Why PR is for you NOW!

Why PR is for you NOW!

I remember when I was in secondary (or high) school and my chemistry teacher, Mr Williams, practised something called “peer teaching”.

So, what this would look like is, if I managed to solve a problem or really impress him with my work, he would have me come up to the board, write out how I solved the equation and talk both him and my classmates through my process.

But the reason that he wanted me to do this wasn't because he thought I was a science genius, but because he wanted to:

  • Check my understanding (or that I didn’t cheat!)

  • Give the class the opportunity to hear an explanation in language that they could understand and relate to

I say all of this to say that a lot of the time, when it comes to PR, we tend to feel that it’s for people who have “arrived”- making us feel that we we need to wait to:

  • Become more of an expert

  • Gain more experience

  • Jump through a bunch of hoops to prove ourselves before diving in (or further)

But my teacher was calling me to the front of the class to help my classmates, that wasn't an issue or what he was even looking for.

He didn’t wait for me to get a degree or years of experience in his chosen field.

What he wanted was someone who knew just a bit more than his other students and could share it effectively. And that's all you need when it comes to PR too!

In other words…

5 things holding women back in PR

5 things holding women back in PR

Anyone who knows me knows that I’m a HUGE Disney fan!

The film that started it all? The Little Mermaid, which I got for my 5th birthday.

One of the things that I love about Disney movies is that they typically have deep, inspirational messages that can be applied to everyday life. The Little Mermaid is no exception.

In case you’re unfamiliar with the story, here’s an example of that:

Ariel (The Little Mermaid) dreams of being human.

When she falls in love with Prince Eric, she goes to Ursula (the sea witch) for the opportunity to kill two birds with one stone:

  1. Become human forever

  2. See Eric again, get him to fall in love with her and seal it with a kiss

Ursula agrees to help Ariel, but the gag (catch) is that:

She wants Ariel’s voice as collateral

  1. Ariel will only have 3 days to find Eric and experience true love’s kiss

Without that kiss, not only will Ariel not get her happily ever after, she’ll be Ursula’s prisoner forever.

I know what you’re thinking, “How do mermaids, sea witches and having magic spells broken by true love’s kiss relate to my life, Nina?”

Well, the truth is that we all have Ursulas in our lives- even you

Your Ursula may not be a plus-sized purple octopus with a powerful singing voice like Ariel but, as a woman, there are plenty of things vying to sabotage your visibility dreams and steal your voice.

In fact, there are 5 voice stealers that personally stopped me showing up before I learned the tools needed to overcome them.

I recorded a video (below) about them because I don’t want the same things that stopped me from stepping out into the spotlight to also stop you.

How PR= time saved

How PR= time saved

If you’ve been rocking with me for a while then you’ll know that I have a background in Speech and Language Therapy.

In the UK, the route from a NQT (Newly Qualified Therapist) to becoming a specialist means you have to serve your time as a “generalist” where you’d treat a bit of everything either in schools or a clinic.

Once you’ve paid your dues, usually about 2 years, you get to specialise in one specific area.

Now this is a really simplified explanation but I’m telling you this so you can see why a lady called Miriam Levine was such an angel to me during this period of my life.

You see, just before I graduated I’d applied for a job at a clinic in the London Borough of Brent. I managed to get an interview and Miriam and another lady, called Fiona, were the ones who interviewed me.

I remember coming out of that interview feeling like it had gone really well.

I’d answered the questions as best as I could but —most of all — I felt like I’d made a personal connection with the ladies (I had determined to be authentic yet professional, making them laugh more than once in the process).

A few weeks later, I received a call from Miriam but my hopes were crushed when I heard her say that- although they really liked me- there had been other candidates that suited the position better.

A few weeks after that call, I’d continued attending my last few lectures and applying for jobs but still was having no luck even securing another interview.

Then, one day, I got an email from a lady from a school that I’d never heard of- let alone applied to- saying that she wished to speak to me about the possibility of working for them.

Long story short, Miriam had recommended “a lovely girl that they had interviewed recently but weren’t able to take on”-

Me!

The best part about this job that plopped into my lap?

I’d be working in a language unit attached to a primary (elementary) school which would mean that I would bypass the 2 years of general practice and end up specialising in language disorders straight away!

As you can imagine, I took the job and it completely fast tracked my career development, saving me (years of) time!

The only other thing that’s fast tracked my career like that has been PR

Here’s how PR can do the the same for you:

3 simple year end review questions for PR success

3 simple year end review questions for PR success

Those who know me well will tell you that there are 2 times in the year that I tend to get especially reflective:

  1. My birthday

  2. New year

If you, like me, haven't quite gotten a chance to really sit with your thoughts about 2022/23 here are 3 reflective questions/journal prompts to get you started:

Why mindset is so important for PR Success

Why mindset is so important for PR Success

Just before my Wickedly Smart Women podcast interview in October I suffered a series of unfortunate events:

  • My ring light cut off

  • The lack of light messed with the brightness of the content I was trying to capture

  • I tried to compensate for this by moving my phone closer

  • Then my phone fell

  • By this time I was almost late for the interview; so I had to leave the phone and get started

You can see the live footage of this below:

Why motivation matters in PR

Why motivation matters in PR

I am one of those people that like to have enough of a movie or TV programme outline to pull me in but not enough that major plot points are ruined for me.

I’m so militant about it that I have been known to shush people mid-speech, cover my ears and even throw in a “la la la la la!” for good measure, if I feel like they’re about to spoil things for me!

This also means that I tend to watch Marvel movies (which I adore!) in their opening weekends to avoid accidentally stumbling across spoilers online

So you can guess what I went to see yesterday, right?

Yup, sis, Black Panther!

As I said, I don’t do spoilers. But, what I will tell you is:

  1. I absolutely loved it

  2. I walked away thinking about the importance of having pure motives when we show up, which I talked about further in the (less than 2 minute) video below

(If you’re someone who gets nervous about visibility (which, who doesn’t?!) the 2 tips in it will be game changers for you!)

The most misunderstood thing about confidence and PR success

The most misunderstood thing about confidence and PR success

In a lot of my recent conversations with women about what's holds them back from achieving their PR goals, confidence has come up a lot. Here's the thing, though. Confidence is something that must be cultivated. We cultivate confidence through practice. If you sit around waiting to feel (more) confident before you do the thing you've been putting off, it will never happen. In my experience, action precedes confidence; not the other way around- which means if you implement, execute and stay in integrity with yourself, the rest will follow. Not sure how? Well…

How networking leads to PR success

How networking leads to PR success

In the last week of August, I had the awesome pleasure of going to Panama with The Christian Travel Club

It was such an amazing experience with a great group of people in an amazing country

Whilst there, I had the opportunity to attend a small mastermind breakfast with Anthony O’neal

In case you’re unfamiliar with him, he’s a former Dave Ramsey personality and host of The Table. He’s also the guy with the mic in the video above.

During the mastermind I witnessed something which was a great reminder of why networking is so important and how, if heeded, could lead to PR opportunities for you too…