When I met f1 I’d been working in investment banking for 11 years and wanted a career change to something more entrepreneurial, using my skills learnt from equity sales. f1 listened to me, found out what I’d been doing and then rather than me saying “I want X” they matched me very cleverly with Rory Godson, Founder of Powerscourt. At the time there were four or five people working there and we hit it off straight away. 14 years later I am still here and have been CEO for the last 4 years.
I started at Powerscourt the day after my honeymoon eight years ago. I was new to the world of financial PR so I worked in many different areas – writing pitches and managing client accounts, but also helping to build the business. I was made a partner three years ago and we are now a company of 35 people with 60 outstanding clients, including FTSE100 and FTSE 250 companies from all different sectors. On the staff we have journalists and PRs and city people like me. When I first started there was no Twitter and placing stories in the papers came first. Now CEOs ask, which website should I be on?
f1 has helped us recruit four new people in the last two years, two of them directors. f1 understands our business and how to present our company to potential candidates.
My tip, to anyone thinking of moving from the city to financial PR, is: Do it! PR can take you into so many different areas from corporate strategy to crisis management and managing a team. We are a trusted advisor to many businesses and we sit side by side with the board to help on big reputational issues. It’s fascinating.