Ronn Torossian, 5WPR CEO: A Day In The Life

Updated on July 2026

Inside a working day at the top of one of America’s leading independent PR firms — as told to Haute Living Editors by Ronn Torossian, from the 6 A.M. start to the last email at midnight.

By Haute Living Editors · In conversation with Ronn Torossian

Public relations is a twenty-four-hour business. Something breaks at 6 A.M. in London and it’s on the desk by 6:15. A journalist calls at 11 P.M. because the story runs at midnight. That’s the trade. If you don’t want the pace, don’t take the calls.

Ronn Torossian has run 5WPR for two decades — since 2003 — through 24/7 client work across consumer brands, technology, entertainment, corporate reputation, and crisis. Here is what a working day at the top of the firm actually looks like, hour by hour, when Torossian is in New York.

Fast Facts: Ronn Torossian

• Founder and CEO of 5WPR, launched in 2003.
• A Top U.S. PR Agency by O’Dwyer’s; named PR Agency of the Year by the American Business Awards.
• Author of two best-selling editions of For Immediate Release.
• Forbes columnist; guest lecturer on crisis communications at Harvard Business School.
• Regular commentator on CNN and CNBC.
• Publisher of Everything-PR, a network of communications and marketing publications, and Olam.business, a financial publication covering the Israeli economy.
• Dual citizen of the United States and Israel.

The Day

6:00 A.M. — Alarm. Feet on the floor. Coffee — black, no sugar, from a machine that gets it right. The first hour of the day belongs to Torossian. He reads: the New York Times front page, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Post, the Financial Times, Axios newsletters, Politico Playbook. He scans Twitter/X for anything that’s already going viral on a client’s category or a client’s name. Overnight emails from London and Tel Aviv have stacked up — the international clients wake up first.

7:00 A.M. — A run in Central Park along the reservoir. Thirty minutes. A business interview podcast or a market briefing in the ears. Sometimes the news.

7:45 A.M. — Home. Shower. Coffee number two. He reviews the day’s calendar with his executive assistant. Media hits, client calls, new-business pitches, internal team meetings, dinner. Prioritize.

8:30 A.M. — He walks into the office at the Helmsley Building on Park Avenue. First team check-in with senior leadership. Overnight news — anything that lands on a client’s desk in the next hour. Any calls that came in from the West Coast late. Assign coverage. Make the calls that need to be made before 9 A.M. New York time.

9:30 A.M. — Media training with a client CEO ahead of a live network hit — the questions the reporter will actually ask, the three points that have to land, the bridge phrases when a difficult question comes. An hour of prep for a six-minute segment. Every time.

10:45 A.M. — New-business pitch call. Six 5WPR people on one side of the conference table. A CMO and two of her deputies on the other end. Sixty minutes to make them believe 5WPR can do what the last three firms couldn’t. It’s the part of the job that never gets easier and never gets less interesting.

12:15 P.M. — Working lunch — either a salad from Chopt at the desk between calls, or a business lunch at Cipriani, Fresco by Scotto, or Le Bilboquet. If the meeting matters, it happens over food.

1:30 P.M. — Client calls stacked back to back. Beauty brand rolling out a new product. Consumer tech company managing a review cycle. A crisis matter — sensitive, contained, moving fast. Each call is thirty minutes. Each requires full attention.

3:00 P.M. — Thirty-minute writing block. Nobody in the office knocks. Torossian writes a column for Forbes, an op-ed for a trade publication, or a memo to a client CEO. Writing is the discipline that makes everything else possible.

3:30 P.M. — Internal review with the creative team. Digital campaigns, influencer briefs, paid media plans, GEO strategy for a client trying to be cited inside AI Overviews and ChatGPT. The channels have changed. The discipline hasn’t.

5:00 P.M. — Second team walk-around. Every corner of the floor. Check on any late-day issues. Sign off on end-of-day deliverables — press releases going out at 6, pitches going to reporters overnight, statements that need approval before he leaves the building.

6:30 P.M. — Off to a client event, a networking dinner, or the 6 train home for dinner with the kids. Family time is the non-negotiable inside a schedule that’s otherwise all negotiation.

9:00 P.M. — Dinner meeting at Marea, Carbone, or Rao’s — the kind of table where deals get done and journalists take the follow-up call. Or home. Either is a good night.

11:00 P.M. — Last email pass. London is up. Israel is up. Anything that needs a response before it becomes a crisis, he handles now. Anything that can wait until morning waits until morning. That’s the part that gets easier with practice.

11:30 P.M. — Bed. Six hours. Alarm again at 6.

Torossian’s Five Leadership Principles

1. Hire the initiative.

You cannot teach hunger. Everything else — media relations, writing, strategy, crisis instincts — you can teach. Initiative you either walk in with or you don’t. Hire the people who are already moving before they’ve been told what to do.

