Jeremy Pepper

Born at an early age, Jeremy Pepper has always been interested in storytelling. He’s taken that love, and after realizing that he was not going to be the next Hugh Downs and some other lessons learned, started his career in public relations and communications.

Jeremy Pepper has been practicing communications and public relations for more than 20 years. His experience ranges from media relations, industry analyst relations, crisis communications and social media/community management.

He’s currently a director of communications, crisis and issues management, at University of Southern California. At USC, he has also worked with central communications on presidential priorities, placing stories about students and programs in national and local news, and was the voice of USC on social media, helping build community and engagement.

Prior to USC, Pepper was a consultant for B2B and B2C startups and agencies. He has worked with a who's who of Fortune 500 companies, ranging from consumer tech to consumer-packaged goods to enterprise tech, providing integrated communications counsel to such companies as Kodak, Clorox, Cisco, GM, HP, Verizon Wireless, Sprint, Campbell's Soup, amongst others.

He also worked at one of the world’s largest public relations firms, advising clients on social media strategies and tactics, and helping launch social media programs and initiatives around the world.

Embracing social media as an early adopter, he continues to look holistically at communications. Pepper began his award-winning PR blog more than 18 years ago – one of the first 15 blogs in the space – and continues to write when he has the time. In his spare time … oh, who has spare time during the pandemic.