Jennifer Garner Praises Publicist Meredith O’Sullivan at Big Brothers Big Sisters Event

Seconds after hitting the red carpet outside NeueHouse Hollywood on Thursday night, Jennifer Garner stopped posing momentarily to ask the row of photographers a quick question (or two).

“What do you think? Is she doing a good job?” Garner asked, referring to the woman standing to her left, power publicist and Lede Company co-founder and co-CEO Meredith O’Sullivan. Garner then turned to face O’Sullivan, adjusted the lapels of her black tuxedo jacket and faux-straightened her white dress shirt, like a publicist might do for a client ahead of a gala like the one about to unfold.

Related Stories

The gesture perfectly telegraphed how the tables turned for the special event as Garner showed up to honor O’Sullivan, her longtime publicist and “dear friend,” someone used to shining a light on her A-list clients, not the other way around.

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Los Angeles mounted it’s annual “Big Night Out” by inviting O’Sullivan to receive one of the night’s highest honors, the Sherry Lansing Award, during a program that also honored music mogul Troy Carter (Walt Disney Man of the Year Award), fashion designer Jhoanna Alba (Trailblazer Award), musician Andy Grammer (Defender of Potential Award), and BBBSLA junior board co-chair Jerome Caldwell and “little brother” Jaylen (National Big Brother and Little Brother of the Year Award).

Following an introduction from the night’s host Billy Harris, Garner kicked off the program and she clearly relished the rare opportunity. “Meredith has always been a mentor,” Garner said in opening her remarks after noting how “sweet” it felt to have the chance to praise her rep instead of the other way around. In doing so, she called her “the most tenacious, the most steadfast, the most loyal, and the most hard working.” (She also seemed genuinely moved by the cause as she plunked down $15,000 during the live auction to win a private dinner at chef Nancy Silverton’s Osteria Mozza in the iconic Jack Warner private dining room.)

Garner recalled first meeting O’Sullivan more than 20 years ago when O’Sullivan was in the midst of launching her career at (now defunct) BWR Public Relations alongside rising reps Marisa McGrath Liston and Nicole King Solaka, both of whom have gone on to have notable industry careers in film marketing and management and producing, respectively.

“The three of them have pushed and pulled, encouraged, loved up on and changed each other, and in the process, all of the women who have worked for them,” Garner said, nodding to the role of mentorship and allyship among peers. “Meredith is the ultimate boss. She feels like my boss. I know that I’m right, right Lede? Is she not?”

Garner’s question was answered with rousing applause from three tables in the center section of NeueHouse’s events space where O’Sullivan was feted by throngs of Lede staffers, including co-founding partners Amanda Silverman, Christine Su and Sarah Levinson Rothman and head of content Liz Biber, among others. At multiple times throughout the night, anytime Lede was mentioned, its staffers responded with hearty cheers and applause, so much so that the evening’s host Billy Harris noted all the Lede love. (How’s that for good PR?)

Garner continued her tribute by saying that O’Sullivan is the type of boss who offers unfiltered feedback. “She’s the first person to say, ‘You’re not serving the company. You’re not serving yourself. This is unacceptable. Show up like this.’ She lives it and she asks it and she does it herself, and because of that, we all respect the hell out of her. She’s the most trusted woman in Hollywood, which is saying something — except for maybe Sherry Lansing. She’s the fiercest, most feared woman, also perhaps along with Sherry Lansing. You just can’t not love her.”

Because she’s so beloved, Garner said that “there are a hundred people who would fight me for this opportunity” to be the one offering the tribute. O’Sullivan’s A-list client list includes Will Smith, Reese Witherspoon, Emma Stone, Will Ferrell, Halle Berry, Jessica Biel, Jennifer Connelly, Zoe Saldana, Jurnee Smollett, Rosario Dawson, Gabrielle Union, Hugh Grant, Cynthia Erivo, James McAvoy, Demi Moore and many more.

The Sherry Lansing Award was presented to O’Sullivan for her “personal and professional commitment to mentorship.” On that note, Garner noted that O’Sullivan secured the participation of eight PR firms to host a “little sister” as an intern at their respective agencies. But her work in mentorship was best expressed by Kalis Coleman, a young woman whom O’Sullivan has mentored through THR’s Women in Entertainment mentorship program in partnership with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Los Angeles.

They were paired up when Coleman was a 17-year-old high school junior in Inglewood. Now, she’s on the verge of graduating from Loyola Marymount University as a recipient of the Black Panther Scholarship Award.

“When I think of the Sherry Lansing Award, I think of a pioneer, someone who is highly creative and innovative, someone who uses an original approach to solving difficult problems. And my mentor, Meredith, embodies this definition. She is an independent thinker, often clever and always original,” praised Coleman. “Even though she has a highly demanding schedule, she invests time, energy and effort into my future by securing resources and opportunities that create pathways that align with my goals. My mentor has been and continues to be a true inspiration to me.”

In accepting, O’Sullivan called it “profoundly humbling” to receive a trophy with the name Sherry Lansing on it as she’s “obviously a legend and icon.” She also joked that the beta blocker she took wasn’t working, hence the nerves.

Then she devoted the majority of her speech to speaking directly about her mentee. She said that after meeting Coleman, she noticed that the youngster had a different approach. “I realized you were just being incredibly polite. You didn’t want to bother me. You didn’t want to take up my time or too much space. I recognized this immediately as something young women and especially young Black girls get hammered into them at an early age,” O’Sullivan explained. “I wasn’t sure what I could bring or offer to such a driven, focused, and capable young women as yourself.”

She continued: “But I reflected on all the times in my career that I didn’t have any folks that really looked like me running the show. But through hustle, failure, some amazing friendships and mentors that are in this room, I was able to find my way. I learned that I did deserve a seat at that table, that I could have a voice, I could take up space. … I wanted to remind you that there is a seat at the table for you whenever you want, take it. It was my job to not only tell you where the table was, what it was, what the seat was, and pull that seat out for you.”