Our Team

WE STAND for CLEAR STRATEGY, METICULOUS EXECUTION and REMARKABLE RESULTS COMBINED with FREQUENT COMMUNICATION, and DEEPLY PERSONAL SERVICE.

The Storied Group offers a unique perspective that incorporates our entertainment industry roots, extensive knowledge of the media landscape, and passion for finely curated design, lifestyle and hospitality brands.

We are a small but mighty team—now located on two coasts—offering extraordinary service and remarkable results. Our modern approach extends way beyond traditional PR, and we are constantly innovating to help you stand out in our noisy world.

There is no template—we believe in bespoke communications programs with detailed recommendations so that every social media post, photo, or article is aspirational and eloquently expresses who you are. Our story creation is thoughtful and creative. Our relationships with editors are genuine. Our attention is all yours.

Our background in personal publicity, representing actors you probably know from TV shows you have probably seen means that we know how to roll out the red carpet. We bring that mentality to every touch point, from customer service to how we position your business—

We velvet rope you.

Meet Molly

FOUNDER + CEO

Molly Schoneveld began her career in Hollywood working directly under Academy Award-winning producer Brian Grazer. She was soon recruited to powerhouse entertainment firm PMK, where she worked with A-list talent like Kevin Bacon, Gerard Butler, and Olivia Wilde.

She started her PR firm, The Storied Group, in 2008, and soon developed a niche expertise at the intersection of entertainment and lifestyle. She represented several interior designers who had celebrity clients, which was her foray into the high-end design world in Los Angles. Since then, she has worked with design and lifestyle clients across the country, helping to publish their projects, launch stores, books and product collaborations.

She started her lifestyle blog, The Sought After, in 2008 as a passion project, showcasing finely curated boutique hotels and luxury experiences such as the Soho Farmhouse and a design tour through London that she contributed to California Home & Design magazine. This content creation gave her a deeper understanding of the work that goes into building personal brands with impact and how influencers can help support growing brands. 

Career highlights include putting the interior design firm Hammer and Spear on the map as a design destination in the downtown L.A. Arts District and helping to transform the iconic but tired Golden Door resort, back into what Travel + Leisure named the #1 Destination Spa in the World.

Molly has been a speaker at The Design Influencer’s Conference, High Point Market, has been interviewed on numerous industry podcasts, and was invited to be a member of the International Academy of Digital Sciences, where she served as a Webby judge in 2023 alongside Tan France and other industry luminaries.

THE TEAM

Kelsey Bennitt

director of pr + content

After graduating from USC Annenberg, Kelsey started in fashion PR before joining The Storied Group in 2014.  In her decade of experience, Kelsey has become an integral part of our company's mission of building and enhancing our client's personal brands and PR efforts.

As the head of our digital department, Kelsey leads our team in content strategy, production and visual branding across all of our client's social media platforms. In 2018 she took over the complete branding and multi-faceted digital strategy of Fangirl Sports Network. As a result, she identified the core values and aesthetics of the brand, launched a weekly podcast that highlights successful women in the sports industry, ideated multiple original digital series that led to long term monetization opportunities and bridged partnerships with key influencers for branded merchandise.

Kelsey has secured press features in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, ELLE Decor, Entrepreneur, Marie Claire, Inc., Travel + Leisure, RUE, Forbes, and Glamour, amongst many others. 

Jennifer Weaver

VP of BRAND STRATEGY

After earning a degree from USC’s Marshall School of Business and working for several of LA’s most prestigious advertising agencies, Jenn realized that she preferred a more personalized approach to marketing and strategy. When the opportunity to work for the legendary entertainment PR firm PMK/HBH presented itself, she jumped headfirst into the world of celebrity PR. In just a few short years, Jenn made a name for herself as a personal publicist and began to build her own roster of clients. She was offered a position working alongside industry icon Stan Rosenfield, where she represented clients including Kelly Ripa, Geoffrey Rush, Ty Pennington, Hank Azaria and Poppy Montgomery.

