Howard Bragman (born February 24, 1956)
is an American crisis manager, public relations practitioner, writer and lecturer. He is often seen as a "PR Guru."
Bragman currently serves as Chairman of LaBrea Media, a
crisis management company he founded in 2018.
Early life and education
Bragman was born to a
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
family and raised in
Flint, Michigan
Flint is the largest city and seat of Genesee County, Michigan, United States. Located along the Flint River, northwest of Detroit, it is a principal city within the region known as Mid Michigan. At the 2020 census, Flint had a population of 8 ...
,
the son of Myrna (Wolin) and Leonard Bragman. He graduated with a B.A in journalism and psychology from the
University of Michigan
, mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth"
, former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821)
, budget = $10.3 billion (2021)
, endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...
in 1978.
Later, Bragman acknowledged that support of the LGBTQ+ Spectrum Center and accepting atmosphere of the university helped him to
come out
Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBT people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity.
Framed and debated as a privacy issue, coming out of ...
.
Career
Upon graduation, Bragman proceeded career in public relations and crisis management and after serving as a vice president in the Chicago and Los Angeles offices of
Burson-Marsteller
Burson Cohn & Wolfe is a multinational public relations and communications firm, headquartered in New York City. In February 2018, parent WPP Group PLC announced that it had merged its subsidiaries Cohn & Wolfe with Burson-Marsteller. The comb ...
Public Relations, Bragman founded Bragman Nyman Cafarelli (BNC) in 1989. In 2001, BNC was purchased by
Interpublic Group
The Interpublic Group of Companies, Inc. (IPG) is an American publicly traded advertising company. The company consists of five major networks: FCB, IPG Mediabrands, McCann Worldgroup, MullenLowe Group, and Marketing Specialists, as well as a n ...
, a holding company for marketing firms. In 2005, Bragman established Fifteen Minutes, a strategic media and public relations agency. Bragman founded LaBrea.Media in 2018 as a consultant, pundit and content creator. Bragman was an Adjunct Professor in Public Relations at the
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...
's Annenberg Center for Communication from 1998 to 2003. He is the author of the best-selling book, "Where's My Fifteen Minutes?" (2008), through Penguin Portfolio.
In 2016, Bragman was approached by film producer
Glen Zipper
Glen Zipper (born February 25, 1974) is an American writer, film producer and former New Jersey assistant state prosecutor.
Life and film career
Zipper graduated from Fort Lee High School, in Fort Lee, New Jersey, and received a degree in pol ...
, who was working with
Paul Haggis on ''Lead and Copper'', a documentary about the
Flint water crisis. Being a Flint native, Bragman joined Paul Haggis' crew to assist with public relations and historical insight into industrial era of the city.
[Oscar-winning director working on Flint water crisis documentary, report says](_blank)
''The Flint Journal'' via MLive.com, February 5, 2017
Bragman has provided litigation support as a crisis counselor for cases and individuals including
Joseph Steffan
Joseph Charles Steffan (born July 29, 1964) is an American lawyer and gay activist. He was expelled from the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis in 1987 shortly before graduation after disclosing his homosexuality. He sued the U.S. Department of D ...
;
the Lewinsky family; and
Sharon Smith in Smith v. Knoller. He is also involved with both the accusers and the accused in the
#MeToo movement.
Bragman has been vice chairman of the management firm Reputation.com.
As a publicist and
LGBTQ activist, Howard Bragman has represented
Sharon Osbourne
Sharon Rachel Osbourne (née Levy, later Arden; born 9 October 1952) is a British-American television personality, music manager and author. She is married to heavy metal singer-songwriter Ozzy Osbourne and came to prominence while appearing ...
,
Anthony Scaramucci
Anthony Scaramucci ( ; born January 6, 1964) is an American financier who briefly served as the White House Communications Director, White House Director of Communications from July 21 to July 31, 2017.
Scaramucci worked at Goldman Sachs's inv ...
,
Steven Slater
The JetBlue flight attendant incident occurred after JetBlue Airways Flight 1052, from Pittsburgh to New York City on August 9, 2010, had landed at John F. Kennedy International Airport. Steven Slater, a veteran flight attendant announced over ...
,
Stevie Wonder
Stevland Hardaway Morris ( Judkins; May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, who is credited as a pioneer and influence by musicians across a range of genres that include rhythm and blues, Pop musi ...
,
Chaz Bono
Chaz Salvatore Bono (born Chastity Sun Bono; March 4, 1969) is an American writer, musician and actor. His parents are entertainers Sonny Bono and Cher, and he became widely known in appearances as a child on their television show, ''The Sonny ...
,
John Amaechi
John Uzoma Ekwugha Amaechi , Order of the British Empire, OBE (; born 26 November 1970) is a British-American psychologist, consultant and former professional basketball player. He played college basketball at Vanderbilt Commodores men's baske ...
