kim kardashian pr playbook explained seven-move plan
Kim Kardashian's public relations has never run through a single publicist. Her career has cycled through named operators — Jill Fritzo, SLATE PR co-founder Ina Treciokas, longtime friend Jonathan Cheban — before the architecture matured in 2017 with the hire that changed the trajectory: Tracy Romulus, who built the communications and marketing engine behind SKIMS and was promoted to Chief Communications Officer of SKIMS in July 2026.
Updated September 2026.
The seven-move Kardashian PR playbook
Kardashian's communications architecture runs on seven identifiable moves, developed and refined across nearly two decades of continuous public visibility.
1. News-cycle inventory
The Kardashian-Jenner family generates a constant, self-produced stream of newsworthy content — relationship updates, product launches, social media moments, reality show storylines — that keeps the family in the news cycle independent of any single crisis or campaign. The volume itself is the strategy: there is always something for press to cover that isn't a controversy.
2. Portfolio operators, not a single publicist
Kardashian's representation has cycled through multiple operators matched to different brand phases rather than staying with one publicist for her entire career. Jill Fritzo represented the broader Kardashian family early on. In 2011, Kardashian moved her personal representation to Ina Treciokas, co-founder of SLATE PR, whose roster also included Sarah Jessica Parker, Jennifer Aniston, and Justin Theroux. Jonathan Cheban, a longtime friend and former Command PR co-founder, has operated in a hybrid friend-and-informal-advisor capacity for years. The pattern reflects a broader principle: communications is a portfolio function, with the right operator for the right phase of the business.
3. Strategic silence during personal crises
During major personal news cycles — divorces, the 2016 Paris robbery, family disputes — Kardashian's team has repeatedly favored measured, infrequent statements over extensive press engagement, letting the reality show format (Keeping Up with the Kardashians, later The Kardashians) carry the fuller narrative on the family's own terms and timeline rather than through the traditional press cycle.
4. Recovery speed
Kardashian's operation has consistently prioritized returning to normal public activity and content output quickly after a crisis cycle, rather than an extended withdrawal. The 2016 Paris robbery is the clearest example — a brief social media pause followed by a calibrated return that acknowledged the trauma without extending the news cycle further than necessary.
The most consequential structural decision in Kardashian's communications history was the 2017 hire of Tracy Romulus, then a Senior Vice President at 5WPR and founder of Industry Public Relations, as chief marketing officer overseeing KKW Brands — the umbrella covering what became SKIMS, KKW Beauty (now SKKN by Kim), and KKW Fragrance. Romulus is widely credited as the strategic architect behind Kardashian's pivot from reality-television personality to product founder, and the marketing and communications engine underneath SKIMS's rise to a valuation exceeding $5 billion by 2025. In July 2026, SKIMS promoted Romulus to Chief Communications Officer, a role in which she continues to report to Kardashian and SKIMS CEO and co-founder Jens Grede, according to PR Week's reporting on the appointment.
6. Portfolio-brand communications infrastructure
SKIMS runs its own dedicated communications and marketing functions distinct from Kardashian's personal publicist team — including, as of 2026, a VP of Influencer role held by Kisha Maldonado-Madrid, formerly of Poosh and creator marketing agency Cruz Control Digital, per PR Week. This structural separation between personal representation and brand-level communications is a deliberate architecture, not an accident: it allows SKIMS's public relations to operate and scale independently of Kardashian's personal press cycle.
7. Criminal justice reform as institutional anchor
Kardashian's sustained, multi-year advocacy for criminal justice reform — including her law studies and direct involvement in individual clemency cases — has functioned as a long-running institutional anchor for her public image, distinct from and more durable than any single product launch or reality television storyline.
What the playbook proves
The Kardashian communications operation demonstrates that at sufficient scale, no single publicist or PR firm can carry the full weight of a multi-brand, multi-platform celebrity operation. The architecture that works is a portfolio one: personal representation for the individual, dedicated brand-side communications teams for each commercial venture, and a willingness to promote from within — as with Romulus's rise from external publicist to internal C-suite operator — when a hire proves capable of carrying more responsibility than the original role required.
Kim Kardashian's personal representation has cycled through several publicists over her career, including Jill Fritzo and SLATE PR co-founder Ina Treciokas. Her most consequential communications hire, however, was Tracy Romulus, who joined as chief marketing officer of KKW Brands in 2017 and was promoted to Chief Communications Officer of SKIMS in July 2026. Romulus continues to report directly to Kardashian and SKIMS CEO Jens Grede.
Who runs communications for SKIMS?
Tracy Romulus serves as SKIMS's Chief Communications Officer as of July 2026, having joined the Kardashian brand ecosystem in 2017 as CMO of KKW Brands. SKIMS also maintains dedicated functional roles, including a VP of Influencer position held by Kisha Maldonado-Madrid as of 2026.
What is SKIMS worth?
SKIMS was valued at more than $5 billion as of 2025, according to Wikipedia's sourced company profile. The brand launched in 2019 under the name Kimono Intimates before rebranding, and expanded into a partnership with Nike (NikeSkims) in September 2025.
How did Tracy Romulus build her career before SKIMS?
Before joining Kardashian's brand ecosystem, Tracy Romulus was a Senior Vice President at 5WPR and founder of Industry Public Relations. She was previously the publicist for Kanye West prior to her SKIMS role.
Written by
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