Why NYC Executives Choose Success in Media

New York City is where national narratives get made. Within a fifteen-minute radius of our Madison Avenue studio, producers at NBC in Rockefeller Center, ABC on the Upper West Side, Fox News on Sixth Avenue, and CNBC across the river in Englewood Cliffs are deciding, right now, which executives get camera time and which get cut. If your company is headquartered in NYC, or your spokesperson is flying in to do the media rounds, you need a trainer who understands this specific ecosystem, not a generic communications consultant working from a template.

Success in Media runs its NYC media training out of a professional, media-ready space at 295 Madison Avenue. It is a dressed-up conference room environment built for serious rehearsal. We run customized scenarios with cameras, lighting, playback, and an interviewer trained in the exact hostile-question patterns network producers hand to their anchors. By the time your spokesperson walks into the real interview, it is the fourth or fifth version they have done, not the first.

Three NYC-specific advantages set this program apart from anything else on the market:

  • Proximity to every major network. NBC at 30 Rock, ABC at Lincoln Square, Fox News at 1211 Sixth Avenue, CNBC at Englewood Cliffs, Bloomberg at 731 Lexington, CBS at the CBS Broadcast Center. You can train in the morning and do a live hit in the afternoon.
  • A professional, media-ready environment for on-camera reps. Most "media training" happens in a hotel conference room with a webcam. Ours uses a more polished setup with lighting, cameras, playback, and realistic rehearsal built around your actual scenario.
  • Jess's 13 years producing FOR these exact networks. He is not a coach guessing at what producers want. He spent more than a decade deciding who got interviewed, what clips aired, and how executives came across under pressure — at NBC, ABC, and Fox, right here in New York.

Ready to train at our Madison Avenue studio? Tell us what's on the calendar.

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The Madison Avenue Studio

Our NYC training studio is located at 295 Madison Avenue, 12th Floor, New York, NY 10017, on the corner of 41st Street. It is one of the most accessible training locations in Manhattan:

  • Two blocks from Grand Central Terminal — 4, 5, 6, 7, and S trains, plus Metro-North
  • One block from Bryant Park — B, D, F, and M lines
  • Walking distance to Park Avenue Fortune 500 headquarters — most of our finance and legal clients walk in from their offices
  • Surrounded by midtown hotels for visiting executives flying in for one-day intensives
Success in Media NYC learning center at 295 Madison Avenue, New York

For Manhattan teams, this location makes serious rehearsal practical. Executives can step out of a Park Avenue office, run repeated interview reps with playback and correction, and get back to the rest of the day with sharper answers, cleaner message discipline, and fewer surprises.

What NYC Media Training Looks Like

A typical one-day intensive at our Madison Avenue studio runs from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and is built entirely around your executive's actual exposure — the interview they are about to do, the story that is breaking, the congressional testimony on the calendar, the product launch next quarter. No generic curriculum.

1

Live Studio Simulations

Professional lighting, multiple cameras, and a trained interviewer sitting across from you. We build realistic versions of the kinds of interview conditions your executive is most likely to face.

2

Hostile Interview Reps

Our interviewer is coached in the exact escalation patterns that NYC network journalists use: the gotcha pivot, the repeated question, the incorrect premise. Your executive practices the bridges and blocks until they are automatic.

3

Message Development

Three core messages, reverse-engineered from what you actually need the audience to remember. Built for the NYC media landscape: the quote, the sound bite, the clip that ends up in the package.

4

On-Camera Video Review

Every simulation is recorded. We play it back on a large monitor, frame by frame, coaching posture, pacing, eye contact, and bridge delivery. You leave with a full video library and a written playbook.

“Jess is a true media pro, having 'been there and done that' as a producer, a trainer, and a speaker himself. The most amazing part of seeing him in action was his ability to customize his program to exactly fit the unique needs of our company and the executives he was training. Bravo, Jess.” Michael Kingsley, Vice President, Public Relations, State Street Investment Management

Who We Train in NYC

Our NYC client roster spans Fortune 500 executives, founder-CEOs, heads of communications, and senior spokespeople. Three recent outcomes tell the story better than we can:

1

Interactive Practice, Not a Lecture

Carmen Moreno from the Social Security Administration described the training exactly the way strong media prep should work: practical, hands-on, and built around real behavior change.