In 2008, she founded a boutique PR firm with fellow PMK alum Molly Schoneveld and the two continued to build their roster of celebrity talent, entrepreneurs and experts within the lifestyle space.

Over the years, Jenn has collaborated with agencies, film studios, publishers and brands to help clients promote their movies and TV shows, create products and author books. She’s escorted clients down the red-carpet at the Oscars, negotiated the photography rights to their exclusive wedding photos, announced the joyous news when a baby was born, travelled internationally for photo shoots, press junkets and world premieres. But most importantly, she’s created lasting relationships across a variety of industries.

Jenn loves to roll up her sleeves and delve into the nitty gritty intricacies of each client’s brand. She’s responsible for crafting the narrative and overarching strategy that ultimately helps to propel them forward.

Veronica Votel

ACCOUNT MANAGER (PR)

Veronica is a Southern California native who loves all things interior design and travel. She received a Bachelor of Science from ASU Hugh Downs School of Human Communication and brings years of experience in high-end retail sales, wardrobe styling, and customer service-based roles.

For nearly 3 years she has helped facilitate daily operations at The Storied Group, and serves as a valuable member to the success of our firm. She assisted Molly in launching our newest PR service, Library Card, and has secured client press features in Architectural Digest, Business of Home, Good Housekeeping, Vogue Living, among others.

In her free time, you’ll find her at the beach with her dog, planning her next trip with her fiancé, or finding the latest and greatest spa to try out.

Bayley Villarreal

ACCOUNT MANAGER (DIGITAL)

Born and raised in California, Bayley fits right into the Los Angeles lifestyle. With over 5 years of experience in Event Planning and Sales, Bayley brings a unique style and point of view to our Digital Team.

She’s planned a variety of Hollywood Entertainment events and absolutely loves everything “social.” She’s passionate about being in the know, staying on top of current trends in the digital space, and creating new and exciting content. Need a funny meme or a trending TikTok? Bayley is your girl!

Bayley helps create relatable and informative content for thousands of eyes on the internet. Her goal is to make people smile and inspire others to be unapologetically themselves.

Bayley’s Instagram explore page is filled with Millennial memes, sports and entertainment news, up-and-coming musicians, fashion bloggers, and travel inspo.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

  • There are many factors that come into play, but some include: If you are launching something new and want to create buzz, you have a library of trend-forward design projects that haven't been published, you have a 6-7 figure business, and it's time to velvet rope yourself and be recognized, you want to stand out in a saturated market, you need to spend your time and energy on your business and not on PR, you have a budget allocated to commit to the investment.

  • For Ongoing PR, we recommend that you commit to at least six months for the most effective PR campaign. If you are not ready for that commitment, we recommend A Design Well-Placed, which aims to get one of your projects published in one exclusive outlet for a flat rate.

  • We work on a monthly retainer, with the exception of A Design Well-Placed and Library Card. Our retainers start at $6K/month with a 6-month minimum commitment. The only out-of-pocket expenses non-inclusive of the monthly retainer would be things pre-approved by you, such as postage, copies of the press, or travel on your behalf.

  • This varies greatly, but if you have all of your materials in order (website, professional images, branding), you could start seeing short lead press hits within the first month or two. For longer lead press, it can take three or more months to even secure. We do not take on any clients with less than a 30-day lead time.

  • This is how much time we have to pitch you or your business before your project comes out or your business launches. Lead time for publishing means how far out they are working. For short lead press, it can be as short as a week or as long as two months. For long lead press, it can be three months all the way up to a year or more (as with some design magazines). Now you can understand why if you are looking for print press, you would need to start working with a publicist four-five months in advance.

  • We do not take on product lines that aren’t tied to a personal brand. We do help with product launches tied to our celebrity and designer clients, but if you mostly need help getting your products included in gift guides, product roundups, or gifting to influencers, it’s best to go with a firm that specializes in that.

  • We are here to help you with that, so please don’t hesitate to ask us. Read more about our team to discover how we learn what media wants.

  • We do not, but If you are an interior designer, we have our Library Card Membership as well as A Design Well-Placed, where you can pay a flat rate per project for one placement.