,
Don Lemon
Don Lemon (born March 1, 1966) is an American television journalist most well known for being a host on CNN. Lemon anchored weekend news programs on local television stations in Alabama and Pennsylvania during his early days as a journalist. He ...
,
Monica Lewinsky
Monica Samille Lewinsky (born July 23, 1973) is an American activist and writer. President Bill Clinton admitted to having an affair with Lewinsky while she worked at the White House as an intern in 1995 and 1996. The affair, and its repercus ...
,
Joe Manganiello
Joseph Michael Manganiello ( ; , ; born December 28, 1976) is an American actor. His professional film career began when he played Flash Thompson in Sam Raimi's ''Spider-Man''. His breakout role was as werewolf Alcide Herveaux in five seasons of ...
,
Anna Kendrick
Anna Cooke Kendrick (born August 9, 1985) is an American actress. She has received various accolades, including a Satellite Award, five Teen Choice Awards, three MTV Movie Awards, and nominations for an Academy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award a ...
,
Terrence Howard and
Ricki Lake
Ricki Pamela Lake (born September 21, 1968) is an American television host and actress. She is known for her lead role as Tracy Turnblad in the 1988 film ''Hairspray'', for which she received a nomination for the Independent Spirit Award for Be ...
, among others.
As a "coming out" advisor, Bragman consulted a number of celebrities, including American actress and producer
Meredith Baxter, basketball player
Sheryl Swoopes
Sheryl Denise Swoopes (born March 25, 1971) is an American former professional basketball player. She was the first player to be signed in the WNBA, is a three-time WNBA MVP, and was named one of the league's Top 15 Players of All Time at the 20 ...
,
country music
Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...
artist
Chely Wright, and NFL player
Michael Sam
Michael Alan Sam Jr. (born January 7, 1990) is an American professional football defensive lineman for the Barcelona Dragons in the European League of Football. A defensive end, Sam played college football for the Missouri Tigers and was drafted ...
.
Community work and charity endeavors
Bragman has been active in the
AIDS
Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual m ...
/
HIV
The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of ''Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the immune ...
community, on lesbian and gay civil rights, Jewish causes and
First Amendment
First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1).
First or 1st may also refer to:
*World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement
Arts and media Music
* 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...
protections. He has received awards and honors from AIDS Project Los Angeles,
Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, and Congregation Kol Ami.
Bragman was the founder of the Jewish Image Awards, honoring positive portrayals of Jews in television and film.
According to the online magazine Mlive, "Bragman helped organize the February 2016 "Hollywood for Flint" benefit in California that raised more than $35,000 for the Flint Child Health and Development Fund of the Community Foundation of Greater Flint."
In September 2021, Bragman made a $1 million endowment to found the Howard Bragman Coming Out Fund on the facilities of the University of Michigan. The Fund's management will be run by the Spectrum Center, an
LGBTQIA+ support center, which was formed in 1970 on the college campus.
Public appearances
Bragman has been a news consultant for
ABC News
ABC News is the news division of the American broadcast network ABC. Its flagship program is the daily evening newscast ''ABC World News Tonight, ABC World News Tonight with David Muir''; other programs include Breakfast television, morning ...
since 2010.
He has also made multiple appearances on local and network news programs including
The Oprah Winfrey Show
''The Oprah Winfrey Show'', often referred to as ''The Oprah Show'' or simply ''Oprah'', is an American daytime broadcast syndication, syndicated talk show that aired nationally for 25 seasons from September 8, 1986, to May 25, 2011, in Chicag ...
,
Good Morning America
''Good Morning America'' (often abbreviated as ''GMA'') is an American morning television program that is broadcast on ABC. It debuted on November 3, 1975, and first expanded to weekends with the debut of a Sunday edition on January 3, 1993. Th ...
,
Today Show, and
Larry King Live, as well as in national and local magazines and newspapers.
Bragman made an appearance on an episode of
The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills Season 2 as Camille Grammer's Publicist, and was a guest judge on Season 1 of
RuPaul's Drag Race.
References
External links
LaBrea.MediaLA Weekly: The Secret Lives of Queer Leading Men“Amaechi Becomes First NBA Player To Come Out ''ESPN.com'', by Chris Sheridan. February 9, 2007.
“Paula's Tale of the Tape”''E!Online'' by Sarah Hall. June 1, 2007.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bragman, Howard
LGBT people from Michigan
Living people
Writers from Flint, Michigan
Writers from Los Angeles
LGBT people from California
University of Michigan alumni
American public relations people
Jewish American writers
1956 births
University of Southern California faculty
American LGBT writers
HIV/AIDS activists
LGBT rights activists from the United States
Activists from California
21st-century American Jews