Lisa Ekus-Saffer can't take credit for teaching celebrity chef Emeril Lagasse his catchphrase—"Bam!"—but early on, she gave him media pointers, and she's been doing the same for other authors. Ekus-Saffer is marking her firm's 25th anniversary with a new name that encompasses the cookbook publicist's expanded range of services.
Ekus-Saffer is changing the name of her firm from Lisa Ekus Public Relations to the Lisa Ekus Group. She may have started with cookbook publicity—she's orchestrated campaigns for The Cake Bibleby Rose Levy Beranbaum and The Union Square Café Cookbook by Danny Meyer—but her business now encompasses media training for chefs and cookbook authors, literary agenting for some 80 cookbook authors and partnerships with such companies as Ben & Jerry's and Reddi-Whip.
"I have reinvented myself several times," she said. "Being full service has allowed me to swing with the wild tides of both the publishing and culinary worlds."
After launching her own firm in 1982, Ekus-Saffer discovered a demand for publicists specializing in culinary books. Cookbooks were a niche market, but they were getting increasing coverage on television and radio as well as in magazines. After advising TV producers and authors on recipes to use for on-air demos, Ekus-Saffer started offering media training courses to her clients, among them chef and restaurateur Norman Van Aken, Mary Ann Esposito and Sheila Lukins. She now runs one- and two-day courses that help cookbook authors—as well as chefs, product spokespersons and show hosts—improve their media presentation and interviewing skills. Ekus-Saffer lives and works out of a 200-year-old farmhouse and office space in Hatfield, Mass. She conducts her courses—students role-play how to cook and pitch simultaneously—in her own kitchen, outfitted with a state-of-the art TV studio.
In 2000, Ekus-Saffer expanded further, offering literary services to veteran authors and newcomers. Her agency has since brokered more than 150 book deals, with houses ranging from Harvard Common Press to William Morrow and Rizzoli. Ekus-Saffer represents more than 80 writers, mostly solid midlist cookbook authors, including "BBQ Queens" Karen Adler and Judith Fertig.
The Lisa Ekus Group is celebrating its anniversary by selecting 25 charitable organizations to support throughout the year. The list includes food-related organizations like Share Our Strength and Chefs for Humanity, as well as the World Wildlife Fund, Aid for AIDS and the Jazz Foundation of America.
