Inspiring Women In PR & Comms

During my two and a bit years here at Mynewsdesk, I've had the honour of working alongside and in collaboration with some of the industry's most brilliant women - each of them inspiring me with their stories, advice and expertise. But despite the sheer volume of smart and successful women in PR, still we see male dominated panels, hosts and keynotes. And that, to say the least, is pretty frustrating.

So, forgive me for a) being a day late for International Women's Day and b) jumping on the list bandwagon, but I thought it was high-time we shouted about the best female leaders we've worked with. From speaking at our events to contributing to our content, here are our go-to gals who are, quite frankly, BOSSING it in the PR world...

Louise Hodges - European Head of Communications & Global Coordinator, Travelzoo

Louise Hodges is Travelzoo’s European Head of Communications and Global Coordinator, responsible for pulling together the 25 markets in which the company operates and building brand awareness in key markets. Louise spoke at last year's FutureComms about the importance of putting audiences before agenda.

Jessica Becker- Director, Manifest New York

With 8 years of PR and social campaign experience under her belt and following her huge success as Account Director at Manifest London, an award-winning comms agency, Jess moved to New York to head-up Manifest for the USA and Canada.

Bringing bags of personality, energy and expertise to the stage, Jess was a huge asset to FutureComms16, hosting the "Young PR" panel which aimed to explore the perceptions of the PR industry vs their expectations upon graduating.

Shivvy Jervis - Creator, Digital Futures & The Trailblazers and Head of Digital Content, Telefonica

Voted one of Britain’s 100 most influential digital leaders for 2016, Shivvy is a video storyteller often cited as spearheading influencer-led thought leadership years before it became ‘the thing’ to do! The media awardee is head of digital content for Telefonica who back the two video series’ she produces (Digital Futures and The Trailblazers).

Rica Squires - Technology PR Manager at Visa Europe

A longstanding customer of ours, both during her time at Shazam and Visa, Rica Squires is no stranger to the stage. And, with over 20 years’ integrated marketing communications experience gained in the US and UK markets, including a stint in the White House, working on an anti-drug campaign for Clinton - Rica knows her stuff!

Sharon Flaherty - Founder, Brand Content

Sharon is the founding director BrandContent. She's held senior leadership marketing roles at leading UK brands including Confused.com, MoneySuperMarket, TravelSuperMarket.com and has had her views and approach published in various marketing books. Sharon is a huge advocate of the role content can play in the broader communications mix to deliver meaningful and measurable business results. 

Laura Richards- Marketing & PR Manager, Northstar Ventures

Laura Richards brought the house down at FutureComms16 with her topical 45-minute talk on Questioning Gender Diversity in PR.

Laura's role at Northstar involves leading their ongoing in-house PR and Marketing strategy as well as developing the company’s PR ‘platform services’: an innovative approach to supporting Northstar’s portfolio with PR and Marketing activities and training.

Kate Hartley - Co-Founder, Polpeo

Co-Founder of Polpeo -  a crisis simulation platform that lets brands and agencies rehearse a crisis breaking over social and digital media - Kate Hartley is a familiar face at Mynewsdesk's events. But not only has Kate hosted sessions at our Digital PR Bootcamp and live on stage at FutureComms16, she's also shared her top tips on how to handle a comms crisis in our newsroom. 

Heather Gordon Athie - Head of Retention, Mynewsdesk

Call me biased, but every day I get to work across the room from Heather, who, in my opinion, is bloody brilliant! Always with her finger on the PR pulse, Heather goes above and beyond to absorb new knowledge and loves nothing more than sharing that with others. Heather is an excellent leader at our event, Digital PR Bootcamp, at which she's trained customers and prospects on the brand newsroom approach, setting KPIs, SEO and much more! 

....honestly, I could go on for days, listing those I've been lucky enough to work with or see present / train. If there's anyone you'd love to add to our recommendations, please do let us know!