SAN FRANCISCO (Map, News) - Erika Taylor, who runs her own public relations firm called Three Girls Media, didn’t arrive at her profession overnight. Before going into public relations, she had a career that spanned 18 years and ranged from time spent as a morning radio talk jock to working with the California state Legislature.

Three Girls is the culmination, then, of a lifetime of experience. The firm was created to fill a void by providing public relations help for smaller businesses. In order to make up for money lost from not catering to larger corporations, Taylor runs the firm from her own home, which happens to be a farm.

“It’s a fun environment to work in and it lets us do crazy things. During a staff meeting we planted a garden,” she said. “It’s literally seven minutes away from San Jose, but looking out the window I see trees.”

Taylor arrived at a career in public relations after years of working on-air in radio, when she decided she needed a change.

“I wanted a career where I could use all the contacts I had in the media without being in the media itself,” she said.

While she had no experience in public relations, she found that her media experience gave her an advantage over others in the industry.

“Most people in PR learn how to do what they do in college, which doesn’t always work,” she said.

Within two years at PRX in Silicon Valley, she had worked her way from junior account executive up to senior director of media relations.

For a brief time she even moved into politics, working for two years as press secretary for the California state Legislature.

“I saw a couple of Assembly members through the 2004 election, and that was about all I could stomach of politics,” she said. “Everyone says politics is a dirty business, but I had no idea how dirty until I worked from the inside.”

Three Girls Media guarantees media coverage for all of its clients, a promise which Taylor says the firm has delivered on 100 percent of the time. After building a partnership with Three Girls Media, Koo-Ki Sushi, a manufactuer of chocolate and dessert themed sushi, was featured in several magazines, including Coastal Living, Better Homes and Gardens, and In Style Weddings.

Taylor hasn’t left broadcasting behind. She currently hosts an internet radio show called “PR 101: Marketing Advice for Small Businesses” for World Syndicated Radio.