Biggest fuck up
I’ve had a couple of fuck ups in my career so far. Both have involved big PR agencies.
The bigger of the two was when I decided to go back to full-time employment after taking a break from running my first business, Juice PR. After losing my largest client, Sage X3 and having a couple smaller clients experience funding issues, I found it extremely difficult to maintain financial stability.
I was fortunate enough to have a few offers and ended up joining a well-known PR and corporate affairs agency which had a stellar reputation but wasn’t averse to controversy. I met one of the partners and a picture of my role was painted in pretty grand terms. It involved mentoring /coaching as well as driving a tech centre of expertise within the corporate team.
What struck me pretty quickly after joining was the level of conformity and overt favouritism that existed in a way I’d never experienced. I found myself having to compete against agency peers on client teams and was often excluded from internal client meetings. This was not what I expected from the ‘pitch’, and I noticed other, more junior staff, being treated in the same way. A few sought counsel from me.
My nature was to press on and make things work, but I felt a creeping ostracism and I debated leaving the agency just before Christmas. I even had a couple close friends ask me at a Women in PR dinner, “Are you okay Shelley”? That was a massive warning sign.
After Christmas things got much worse. I was told in an appraisal that comments had been made that I was ‘prickly’. I recall laughing and then getting angry, no one had ever made a comment like that about my character and I directly challenged it. Needless to say, things went downhill from there.
A few weeks after I was pushed out of this agency, I started developing a strange inflammation on the top of my wrists. It was the first sign of an autoimmune condition, the onset of which I put down to the high levels of stress I had put myself through. With all my experience, I should have known better!
This PR agency no longer exists. I wish more agencies of its ilk would experience a similar end.
For my part I should have left when I first debated it, just a few months in. The lesson? Go with your gut, no matter how hard the decision may seem at the time. The moment you feel a culture is crushing your soul, you must leave.
Rant
A couple of things have really pissed me off about the PR / comms sector over the years. One is the lack of ethnic diversity and the second is the ongoing gender pay gap. Here are some figures:
According to a survey of over 400 corporate comms professionals, the average pay gap for in-house practitioners is 12 per cent in favour of men, while at agencies it is 11 per cent. Across both agency and in-house, men’s bonuses were four per cent higher than women’s, on average… – VOA gender pay gap report – 2024.
A CIPR report from Feb of 2024 found that 87% of practitioners are white, with 5% from Asian backgrounds, 4% of mixed ethnicity and 3% black.
The same report found that 9 in 10 PR directors are white.
In the past I have spoken about both issues publicly on panels and for Women in PR to raise awareness. I try to do what I can to highlight where positive change is happening and support those making it. I love to mentor and feel it’s essential for change, so I mentored in University of Westminster’s first BAME scheme aimed at marketing grads and recently signed up to PRCA’s PRISM scheme. I also joined the UK chapter of G100 Mission Million in Media, Arts and Comms to collaborate with others who champion diversity and inclusion.
Regarding increasing ethnic diversity in the profession, I believe the change needs to start from secondary school in terms of increasing awareness of careers in communications and PR. The role models in leadership are increasing all the time and as this continues it will encourage kids of all ethnicities to consider the profession. Networks like the UK Black Comms Network are doing amazing things.
In terms of the gender pay gap, I think much more transparency is needed in the industry and bad actors need to be named. Otherwise change will continue to be slow. Government needs to be instrumental in continuing to push for greater transparency.
Useful advice
I think the best advice I’ve had isn’t something I was told, but what I witnessed in my mother. That was her selfless generosity towards people who needed help or were less fortunate than her. I recall when I was a child she took in a woman and her son who were sleeping in a car because there wasn’t enough space for them in a women’s refuge. She and my dad brought up my Navajo American sister and I from the age of four (until Alice had to go back to the reservation at 12) and her younger cousin much later when I was in college.
I hope I have managed to channel my mom’s attitude throughout my life. If you give more than you get, whether that is using your skills and talents to help others, or bringing others up with you, I believe you will experience fulfilment.