“I was a sports management minor in college, and you could not have convinced me that I wasn’t going to be doing PR for the University of Oklahoma football team,” said Kaylee Harrington, a vice president at Publicis Groupe agency MSL.
A lot happened after that point, however, as Harrington went on to earn a master’s degree in public relations and advertising at DePaul University and built out her career with roles at Edelman, RXMosaic and Havas Red U.S. before landing at MSL almost a year ago.
It was at Edelman that Harrington was placed—“a bit at random,” in her words—in the healthcare space, and she realized it was “the right place for me.”
In a Q&A for Fierce Pharma Marketing’s “Rising Stars” series, Harrington talked about her personally and professionally rewarding work on the over-the-counter birth control medication Opill, the importance of partnering with trusted voices and her life in a cabin in the woods.
Responses have been lightly edited.
Fierce Pharma Marketing: What inspired you to pursue a career in pharma marketing, and what keeps you motivated?
Kaylee Harrington: I had an internship during college for the Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust of Oklahoma, a public health agency focused on smoking cessation, healthy eating and physical activity. When I talked about that in my interview with Edelman, they took that and placed me in health, but very quickly I realized that was the right place for me. I could never imagine now, thinking back on it, working so hard on something else where I would have less of a human connection than there is in healthcare comms.
I grew up in an incredibly rural area; the closest hospital was an hour away. My mother and sister-in-law still live in that community. I’ve seen and experienced myself how hard it is to access healthcare education if you’re not in one of those areas that’s typically targeted. So, being able to work on campaigns that specifically focused on rural areas was mind-blowing to me, and I fell in love with it pretty quickly.
FPMK: What has been the most rewarding or challenging project you’ve worked on so far?
KH: I worked on the launch of Opill, the first—and still the only—over-the-counter birth control pill in America. It was in 2023, a time when women’s health could use a win. Having grown up in a rural area where the closest pharmacist could be 45 minutes away, I appreciated that Opill provided unprecedented access to birth control for so many women and girls at a time when access was being taken away.
It was personally very fulfilling, but as a first in the healthcare space in America, it was incredibly rewarding professionally, too. We were able to work with fun influencers and celebrities, go to college campuses and put products in people’s hands.
FPMK: If you could give one piece of advice to industry veterans who’ve been in pharma marketing for decades, what would it be?
KH: I think what will perhaps be a bit of a shift for industry veterans is the increasing importance of finding trustworthy third-party voices that people are already listening to and who are filling in the gaps of information and education that people may not believe when they come from capital-B Big Pharma. We have to become comfortable leveraging those voices and thinking about how we can work with them to influence what they are saying in responsible ways.
FPMK: What do you do with your downtime?
KH: I’m a serial hobbyist; I do a little bit of a lot. I currently live in a cabin in the woods, and I do a lot of hiking with [my 1-year-old American bulldog] Dottie and camping. I’ve really tried to cut down on my time with a screen this year, and being outside has been really great. I also do pottery, and, like every other woman in the 2020s, I got into baking bread.
Know a standout early-career pharma marketing pro? Send your nominations for future "Rising Stars" honorees to apark@questex.com.