CITY FOCUS:Putting out PR fires

Orange County bankruptcy. Bolsa Chica development. Montage Resort & Spa. Aliso Creek Inn redevelopment. Breakaway Episcopalians.

All of these controversies have one thing in common: Joan Gladstone of Gladstone International.

Gladstone has been in the thick of some of Orange County’s thorniest issues, putting out public relations fires, for the past 30 years. But she’s fine with that — it’s her job.

Gladstone’s specialty is crisis and issues management.

Working out of an aerie home office atop an ocean-view bluff in South Laguna, Gladstone works with clients to improve their public image when they are facing opposition or adversity.

“The best work I’ve ever done you’ll never hear about,” she quips.

While Gladstone International might sound more like a far-flung investment group than a lone woman operating out of a cozy home office, Gladstone says she hit on the name when she realized her capabilities were limitless and that, since many of her clients had global interests — she did, too.

She can’t really talk about a lot of her work, but many of her clients have been developers proposing big projects on sensitive parcels of land. Others have been large engineering firms. She says that one client brought her in because he was worried about going to jail. (He didn’t.)

In a very unusual case, she recently counseled some Episcopalian denominations that broke from the U.S. church over the issue of gay and lesbian priests and bishops.

The breakaway churches ended up joining a world Anglican order to escape what they considered heretical edicts from the U.S. church permitting gay and lesbian priests and promoting homosexuals to the rank of bishop. They also got to keep their church property from seizure by the U.S. church.

“I never thought I’d be advising priests on media issues,” Gladstone said.

Gladstone has a well-earned reputation for lowering the intensity of the firestorm over various issues and helping her clients traverse a thicket of criticism.

For her work with the Koll Real Estate Group on the highly controversial Bolsa Chica development issue, she was honored with the Public Relations Society of America’s highest honor, the Silver Anvil award, in 1996.

Over the years, she has won so many honors that she has whittled her trophy collection down to a few select items that grace her ocean-view office.

Gladstone didn’t always work out of her home. She worked for large public relations firms for many years and was a spokeswoman for former County Supervisor Gaddi Vasquez (now a U.S. ambassador to the United Nations) before deciding to go into business for herself.

That was 17 years ago. For the next 10 years, she worked out of an Irvine high-rise before deciding to go solo, with the backing of husband Ed Gillow, who signed on as chief operating officer a week after their marriage.

Together, the couple has gone through some major transformations: Gladstone from corporate employee to business owner to self-employment, and Gillow from engineer to small business executive to actor.

Gillow regularly auditions in Los Angeles and has appeared in films, television and local theater.

Along the way, the couple has eagerly passed on what they’ve learned on the road to success.

Ten years after Gladstone International began, the Public Relations Society of America published Gladstone and Gillow’s book, “How to Start Your Own PR Firm.”

The huge, three-ring-bound book originated in a series of workshops she gave on how to start a PR business. The book was originally published in 1998, and, at more than $200 apiece, it took seven years for all the copies to be sold.

“When the book sold out, they called and asked me to revise and update it for a new edition,” Gladstone said.

The new book, which has just been released in PDF format, is called “Starting and Growing Your Own PR Firm.” The new edition is $195.

The workbook is designed for people in the public relations profession, but also contains lots of tips and information for anyone interested in hanging up their shingle as a consultant or freelance professional.

Chapters include everything from “Taking Control of Your Destiny,” with a Gladstone- written exercise, “Evaluate Your EQ (Entrepreneurship Quotient)” to tips for working at home. She includes information on financial planning, budgeting, billing and myriad other business-related details.

The role of self-help author is only one of Gladstone’s accomplishments outside the world of public relations.

She is assistant chair of the Urban Land Institute’s Orange County District Council, a nonprofit organization that advises government agencies, private companies and other nonprofits on the best practices for the use of land. In June, she’ll assume the post of chair for a three-year term.

In the meantime, Gladstone has decided to follow her husband’s creative bent and has taken up oil painting. She has also joined the board of the Laguna Playhouse, in a bow to her husband’s theatrical interests.

Avid bicyclists, the couple have participated in two Tour de France events — cycling the course in advance of the race.

Gladstone does not shrink from a challenge, but even she admits that, to take the leap into the void of being your own boss, “it takes a catalyst.” This could be the loss of a longtime job, a divorce or other major life change.

Her advice for anyone who dreams of self-employment: “It takes courage and commitment. But there is a tremendous sense of satisfaction that people are hiring you for what you have to offer. It’s a remarkable feeling.”