“While I was expecting a lecture, I was happy to see that his program was interactive. We enjoyed being able to have hands-on practice which made the material come alive.” — Carmen Moreno, Social Security Administration
2

Control the Interview Without Sounding Evasive

Eve J. Rappoport described the on-camera work and answer system as the difference between worrying about the reporter's questions and getting her own messages across.

“The on-camera work gave me validation that I can do this. Strategies for preparing better to be more effective with the media were important. I like the concept of 'controlling' the reporter, not worrying about the questions but using your answer system to get my messages across.” — Eve J. Rappoport, City of Glendale, California
3

From Disorganized to Interview-Ready

Daniel Peirce described the strongest kind of media training outcome: practical coaching that helps a senior leader take control of the interview without looking rehearsed or defensive.

“After a robust, one-day training I went from being a disorganized and hard-to-watch talking head to an authoritative brand steward ready for the toughest interview. The value in Jess' approach was in his tough, real-time coaching and practical suggestions to manage the interview to ensure my message prevailed.” — Daniel Peirce

NYC Industries We Serve

New York is not one media market. It is a dozen overlapping ones, each with its own vocabulary, reporter pool, and story angles. Our NYC training is calibrated to your sector:

Finance

JPMorgan, major NYC banking houses, asset managers, IR teams preparing for earnings, and Park Avenue investment firms facing Bloomberg, CNBC, and Reuters.

Media & Entertainment

Network executives, studio heads, streaming platform leadership, and entertainment spokespeople whose careers are built in and on NYC media.

Legal

Partners at major Manhattan law firms, general counsels of NYC-headquartered corporations, and litigation spokespeople facing courthouse cameras.

Tech

NYC fintech, AI startups, SaaS founders preparing for product launches, and tech executives facing trade press and crossover business media.

Nonprofit & Philanthropy

UN-adjacent organizations, major cultural institutions, foundation leadership, and nonprofit CEOs facing the philanthropy press corps.

Healthcare & Pharma

NYC hospital system leadership, pharma HQs on the New Jersey/NYC corridor, and medical spokespeople preparing for regulatory and consumer press.

Want to see how this applies to your industry? Let's talk specifics.

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Virtual or On-Site — Your Choice

NYC media training does not have to mean coming to our studio. We deliver the same methodology in three formats, and you pick whichever serves the engagement best:

01

Our Madison Avenue Studio

Full TV-studio environment, professional lighting, multi-camera setup. The most realistic simulation of a network interview. Best for high-stakes, single-executive prep.

02

At Your Manhattan Office

We come to your midtown or downtown conference room with portable media-training equipment. Best for teams, executive groups, and when travel time out of the building is the constraint.

03

Fully Virtual via Zoom

Same methodology, delivered for distributed leadership teams. Best for remote satellite interviews, podcast prep, and when participants span multiple cities.

All three formats use the same four-pillar method, the same hostile-interview reps, and the same video review protocol. The difference is setting, not substance.

Why Choose Jess for NYC Media Training

Credentials That Matter in This Market

  • 13 years as a TV producer for NBC, ABC, and FOX, right here in NYC. He made the editorial decisions your spokesperson is about to be judged on.
  • Guinness World Record holder, with 112 media interviews in 24 hours. He has sat in the chair your executive is about to sit in, more times than anyone else alive.
  • Certified Speaking Professional (CSP), a designation held by only 1% of professional speakers worldwide.
  • Author of Media Secrets, a #1 international bestseller in four countries, now core reading for communications teams.
  • 500+ executives trained, from Fortune 500 C-suites to founder-CEOs to senior government spokespeople.

Read more about Jess.

“Jess is arguably the best media trainer in the country. He's intelligent, creative, engaging, thorough. All my clients that have worked with him love him!” Bruce Bobbins, Executive Vice President, DKC

Google 5.0-Rated in NYC

Success in Media shows a 5.0 Google rating on this NYC page, with dozens of reviews tied to real executive, spokesperson, and team-training outcomes. That matters in a market where buyers compare credibility fast.