual publication by the Tampa Bay Convention and Visitors Bureau.
Co-editor of Joyce LaFray’s Big Guide to Florida Restaurants (ISBN: 1-4196-0799-5)
Co-author of "Adventure Guide to Northern California," Hunter Publishing, 2000
Created introduction and chapters for 2002 City of Tampa proposal to host the 2004 Republican National Convention.
Janson continues to maintain strong media ties through her assignments as a freelance writer and contributor to various Tampa Bay regional publications and through her work with a client roster that includes banking and finance, real estate, entertainment and arts, travel and tourism and more.
Associations/Affiliations
Raymond James Gasparilla Festival of the Arts Former Board Member
Meeting Professionals International, Tampa Bay Chapter, Former Member
Society of American Travel Writers (SATW) as an associate and an active member


