Sarah Cullen founded SideCar Public Relations just as Denver started climbing out of the Great Recession. She has since grown the firm into a full-service PR and communications firm specializing in commercial real estate, development and placemaking.
“The most important risk I took was the decision to begin,” Cullen said. “Starting a new business is hard. The rates of success for small businesses are daunting, and it can often feel like a lonely journey. As a business owner, you learn to be comfortable with a certain amount of risk every day without ever taking for granted how the decisions you make affect so many different outcomes and people. Comfort with ambiguity is not for everyone. But the reward of building something you believe in — for me — has been well worth all the sacrifices.”
Founded in 2011, SideCar Public Relations serves the commercial real estate industry. Cullen worked in a large generalist firm before the Recession, and she was determined to operate SideCar differently, creating a collaborative culture built around three key tenets: specialization, service consolidation and streamlined methodology.
Under Cullen’s leadership, SideCar has developed strong partnerships with some of the most influential players in commercial real estate. Its clients range from developers like Formativ, Golub, EDENS and Unico Properties to architects such as JNS and OZ to builders such as Mortenson, and even place-makers like RiNo Art District and the Downtown Denver Partnership.
“If there is a development happening in Denver, chances are that one of SideCar’s clients is involved,” the company said. “During the pandemic, Sarah led the firm in adopting a new mantra that not only sums up our approach as a firm, it encapsulates Sarah’s leadership style: Ride with Heart. It’s about how we show up for people: for our family, our friends, our community, our colleagues and our clients. It means we pour our whole hearts into what we do.”
Cullen has been recognized among Denver Business Journal’s 40 Under 40, the distinguished Marquis Who’s Who in America and Bisnow Denver’s Power Women.
SideCar has also earned a number of industry accolades. In 2016, the firm received a Gold Pick award for its work on the launch of Bindery on Blake, a dynamic, adaptive reuse development in Denver’s RiNo neighborhood. In 2017, Bulldog Reporter named SideCar the Best Boutique Agency (Silver Award) in the country. In 2019, SideCar earned a coveted Gold Pick award for Best Use of Social Media from the Public Relations Society of America for creating an artist video series on behalf of NINE dot ARTS. In 2020, SideCar received a Bulldog Gold Award for Best Campaign on a Shoestring Budget on Side Stories for an eight-night outdoor art experience in the RiNo Art District. In 2021, SideCar was named one of the best PR agencies in the country by Forbes.
