Taking care of business

Barbara Martin and Jayne Sandman met years ago when the two were members of a host committee for a Suited for Change fundraiser. Suited for Change provides professional clothing and ongoing career education to low-income women. 

{mosads}“Jayne scared the crap out of me,” Martin said, sipping a Dark and Stormy cocktail on the rooftop of the W Hotel.

Sandman was associate publisher at Capitol File Magazine, where she produced high-profile events. Martin was working for Nielsen Business Media. “They were outsourcing all of their PR and I realized it was much better served in-house,” Martin said. 

Martin then worked with a Candace Bushnell charity event related to her book, Lipstick Jungle, and, of course, the Suited for Change event where Sandman and Martin met. She slowly began collecting clients on her own around the city.

“I absolutely loved working with Barb at the Suited for Change event,” Sandman said. “I really respected her and knew she was looking into starting her own business.”

Martin nodded and added that she had been saying, “I need a Jayne Sandman but unfortunately she has a job.”

Eventually Sandman decided to leave Capitol File and work with Martin — since then, the two have clicked their sky-high stilettos all over the city, working to make sure the events that area residents go to are fun.

The two are the principals of BrandlinkDC, which acts as the D.C. office of Brandlink Communications, a full-service PR and marketing agency with additional offices in New York, Miami, Chicago and Los Angeles.

It seems the two grew up destined to work in event planning; Martin made to-do lists throughout her childhood and even planned her own wedding.

“I was social chair of my sorority and my parents even had business cards made up for me when I was younger,” Sandman said. “I was always coming up with new business ventures, bartending my parents’ friends’ parties, you name it — I got my work permit at age 14.”

Next up on the duo’s list is The Front Row, a three-day fashion extravaganza that includes an outdoor fashion show and appearance by PR maven Kelly Cutrone.

“You know, it’s so funny — when celebrities come to town people just come out of the woodwork,” Martin said. “Just today I had to deal with phone calls from a fake magazine and someone who pretended to be Kelly Cutrone’s agent — oh and of course, party crashers galore.”

The D.C. social scene is ever-changing to Martin and Sandman. Their clients, like the W Hotel and Bethesda Row didn’t even exist five years ago. 

“I think one of the greatest things is that interesting people are more willing to go out,” Martin said. 

Sandman also echoed Martin, saying that the two have a rule in that they refuse to plan an event they wouldn’t attend themselves.

When it comes to setbacks, according to Martin, when things go awry you “just have to figure it out.”

“I mean, at the District Sample Sale [the charity event Martin and Sandman co-founded] I was plunging a toilet.” Martin said, laughing. 

Sandman, sipping her white wine, also mentioned that the two shared a desk together for a year.

“Jayne used to tell me to shut up when I’d talk too much and I’d yell at her for chewing her gum too loud,” Martin said.

Sandman shook her head chuckling. “It was bad — I chew my gum like a cow chewing cud.”

Despite meeting countless stars and politicians, Martin and Sandman still get starstruck every now and then. “Common [the rapper] was very charming,” Sandman said. “He invited me out with his friends, but I have a newborn at home.”

Balancing work and family can be a tough task to handle while working long hours. Martin is fortunate to have BrandlinkDC’s offices just blocks from her home, so she can see her husband and two children often. 

“I don’t even know about balancing just yet,” Sandman said, her fingers holding the tiny hand of her seven-week-old, Owen. “I’m lucky many of the events I go to crossover with [my husband] Jeff’s.”

Sandman’s husband, Jeff Dufour, is the Washington editor of UrbanDaddy.com.

Despite the occasional chaos in their lives, both Martin and Sandman agree that their line of work is all about the hard work and details. “In the end, you just have to love it,” Martin said.