Meet Mary

A Media Insider with Public Relations Know-How

I am passionate about helping people and organizations bring their best selves to the world!

I take a supportive but rigorous approach, with insights about media outlets and all the elements that go into successful media appearances and press coverage.

Sometimes you have to put on a hardhat to deliver what a client needs!

Mary Knowles has deep experience with media training, message framing, storytelling and earned media.  Her career began in traditional network news. She then served as a long-time Senior Producer for Bill Maher on his weekly HBO show, REAL TIME. In this role, she booked and prepared hundreds of national-level politicians, policymakers, journalists, and thought leaders from non-profits, academia and the private sector for success on high-stakes, live television.

Mary expanded her media and message skills as a Principal at Kivvit, a national strategic communications and public affairs firm. Among her wide range of duties, she trained and prepared CEOs for media interviews, and secured positive coverage for clients in outlets such as the Wall Street Journal, Business Insider, Reuters, trade outlets and local press. She also created written and visual content to communicate her clients’ stories.

Mary has produced interviews and worked with public figures such as:

  • Nancy Pelosi

  • Al Gore

  • Jennifer Granholm

  • Elizabeth Warren

  • Susan Rice

  • Bill McKibben

  • Cory Booker

  • Hakeem Jeffries

  • Wes Moore

  • Thomas Friedman

  • Maya Wiley

  • Michelle Goldberg

  • Karen Bass

  • Bret Stephens

  • Salman Rushdie

  • Cornel West

  • Michael Moore

  • Samantha Power

  • Joe Scarborough

  • Chris Christie

  • Michael Steele

She has also helped state-level and local political candidates identify and tell their most impactful stories. And as the leader of Emerge New Jersey’s Program Committee, Mary is proud to have trained more than 100 women to run for office.

Mary earned her BA in International Relations from Tufts University and her MA in Political Science at Rutgers University. She lives in Montclair, NJ.

With a love for travel abroad and in the U.S., Mary has visited all 50 of the United States. She’s an avid snorkeler, gardener and is a C-SPAN superfan.