Darren Shuster, M.A., came out of the UCLA doctoral program in 1998, after a formative run in Washington, D.C. working inside foreign embassies, on Capitol Hill, and publishing international conflict research. He went on to build and define the category of Pop Culture PR, a consumer media relations agency headquartered in Los Angeles with offices in Central America, London, South Africa, and Southeast Asia.
Shuster has implemented strategic communications programs for brands, CEOs, political organizations, and celebrities, including Phil Mickelson, Starbucks, Okcupid, Tinder, Ancestry.com, The Gates Foundation in Africa, and UFC World Champion Cris “Cyborg” Justino. The early years of the agency focused on counter‑intuitive, headline‑grabbing tactics that helped to shape the viral era in Silicon Valley.
Featured in outlets such as The Los Angeles Times, TMZ, Entrepreneur, The New York Times, Sports Illustrated, ESPN, and PRWEEK. Today, he blends his professional intelligence background with public relations agency experience to advise brands on how best to take back control of their reputations.