How to live your legacy now through PR

How to live your legacy now through PR

My grandma was born in the village in Nigeria at a time where girls were not sent to school. That meant from then until the time of her passing last year, she never learned to read or write.

Despite this, she worked her butt off as a trader in order to afford my mum's school fees when she was growing up (education is not free in Nigeria).

My mum was then able to move to the UK in the early 80s, where I've been born and raised, and push both me and my sister all the way to degree level.

Now I literally get paid to write and help others to do the same by leveraging PR to get more visible, attract their dream clients and get paid what they want.

In that way, I am not only a living embodiment of her legacy genetically, I am a living embodiment of her ideals about what is possible when people (women especially) are given opportunities.

As I've been reflecting on her life this week (which marks a year since her passing), I've been asking myself some questions that I'm going to share with you:

How PR builds brand community

How PR builds brand community

I hear all the time that social media is toxic but I really don't find that. The reason? I'm really selective about who I follow and therefore what pops up on my timeline. This means that I typically leave social media feeling positive, having either been inspired, educated or entertained. One of the people who contributes to this is Famira Green (Community Focused Brand Coach) who recently shared a post on the 5 key differences between building an audience and building a community. Not only was it too good not to share, it really reminded me why I love PR so much. For example:

How prayer drives PR success

How prayer drives PR success

I come from at least 3 generations of dreamers on my mum’s side. My grandma was a dreamer, mum is and so am I in that our dreams tend to be meaningful and/or prophetic.

In November 2016, I went to bed one Saturday night and woke up on Sunday to the sound of my friend and “big brother,” Daryl, calling me. As soon as he asked how I was, I said “I think God wants me to start a blog”.

I don’t remember all the details of the dream now, but I remember that I felt that I should be interviewing other Christian women to get their views on their favourite women of the Bible and so on in order to dismantle traditional norms around womanhood. Why? Because I saw a Human’s of New York style platform in my dream very vividly and I remembered every detail at the time- which is usually a sign that my dream means something or is about to come true.

Voicing that out loud is what led me to actually beginning the process of launching my platform because Daryl, also being spiritual’s, response was “Well, I don’t know why you’re still on the phone to me. Get started and don’t call me back unless you’ve got results”. Knowing that he was deadly serious and that he’d cuss me out if I didn’t make a move, I got to work.

What this coffee shop experience taught me about using your voice

What this coffee shop experience taught me about using your voice

A few weeks ago, I was at my local coffee shop doing some work when I noticed a man approach a girl sat in the corner a short distance from me.

The horrible thing about her being in the corner like that was that she was hemmed in with nowhere to go.

 

I couldn't hear exactly what he was saying but I could hear that she was telling him to leave but he was just talking and talking and talking, not seeming to pay any of what she said any mind.

 

I looked over at her and she was very clearly uncomfortable. I’ve been in that sort of situation and it's horrible when you’re being harassed, and no-one does anything. So, I tried to get her to look at me, but her eyes were focused on him for fear of what he would do.

 

I then waved my hand and asked "Are you okay? Do you need help?" And she said, "Yeah." So I said…

What Tetris taught me about PR Success

What Tetris taught me about PR Success

One of the things that I like to do to de-stress is play Tetris.

For ages my high score was in the high 6000s and I spent ages trying to beat it until one day I stopped and just went back to playing for pleasure.

A few days ago, I opened up the game to play it again and had to laugh. My new high score was 7032 and I had absolutely no idea when I'd done it!

3 ways refusing to be visible is holding you back

3 ways refusing to be visible is holding you back

It's Mother's Day in the UK today.

If you follow me on social media, you'll see that this has caused me to reflect on some of the ways that I am the person that I am today because of my mum.

One of the things that comes to mind as I sit down to write this, though, is a saying that she used to say a lot to me when I was younger:

"It's not me that you're doing, you're doing yourself"

A Nigerian Pidgin (or broken) English way of saying, "You think that in acting out you're hurting me but you're actually only hurting/harming yourself"

Not only does this saying give you a glimpse into the kind of child I was <clears throat> it sheds some light onto the many ways in which, although you might think you're protecting yourself by refusing to be visible, you're actually doing more harm that good.

For example:

How to be authentic without oversharing

How to be authentic without oversharing

If you’ve been in the online marketing space for a while, you may have heard the phrase “facts tell; stories sell”. 

You may also have been encouraged by well meaning coaches to “share your story” to better connect with your ideal clients and, ultimately, sell your products or services.

The problem with this advice is that it can create more questions than answers

Like:

  • How much of my story should I tell?

  • Can I be authentic and relatable without oversharing?

  • Who even wants to hear my story, let alone publish it on their media platform, anyway?!

If you’ve been asking one (or more) of those questions, this post is for you! Here’s what you need to know:

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…