Hanna Lee is President and Founder of Hanna Lee Communications (HLC), an award-winning public relations agency specializing in hospitality & travel, including bars, restaurants, spirits, hotels, craft beer, wine and destinations. Hanna's philosophy is to only represent clients she believes in and to work with those who have the ambition of changing the world. They include Danny Meyer's Union Square Hospitality Group, Major Food Group, Ian Schrager's PUBLIC Hotel, The World's 50 Best Bars, The Dead Rabbit, Campari, Giorgio Armani Ristorante, Tuscany Tourism, NYC & Company and more. This outlook drives the agency’s well-acknowledged excellence, including 150 national & global awards, including PR News’ Platinum Awards, SABRE Awards, PRSA’s Big Apple Awards and The Telly Awards. Hanna was featured in Forbes, PUNCH, Departures and more. She is the first PR professional named on the 2021 Bar World 100 List by Drinks International and the first publicist profiled in Imbibe Magazine by Robert Simonson. She is an Entrepreneur Media contributor, a founding board member of the Museum of Food and Drink (MOFAD) and a member of Les Dames d'Escoffier. Named among PR News' Top Women in PR, she has participated as a panelist at Tales of the Cocktail and as a speaker at the Institute of Culinary Education (ICE), the New York Institute of Technology (NYIT) and NYU. Hanna is spearheading “HLC Innovation,” the agency's series of pioneering, community-driven initiatives to revolutionize brand building and advance the art of storytelling in PR. To date, they include the “Hospitality Forward” Podcast, Global Bartender Travel Scholarship, Book Media and Trailblazing Women Series. She co-hosts the agency’s award-winning podcast, “Hospitality Forward,” together with Michael Anstendig, the agency’s Editor in Chief. The duo interviews top journalists who share their insights and tips to help industry professionals earn vital media coverage. The podcast has listeners in more than 80 countries and is part of the credited curriculum of NYIT in the U.S. and Canada. Hanna is also the producer of our agency’s first book, “The Japanese Art of the Cocktail,” co-authored by Michael Anstendig and Katana Kitten’s Masahiro Urushido and published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, now part of HarperCollins. The agency's second book is “The Russo Family & Friends Cookbook” celebrating Hollywood Director Joe Russo (“Avengers” and “Captain America”), who shares his family recipes and those of celebrities from his movies. She earned an M.A. and a Certificate in Public Relations from NYU.