LCI Blog: Meet the Media – David Perry, CEO/Founder for David Perry & Associates and host of the Comcast TV series, 10 Percent

This week, we had the pleasure to speak with David Perry, CEO/Founder for David Perry & Associates and host of the Comcast TV series, 10 Percent, dedicated to LGBT issues.
What’s your top story for today?
America’s Cup: the most important economic catalyst to San Francisco in 20 years as well as the only international sporting event taking place in 2013. This year, two America’s Cup World Series races are giving SF a taste of things to come.
Tell us about your dream assignment.
If I could, I’d hang up every hat I’m now wearing and travel around the world by ship with my husband and do a weekly TV and social media-based show exploring the real lives of everyday people in far-away countries.
Describe the wackiest story you’ve written.
When I was writing for the now defunct magazine, Omni, I did a “vampire tour” of San Francisco with Anne Rice. She pointed out all the inspirations for her now-famous “Interview with a Vampire” series including the Vampire Bar – a gay bar in the Castro.
What is your PR pet peeve?
The concept that PR is anything other than relationship building: that’s all it is. My husband says my real title should be “social engineer.” I like that, and agree. PR is not a mystery, it is understanding a person and a client’s history.
Top trend in the industry you’re currently covering or are interested in.
Social media and the way it’s morphing PR/journalism/marketing. Seriously, I see a time when the infrastructure of social media will lead to a freer, more democratic world. There was a wonderful article in the Economist (July 7, 2011) about how this is happening right now. I totally agree.
Tell us a little about yourself.
Born and raised in Richmond, Virginia; college in upstate New York with my first job working at the National Endowment for the Arts in DC. My passion: reading and travel. I took a “working sabbatical” in 1998 and wrote my way around the world aboard ship without ever stepping on a plane – twice: 56 countries. Best thing I ever did—plus I met my husband when I got back to dry land.
More and more, the lines of PR and journalism cross over each other and intertwine, a case in point being my TV show “10 Percent” which I created at the request of Comcast three years ago. Now the longest running LGBT show in Northern California history, my concept was simple: do a version of Charlie Rose with guests of interest to the LGBT community. It airs weekly on Comcast Hometown Network 104 and then on Facebook and YouTube. My communications firm, David Perry & Associates, Inc. focuses on government relations and community affairs for large public projects: America’s Cup, public safety campaigns such as “Home for Halloween,” Bay to Breakers, SF New Year’s Eve, Fleet Week and the 2008 running of the Olympic Torch, plus for the last three years, initiatives in the China space such as ChinaSF, the SF Int’l Dragon Boat Festival, The Chinese Historical Society of America and Shanghai’s Bank of Communications among others. Together, being in front of and behind the camera allows me to communicate on behalf of our clients – and my community – in a way that serves many interests and was inconceivable just a few years ago.
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