YC Inc. - Who We Are

YC Media is a boutique public relations and marketing firm specializing in cookbooks, restaurants, wine & spirits, food products, media training, and chef and restaurateur consulting. Founders and principals Caitlin Friedman and Kimberly Yorio have a combined 20 years in the food arena. Committed to managing the media relations directly rather than relying on a staff of junior publicists, YC Media is the agency to hire if press results are your primary goal. Additionally, YC Media has created some of the most creative and dynamic public relations campaigns for clients ranging from Amazon.com and Jamie Oliver "The Naked Chef" to Good Housekeeping and Napastyle’s Michael Chiarello. As a team, Friedman and Yorio offer clients a greater range of media access and more opportunities to form strategic partnerships with the companies they represent.

PRINCIPAL BIOS

Caitlin Friedman
Caitlin Friedman is a public relations and marketing professional with more than ten years of consumer, food and beverage, publishing, and television-production experience.

In July 1999, Friedman formed Caitlin Friedman Communications, a lifestyle public relations and marketing agency. Soon thereafter, Amazon.com enlisted Caitlin Friedman Communications to launch their new Kitchen Store. The public relations campaign for the Kitchen Store included a launch event in New York City, media lunches in major markets across the country, and nationwide press tours for Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos and Senior Editor Rebecca Staffel.

In addition to AMAZON.COM, Caitlin Friedman Communications clients included TIME-LIFE TRADE PUBLISHING, TOSCORP, INC. (Pino Luongo’s restaurant and retail group), UNION PACIFIC RESTAURANT, BROADWAY-DOUBLEDAY PUBLISHING GROUP, and HARPERCOLLINS/WILLIAM MORROW. Among the cookbooks Caitlin Friedman has publicized since 1999 are SIMPLE TO SPECTACULAR by Jean-Georges Vongerichten and Mark Bittman, COMMANDER’S KITCHEN by Ti Martin and Jamie Shannon, COOKIES UNLIMITED by Nick Malgieri, and ROOM FOR DESSERT by David Lebovitz.

Prior to launching her company, Friedman served as the Publicity Manager for Broadway Books’ Cookbook Program for two years, leading the publicity efforts for all of the company’s culinary titles, including the best-selling (and, in some cases, award-winning) VEGETARIAN COOKING FOR EVERYONE by Deborah Madison; JEAN-GEORGES: COOKING AT HOME WITH A FOUR STAR CHEF by Jean-Georges Vongerichten and Mark Bittman; LaBELLE CUISINE by Patti LaBelle; and TENDER AT THE BONE by Ruth Reichl. While at Broadway Books, Friedman was instrumental in orchestrating strategic partnerships with such companies as Jell-O, Williams-Sonoma, and Cervena Venison to help support campaigns for titles such as THANKSGIVING 101 and WILD ABOUT GAME.

Before joining Broadway Books, Friedman was an Account Executive at Kratz & Company, a New York City public relations firm, where she led public relations efforts for Rémy Martin Fine Champagne Cognac and The Macallan Single Highland Malt Scotch Whiskey. For these clients, Friedman created and executed strategic media and consumer outreach campaigns, which included a series of multi-city events and sponsorships in the film and culinary industries.

Friedman’s professional experience in the food industry extends beyond publicity. She was also a Segment Producer at the Television Food Network where she produced daily studio segments as well as field pieces for "Food News & Views," "In Food Today," and "Cookbook Corner."

In 2001, seeking to expand her range of clients and grow her business, she partnered with Kimberly Yorio to form YC Media, a full-service public relations and marketing firm based in downtown Manhattan.

Friedman is a graduate of University of Massachusetts. She lives in New York City with her husband and enjoys reading, tennis, and, of course, dining out.

Kimberly Yorio

Over the past decade, Kimberly Yorio has forged a reputation as a keen marketer specializing in the development of strategic publicity and promotions campaigns for cookbooks, restaurants, chefs, and other food-related personalities and products.

As the founder of Yorio, Inc., which she ran for three years beginning in 1998, Yorio represented a range of publishers including Hyperion Books, William Morrow & Company, Marlowe & Company, ECW Press, Dorling Kindersley, and Houghton Mifflin. The impressive media placements she secured for them included author appearances on The Today Show, Good Morning America, Emeril Live!, Live! with Regis & Kelly; and CBS This Morning as well as print placements and reviews in national magazines such as Time, Bon Appétit, Food & Wine, People and Entertainment Weekly.

Prior to forming her company, Yorio was Director of Marketing for Artisan Books, an imprint of Workman Publishing, and a publicity consultant for Workman Publishing. In those capacities, she worked with leaders in grassroots publicity and promotion on projects including Sheila Lukins’ USA COOKBOOK (40-city tour), the "25 Years of Workman Cookbooks" promotion (25-author, 100-city tour), and tours and special events supporting Barbara Kafka’s SOUP, A WAY OF LIFE, and Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid’s SEDUCTIONS OF RICE, both of which boasted more than 75,000 copies in print.

Yorio gained her experience in cookbook publishing as Director of Cookbook Marketing/Special Sales Manager for William Morrow where she designed and implemented the marketing and publicity plans for 150 cookbooks representing the full range of cuisine, aimed at all segments of the market. Among the books she successfully promoted were such best sellers as BAKING WITH JULIA by Julia Child and LOUISIANA REAL AND RUSTIC by Emeril Lagasse. She developed catalogs and strategies to promote the Morrow line -both in the book trade and specialty markets.

Prior to working for these publishing companies, Yorio was an Account Executive at Kratz & Company Public Relations representing chefs, restaurants, and food products including Gotham Bar and Grill (Chef Alfred Portale) and Mesa Grill (Chef Bobby Flay). She also worked on large-scale special events including fund-raisers for the Design Industries Foundation for AIDS. Prior to that, Yorio was Director of Marketing at Tihany International, a design firm and restaurant management group responsible for such milestone destination restaurants as Le Cirque 2000 and Jean Georges.

Yorio began her career in publicity and promotion at the Children’s Television Workshop where she arranged personal appearances for Sesame Street characters as well as special events for the media.

In 2001, Yorio began seeking a partnership that would complement her talents and client portfolio. She entered into talks with a longtime professional acquaintance, Caitlin Friedman that eventually led to the formation of YC Media.

Yorio lives in Weehawken, New Jersey and is the proud mother of a son born on the last day of the 20th century.