Chief Executive Officer and Creative Director
Michele D. Tell, CEO/creative director of Preferred Public Relations, is instrumental in the strategic development and creative programs for each PR campaign produced by Preferred Public Relations.
Tell grew up in Las Vegas since 1971. After receiving her BA in Journalism/PR at the Walter Cronkite School, ASU, she has spent most of her career being a part of, as well as enhancing, the Las Vegas community. After working at the Review-Journal as an editorial assistant in 1990, she jumped into the hotel/gaming industry; first as the Sands Hotel PR Director at age 22, and then opening MGM Grand in 1992 as publicity coordinator. Tell rose through the ranks at MGM – coordinator, manager, and director and then to the Assistant Vice President of Media Relations at MGM Grand during an eight-year alliance with the hotel. Tell handled the majority of hotel communications, food and beverage, entertainment, human resources as well as corporate and crisis communications at MGM Grand.
In April 1999, Tell opened Preferred Public Relations a powerhouse public relations group that specializes in hotel/casino launch campaigns, restaurants, retail and hotel/casino media relations, special events and social media programs. During the last 12 years, her agency has handled more than 500 grand opening events, and is responsible for millions of media/publicity impressions for her local, regional and national clients.
In 2006, Tell and her husband and business partner, James Woodrow, purchased a 5,000 square foot building, which she built from the ground up to resemble a working newsroom.
In 2008, Tell was asked to sit as a Board of Trustee for the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce and remained a three-term Board of Trustee and since, helped create and Co-Chair the Women and Minority-owned Business committee of the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce.
In 2011, Tell-Woodrow was asked to serve as a Board of Director for Create A Change Now, a non-profit organization that helps educate Clark County School District students about food and nutrition. The organization also helps build edible gardens teaching students the importance of eating healthy by actually growing vegetables and fruit in an interactive school garden.
Tell-Woodrow was named one of the Top 100 Distinguished Women in Southern Nevada and also named Greenspun Media’s Top Female Influencer in Communications in 2007. NAWBO named Tell-Woodrow Most Distinguished Woman in Communications in 2004 and she and her husband James Woodrow were highlighted in Entrepreneur’s 2006 magazine representing top growing companies in Southern Nevada. In 1995, at age 28, Tell was named a Top 40 Under 40. Tell-Woodrow is a 25-year member of the Society of Professional Journalists, and is also a member of local affiliates Public Relations Society of America, American Marketing Association, NAWBO to name a few.
In 2015, Tell joined the Board of Directors for the Las Vegas Natural History Museum, where she heads up the board’s marketing committee is in active with new business development and Museum promotions.
Tell also contributes as a volunteer for The Shade Tree and donates to various organizations such as Olive Crest, Girl Scouts of Southern Nevada, Create A Change Now, Nevada Public Education Foundation and Kids to Kids. She is active in the PTO at Adelson Educational Campus and the Jewish Community Center Southern Nevada. She is a member of the Las Vegas Astronomy Association.
She expanded her entrepreneur horizons by launching Constellation Catering, a full service liquor catering company and liquor public concession management company.
Tell is an avid reader and book collector. She is the mother of two teenage girls, and the owner of three Shih Tzu puppies. She enjoys museums, 1960s music, collecting Beatles memorabilia, rock concerts wine tasting and cooking with her kids – and everything surround space, the planets and astrophysics.