Joining Doug Simon, CEO of D S Simon Media, on the PR’s Top Pros Talk podcast, Meghan Kelleher, Founder and CEO of Corner Market Communications, described her leadership philosophy in clear terms: put people first, and the rest will follow. Guided by what she calls a “zero jerks policy,” Kelleher is intentional about working only with partners her team respects and enjoys collaborating with. “It is a choice who we get to work with every day,” she says. “As the person at the top, it’s my job to make sure the people we’re working with we actually enjoy, we respect, we admire, and we want to be a team with.”
Doug notes that putting people first can also lead to stronger financial performance. Kelleher agrees, framing profit as a byproduct of a healthy culture. She credits her early career mentor, Tom Coyne of Coyne PR, for shaping that mindset. “If I hire the right people, the right things come along,” she says. Rather than calling her company a family, Kelleher describes it as a community – one aligned on shared values, mission, and goals, and built to be “fun, warm, and inviting” for both employees and clients.
That vision comes to life through Corner Market’s five core values: authenticity, agility, accountability, transparency, and joy. Authenticity means showing up as your true self – a principle Kelleher says fosters trust in all relationships, from media to clients. Agility is reflected in the team’s willingness to “fail fast” and “celebrate quick,” pitching in wherever needed. Accountability is about owning both successes and mistakes, while transparency removes the guesswork from communication. Joy, the most recent addition and the only value voted in by the team, is what Kelleher calls the “secret weapon” – creating an environment where people genuinely enjoy the work and each other’s company.
For Kelleher, the role of leadership is to model these values daily. She shares openly with her team about challenges, owns her missteps, and even joins them in hands-on tasks to lighten their workload. “If you can default to the things that you want to see in your culture as leadership, people will emulate and follow because they know it’s a safe place to do it,” she explains. That openness also fuels growth. She urges team members to speak up about issues before they reach a breaking point. “You’re actually robbing me of growth by not letting me know,” she says, framing feedback as a shared responsibility.
Joy, in particular, is more than just a workplace perk – it’s a driver of client relationships. Annual surveys consistently show joy as the top value clients experience when working with the agency. “It’s a joy to work with you,” is the feedback she hears most often. For Kelleher, that culture of mutual celebration is non-negotiable.
As the conversation closed, Simon praised Kelleher for bringing joy not just to her own team, but to the podcast as well. For her, it all comes back to a simple belief: when you create an environment where people feel valued, supported, and celebrated, success for the team, the clients, and the business naturally follows.
View all of the interviews in the “PR’s Top Pros Talk” series. Interested in taking part? Contact Doug Simon at [email protected].
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Suchi Sherpa is a Marketing Communications Specialist at D S Simon Media, a leading firm specializing in satellite media tours.