2. In a crisis, speed beats polish.

The first statement wins. The perfect statement two hours later loses. When a client is in crisis, get to draft in ten minutes and to a legal-cleared statement in thirty. The market rewards the firm that moves first.

3. The senior people stay on the phones.

Too many firms sell the senior people at the pitch and hand the account to juniors on day two. Not at 5WPR. If a client buys the founder, they get the founder. If they buy a partner, they get the partner. The client-agency relationship dies the moment the client feels traded down.

4. Fire fast.

Bad hires poison teams. Culture is the sum of who you tolerate. The hardest, most important call any founder makes is the one where you know it isn’t working and you extend the conversation for another quarter instead of ending it today. Extend it, and you lose two more people you wanted to keep.

5. Teach the young.

Every senior person at 5WPR mentors juniors. Not as a favor — as a job requirement. The firm compounds by turning smart twenty-four-year-olds into serious operators by the time they’re twenty-eight. That is the whole game.

On His Nightstand

Five books Torossian keeps close and re-reads.

• For Immediate Release — Ronn Torossian. Two editions. The playbook for the modern PR firm.
• Made to Stick — Chip Heath and Dan Heath. The clearest explanation of what makes an idea travel.
• The Everything Store — Brad Stone. How Bezos actually built Amazon. Required reading for anyone advising founders.
• Bad Blood — John Carreyrou. A masterclass in what happens when a founder controls the narrative and the narrative isn’t true.
• Never Split the Difference — Chris Voss. Negotiation from the FBI’s hostage-negotiation lead. Every PR executive should read it twice.

Building 5WPR

Torossian started 5WPR in 2003 with a phone and a one-bedroom apartment. The pitch was simple: senior people, faster response, twenty-four-hour coverage, no bureaucracy. The legacy PR firms couldn’t move at that speed. Clients noticed.

Twenty-plus years in, the firm has been recognized as a Top U.S. PR Agency by O’Dwyer’s, named PR Agency of the Year by the American Business Awards, honored as a Top Place to Work in Communications by Ragan, and named to Digiday’s WorkLife Employer of the Year list. 5WPR serves clients across beauty and fashion, consumer brands, entertainment, food and beverage, health and wellness, travel and hospitality, technology, and nonprofit — plus B2B specialties in corporate communications, reputation management, public affairs, crisis communications, and digital marketing.

The playbook has not changed. Senior people on the phones. Speed. Discipline. Read the room. Get in front of the story.

“PR is a mix of journalism, psychology, and lawyering — it’s an ever-changing and always interesting landscape.” — Ronn Torossian

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is the CEO of 5WPR?

Ronn Torossian is the founder and CEO of 5WPR, one of America’s leading independent public relations firms. He founded the agency in 2003.

What time does Ronn Torossian wake up?

Ronn Torossian wakes at 6 A.M. and starts the day with coffee, morning news across the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, New York Post, and Financial Times, and a run in Central Park by 7 A.M.

Where is 5WPR based?

5WPR is headquartered in the Helmsley Building on Park Avenue in New York City, with additional operations in Florida.

Where does Ronn Torossian lecture?

Ronn Torossian is a guest lecturer on crisis public relations at Harvard Business School and has spoken at other universities on communications strategy.

What is Ronn Torossian’s book?

Ronn Torossian is the author of two best-selling editions of For Immediate Release, a widely-read book on modern public relations, brand building, and crisis communications.

What kind of PR does 5WPR do?

5WPR works across B2C sectors including beauty and fashion, consumer brands, entertainment, food and beverage, health and wellness, travel and hospitality, technology, and nonprofit, alongside B2B specialties in corporate communications, reputation management, public affairs, and crisis communications, plus digital marketing across social, influencer, paid media, GEO, and SEO.

What awards has 5WPR won?

5WPR has been named a Top U.S. PR Agency by O’Dwyer’s, PR Agency of the Year by the American Business Awards, a 2026 Top Place to Work in Communications by Ragan, and to Digiday’s WorkLife Employer of the Year list.

More From Ronn Torossian on Haute Living

Ronn Torossian’s Travel Guide to Tel Aviv — where to stay, eat, and explore in Israel’s most electric city, from a dual citizen who lives there.

What’s On My Desk: PR Mogul Ronn Torossian — desk essentials, favorite newspapers, and the reading habits behind two decades of PR strategy.

About Ronn Torossian

Ronn Torossian is the founder and CEO of 5WPR, one of America’s leading independent public relations firms. He is a Forbes columnist, a guest lecturer on crisis PR at Harvard Business School, the publisher of Everything-PR — a communications-industry intelligence platform — and Olam.business, a financial publication covering the Israeli economy. He is the author of two best-selling editions of For Immediate Release. A dual citizen of the United States and Israel, he splits time between New York and Tel Aviv.