Why did you decide to go freelance?
I’d been working in PR for about 14 years. 10 of which were spent with the team at Pure PR. These were brilliant years with an amazing team but I felt an ever increasing desire to have more autonomy in my life in terms of the way I worked and who I worked with. This alongside wanting to help grow our family salon, SIMPLYGorgeous was the impetus for making the leap.
What are your favourite and least favourite parts of freelance life?
There are two main aspects that I really appreciate about being freelance. One is getting to work with brands and individuals that I truly believe in and supporting them on their journeys of growth however that may look.The other is being able to create and work to a schedule that is beneficial for me. I’ve learnt to be unapologetic about this as I feel it’s important to show up as the best version that you can be and you need to be steadfast with boundaries that may disrupt that.
What’s your #1 stress buster?
I’d say swimming has become a great source of relief for me. That and watching home and interior shows.
How do you find working so closely with your mum on SIMPLYGorgeous?
It’s a challenge but comes with so many rewards. She opened the salon about 14 years ago and I’m in awe of her business acumen and resolve. I learn so much from her.
We come from things from a totally different reference point and being able to merge these to help develop the salon and create an environment that is focused on our clients and staff is such an expansive experience.
How is SIMPLYGorgeous improving the Afro hair experience?
We’re all about elevating the customer experience and supporting black owned business as a primary MO.
We want our clients to come into our space and feel truly relaxed, knowing they’re going to be in the best hands when it come to their hair care -high chill low stress is how I describe us.
Supporting businesses like ours is also key to us as we feel that in order for our community to develop economically we need to be investing in each other. With this in mind we retail and use brands such as Afro Hair & Skin Co and Jim + Henry in the salon and will be taking on another couple hair care brands by the end of the year.
We’ve also began stocking the most phenomenal candle company called FlickerWick Limited who we met when we took part in the Antidote Street Summer Hair Lab where we did the braid bar.
What do today’s inclusive brands need to do to improve the way they communicate their message to the public?
I think a lot of brands are doing a pretty good job at purporting themselves to be inclusive.
That said, I feel there are always ways in which we can expand this offering away from including a cross section of skin tones or sizes in our advertising or marketing campaigns.
Elements such as a diverse team behind the scenes is just one way that brands can truly stand in their inclusive rhetoric.
How long do you think it will be before everyone feels catered to by the beauty industry?
To be honest I’m not sure this day will come. This is not meant to sound defeatist but there are always going to be things that people want that are not readily available.
As long as everyone or every ethnicity and class has access to their beauty basics I think that’s a good starting point.
What’s been your favourite PR campaign that you’ve worked on so far?
The Black Skin Directory Protect Your Melanin Campaign – the UK’s first suncare campaign and ad speaking to skin of colour.
This and the more recent Antidote Street Summer Hair Lab – hearing the publics feedback and awe over this was so heart warming and galvanising.
How do you keep your cool during a PR failure?
My job involves wearing a lot of hats and being able to look for solutions rather than and within problems. Having done this for a while I no longer experience loosing my cool. I look at the problem/issue through and through and figure out a way to best guide and advise my client through it that leads to a positive outcome for them.
I also have to consider that my contacts away from my clients are also key to my work so always have to factor this in.
How does it feel to represent brands who are changing the face of beauty?
I’m immensely proud. Proud to be working in a time where there are so many brilliant independent brands coming through that just so happen to be founded by people like me. And honoured to be given these opportunities.
Whenever I take on a client I ask myself, would I as a customer or user want to use this brand/product/service. If the answer is yes, then I won’t say no.
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