Making a splash, a very elegant lady came into the room. She was introduced as Diana Miller. But, who in the name of God is this woman?
She is a PR with more than 25 years of professional experience in the field, specifically in the hotel and gastronomy industries. Her opinion is that chefs nowadays are rockstars; that there is no longer the sense and knowledge of cooks, even though great talent has been seen in the kitchen brigades, even when they were led solely by French chefs at the hotels’ finest tables.
Originally from the city of Hermosillo in the Mexican state of Sonora, Diana arrived to Mexico City at the beginning of the 90s to dabble in PR at luxury hotels. “Back then, the gastronomy arena, was not a ‘thing’. It was part of the lifestlyle section; there were no columns dedicated to the culinary arts”, she says referring to the development seen in specialized journalism activity seen in the culinary arena.
As we continue with our conversation, she reminds us that back in the day, the good restaurants were mainly located in hotels such as the Camino Real and the Presidente Chapultepec. Fine-dining restaurants as the Churchill’s were slim to none. The exception to the rule was chef Alejandro Heredia from Hacienda de los Morales, since it was not only located outside of a hotel, but also it was a Mexican cuisine restaurant.
When talking about the current offer, Miller states that one can still find very good restaurants in hotels, however, in her opinion, there are so many options out there, that the offer has been deviated, together with the fact that guests are no longer loyal to certain kitchens, as well as that, generally speaking, people have stopped appreciating good food.
Evidently, as an expert in public relations, we could not say goodbye to Diana without asking her asking her in which way her profession is affected by the amount of socialites and conveners talking about the culinary arts in social media.
“We ought to know how to distinguish who’s who. Social media is a great ally for PRs, but one has to know how to communicate. Anyone can send out a twit, but one has to know how to manage the network. Public Relations is about creating stories and strategies”, states the specialist.
Photograph: http://convisionunison.blogspot.mx
