What’s the hardest part?

What do you love about your job?

Oddly, the two things I love most contradict one another. I’ve worked as both an in-house PR and on agency teams. What I love are: being able to deep-dive into a brand as an in-house PR; and being on my toes constantly, working in an agency.

Remaining relevant is the toughest part. When I first started in 1996, I wasn’t even on email. I used to hand-deliver my press releases, with printed photographs. Now, I spend a lot of time making our stories work for SEO.

What are the biggest misconceptions about public relations?

It’s not about glamour. It’s about a good story and meeting deadlines.

People in PR are often skilled researchers, writers and strategists who have a keen understanding of what makes people tick. Public relations is not fluff – it is one of the most powerful tools in media and marketing. Public relations doesn’t sell tickets; advertising does.

What media do you consume?

I read all the local publishers online but still like to pick up printed copies of certain newspapers when I have the time. I’m addicted to podcasts – In the Ring with Eusebius McKai- ser; We Can do Hard Things with Glennon Doyle, The Rest is History, The Daily Show, BBC Global News and The New Yorker Writers are some of my favourites.

TV is mostly Netflix and Showmax, and radio is one medium I don’t consume enough of – with remote working I don’t spend as much time in the car anymore.

Career highlights?

In the early days, I was chosen by USAid to work at the Indiana Repertory Theatre in Indianapolis in its marketing department as part of a learning exchange programme.

I was hired by Endemol Productions to start a publicity department for Isidingo, one of the biggest dramas on television at the time. I fell in love with TV and the energy of the day-to-day grind.

More recently, I was brought in-house by Fry Family Foods to head its PR. It had just joined forces with the Livekindly Collective, a global plant-based food company. It was a time of real change and in many ways I was able to build on my own vision of what global PR looked like for the brand.