Mattie Armstrong Built Heirloom PR to Hand Founders the Keys

The night before she was laid off, Mattie Armstrong prayed for clarity. She felt a pull toward building her own thing for a long time, and she knew she was standing at a fork in the road. The next day, the layoff came. “I don’t think it gets much clearer than that,” she says. Her colleagues probably found it strange that she seemed unbothered, even relieved. She had already been building.

Mattie Armstrong is a personal brand strategist and earned media advisor in Nashville, Tennessee, and the founder of Heirloom PR. She works one-on-one with founders, creators, and entrepreneurs on media interview prep and a personal brand presence that reflects who they are and where they are headed. She also built Prello, a media contact database and micro-education community for people who want to manage their own PR without hiring an agency. A member of The Entreprenista League, she spent years watching a valuable playbook stay locked away.

“I wanted to be the person who handed the keys to founders and creators who were doing really good work and not getting nearly enough recognition for it,” Mattie says. Here is how nearly a decade behind the scenes in Washington became a business built to put other people in front of the press.

How government communications shaped her PR expertise

Mattie built her expertise in rooms where getting it wrong wasn't an option. She spent nearly a decade in government communications, from Capitol Hill to federal agencies, prepping cabinet secretaries for national television and coaching candidates through high-stakes press encounters. Along the way, she secured placements in the Wall Street Journal, CNN, Fox, and the New York Times. The pressure taught her what actually moves the needle, and it convinced her the work was never as complicated as its gatekeeping made it seem.

The hardest part of going out on her own

For years, what held Mattie back was not a lack of ideas. It was the nature of her industry. Publicists stay behind the scenes and let clients shine. Stepping out on her own meant doing the very thing she had coached other people to do for years: build her personal brand and own it publicly.

“There’s a certain safety in having an employer as a shade screen,” she says. “Going out on your own means there’s nothing between you and the world. It’s just you, your name, and what you stand for.” She has decided that is exactly where she belongs.

Income replaced by June

Mattie launched Heirloom PR in April 2026 and replaced her previous income by June. It happened faster than she expected, and it told her what she needed to know about the path she had chosen.

The number is not the part she keeps coming back to. “The accomplishment I’m most proud of isn’t the number,” she says. “It’s the confidence I’ve built in my own capabilities along the way.” Building the business showed her what she is made of, and she is not interested in going back.

Who she works with

Her clients are founders, entrepreneurs, and creators who are ready to be seen but are not quite sure how to show up yet. Some come with a big moment on the calendar, a media interview, a speaking engagement, or a product launch they want to get right. Others have been building quietly for years and realize almost no one knows who they are. What they share is a willingness to do the work and a need for someone in their corner who believes in their story.

Prello and what’s next

Prello is where Mattie is pointing her energy. It starts as a media contact database for founders and creators managing their own PR, priced to stay within reach, but the vision is larger. She is building it into a community and micro-education platform where the next generation of personal brand strategists can learn the craft, practice with real tools, and build a career without a four-year degree. Prello Academy already lives inside the platform and will grow into its own destination.

Her advice for anyone sitting on a quiet idea is direct: “If building something is even barely on your mind, you’re capable of so much more than you think you are,” she says. “Take action and what’s meant to be will fall together.”

You can connect with Mattie on LinkedIn, work with her at heirloompr.com, and start with Prello.

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If Mattie's mission to hand founders the keys to their own media presence resonates, the Entreprenista League is a community of women founders who value connection, shared experience, and practical business insight as they grow. Learn more about the Entreprenista League right here.