Deborah Weinstein and Judy Lewis are co-founders of Strategic Objectives, Canada’s most award-winning Public Relations firm. Sisters and agency business partners for more than 40 years, they have redefined Canada’s PR industry by injecting innovation, creativity, and powerful storytelling into brand-focused Public Relations. They have proven that PR deserves a seat at the marketing table by creating impactful strategies that build and protect brands, change minds, and boost the bottom line.
Deborah and Judy realized the true potential of effective Public Relations while working as journalists and television producers in the 1980s. They founded Strategic Objectives because, like so many entrepreneurs, they identified a need in the marketplace and developed a viable solution.
The partners launched Strategic Objectives in 1983 with one desk, two telephones and a typewriter. While they had less than $500 in the bank, they had vision and courage. They used their journalistic background to differentiate their clients’ news and created results-driven marketing PR campaigns rooted in creative strategy, ethical information, and smart ideas and better solutions.
Strategic Objectives was unlike any other PR agency at the time, and its unique approach quickly earned attention and results. Today, Deborah and Judy are proud to have partnered in building more than 100 of the world’s leading brands and organizations. A few of their best-known campaigns include: creating the Cashmere Collection as a brand platform to benefit the breast cancer cause for almost 20 years; winning the United Nations Grand Award for The Body Shop Canada’s STOP Violence Against Women Campaign; and their recent work promoting the Professional Women’s Hockey Players Association’s goal to create a single, viable professional women’s hockey league in North America, now called the PWHL.
Strategic Objectives has been named IABC (International Association of Business Communicators)/Toronto Agency of the Year for 10 of the last 14 years; and IABC Gold Quill Best Mid-Sized PR Agency in the World in 2019 and 2023. Strategic campaigns have won more than 300 national and international awards.
Judy and Deborah were honoured to receive the Queen’s Golden, and Diamond Jubilee Medals for Outstanding Service to Canada and its Communications Industry; as well as the Canadian Public Relations Society (CPRS) Entrepreneurial Leadership Award.
Despite their busy schedules, the partners make time to give back to their profession.
They have inspired, empowered, and mentored hundreds of young women and emerging marketing talent throughout their careers, and Strategic Objectives is a women-owned and -led business, certified by Women Business Enterprises Canada (WBE). Focused on making their profession more diverse and inclusive, the agency is a founding sponsor of CPRS Post-secondary Scholarships for Indigenous, and POC students. The partners are Founding Members of the Canadian Council of Public Relations Firms (CCPRF), and under Judy’s leadership as Chair from 2018 to 2024, developed its Commitment to Anti-racism.
Deborah represented Canadian PR agencies on the Executive Board of Counselors Academy, the senior leadership division of PRSA (Public Relations Society of America); and shared guidance on Advisory Boards for George Brown College School of Design, Seneca College School of Creative Advertising, and the first Toronto Social Media Week.
Judy is part of the IABC All-Star Speakers Bureau; regularly judges PR awards; and serves on the Centennial College Communications Advisory Board and the Board of Directors of Greenwood College School. The Lewis Family Scholarship supports Canada’s most vulnerable children through Stand Up for Kids, part of the Children’s Aid Foundation of Canada.
