Growing up in Garden City, New York, Pat Kehoe says her career plans “never included being a woman business owner.” She majored in theater on an academic scholarship at Loyola University, Chicago, doing summer stock when she wasn’t at school. Ultimately, business won out over her vision of a theater career.
Kehoe found an entry-level job in guest relations at NBC and worked in network and local positions. Soon, she realized her opportunities were limited. “There was a very tough glass ceiling in broadcast,” she says. On the other hand, “Cable took a chance on women.” In 1982 she became manager of promotion at The Entertainment Channel, and then director of marketing, launching Arts & Entertainment network. She created community outreach, partnering with arts organizations to expand A&E’s subscribers. The program became an industry model.
Her next move was to a new trade association, the Council for Cable Information. The consortium of cable operators developed a national advertising campaign, but cable’s geographic coverage became an issue. “It was a great effort, but short-lived.”
At Showtime, Kehoe joined the launch team for Viewer’s Choice, the industry’s first pay- per-view venture, and then moved on to Lifetime as VP of sales promotion, helping build it into the nation’s ninth largest network at that time.
Then, the newly formed Fashion Channel proposed that Kehoe start her own agency with Fashion Channel as her first client. She jumped at the opportunity and beat the odds of financial instability, launching PK Network in 1989 shortly after the Business Act of 1988 eliminated the requirement for a man to co-sign a business loan. “The Fashion Channel merged with anther network within the first year,” Kehoe recalls. “So, there went the money. But I’d had a taste of running my own business, and I was going full throttle.”
Her mission was to create a network of talented staff, experienced pros, and independents with the expertise and entrepreneurial mindset to offer big agency solutions with boutique savvy. PK Network became known as the go-to agency for launches, brand management, creative, and marketing power. Kehoe’s many contributions to the media industry extend to a diverse and wide range of clients in sports, technology and entertainment such as Cablevision, Mediacom, Food Network, ESPN, and the New York Cosmos.
Kehoe’s agency has also taken on numerous pro bono projects for New York Cares, Catholic Charities, and Parkinson’s Disease Foundation, among others. She has served on multiple nonprofit boards including Cable TV Pioneers. Kehoe has also shared her knowledge as an adjunct professor of advertising at CUNY, taught entry-level employees at WICT, master classes for CTAM, and established an internship program at PK Network.
PK Network is still going strong 35 years later, and Kehoe believes her shop is the longest, continuously operating woman-founded and -owned agency of its kind. She advises young people to “Recognize opportunity and pursue it. Have faith and confidence in yourself. And take a theater course – after all, acting and presenting are all part of the business world.”
