With Agency Spotlight, we’re featuring the independent PR and marketing agencies that Fashionista loves to work with. Meet the hardworking professionals behind them and discover what it really takes to make it in fashion publicity.

A born and raised New Yorker, Gabrielle Katz, 37, started her agency Accent Projects in 2021. But that was never part of the plan for the English Lit major.

“I never wanted to work at an agency and I never wanted to own my own business,” Katz tells Fashionista. “I started my career at Oscar de la Renta at a time when Mr. de la Renta was still designing. It was an incredibly special and unique experience, and I feel that it also uniquely set me up for success [when] transitioning to agency life as I always have taken that in-house mentality with me.”

After more than eight years working at “two of the most prestigious global agencies” in NYC, she saw some untapped potential in the market. “I saw a way agencies could work smarter to service our clients better. I didn’t want to just start another agency or go into consulting; I wanted to start a business, except the only product I knew, understood and cared about is PR. And I had a front row seat to the good and the bad, and saw what could be better about agency life.”

Katz says she launched Accent with “a poor credit score and $8k in the bank,” and she has yet to take on outside funders, thanks to her business model.

“I pay my PR directors on a commission basis, so whatever the client pays, they get a percentage of that. A PR director’s salary is based on the amount of business that they are managing, signaling to the client that they are invested in the long-term growth of their account at Accent. If the client goes, so does that commission. What’s more, if the PR director brings in a client, they will work on a higher monthly or project commission. It’s transparent, it favors hard workers and frankly, it’s fair.”

Some of Accent’s fashion clients include Mejuri, St. John, AtPresent, Essentiel Antwerp, AYR, Argent and Herve Leger. Some of her biggest milestones include placements in legacy publications.

“There is still nothing better than print,” she says. “We’ve had some incredible moments for our brands in print from Jennifer Fisher’s New York Times‘ opening to Morgan Stewart’s Renggli profile in The Wall Street Journal, to, just recently, The New York Times‘ feature on Herve Leger’s Bandage Dress making a comeback. The one that is the most personally and professionally important to me is the Wall Street Journal piece of St. John’s comeback. Accent was tapped by St. John to help bring new light to one of our oldest American Heritage brands and they let us play all the innings. To have the trust of a brand like that, as such a young agency, has been incredible, and it’s been one of the most rewarding projects I’ve ever worked on.”

To those inspired to get into PR, Katz suggests a thick skin, hard work and making yourself indispensable to your company. “There are no short cuts. In the beginning you kind of have to do everything for survival, but as you grow, trust your gut,” she says. “You know the projects that are going to be impossible or the clients that aren’t going to pay (or pay on time). Don’t do it. It’s never worth it in the end. There are very few perks, but the perks you have, enjoy them.”

Going forward, Katz is looking to expand the agency by hiring senior members. “In 2026 I’m looking to make a big hire that I think will grow the business in a real way. I want to hire people outside of just fashion who can grow Accent across hospitality and CEO leadership-specific PR.”

Interested in working with Accent PR? Contact Gabrielle at theunderscore@accentprojects.co.

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