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Bad crisis communications and poor leadership don’t resolve difficult situations, they can compound harm, deepen reputational damage, and most importantly, increase the impact on the individuals at the centre of the crisis. This week Travelodge is at the centre of what seems to be a very significant and appalling lapse in both operational and communications decision making. Before anything else, the most important part of the situation is the victim and her family. The experi

Words are my tools and language is my passion. From singing, acting, writing and communicating I’ve built a career on them. Their power to shape culture, frame debate and legitimise experience. The pen is mightier than the sword etc etc.    In the last two years, I became a mother, and as we approach Mothering Sunday (with IWD only just behind us), I keep coming back to one word that still sits outside official record of the English Language.    Matrescence.   It isn’t in the

I’m struggling to feel celebratory this International Women’s Day. As a woman, a feminist, and a mother of a daughter, you might assume I’d be enthusiastic about it. Celebrating women. Celebrating progress. Celebrating hard-won rights. But I couldn’t feel less celebratory.  Firstly because women shouldn’t need a single day and deserve to be supported, championed and respected every day of the year. A little like Valentine’s Day - a packaged and monetised annual reminder to sh

Recently the PRCA published its new definition of PR: “the strategic management discipline that builds trust, enhances reputation and helps leaders interpret complexity and manage volatility.” I fully agree (although I don’t think it applies just to leaders). But that succinct definition encompasses an awful lot. Some pretty big ‘stuff’! Manage volatility – that bit alone deserves particular attention, because that is the gnarly bit that can undo all the work previously menti

January on LinkedIn is already full of bold statements, well-meaning (but often slightly patronising) advice, personal reinventions with suspiciously new (read AI) headshots and “This year I will…” posts written on December 31st at 11:58pm Meanwhile, over here at my still very new PR & Communications company, January looks more like this: Started the morning late, despite the best of intentions, because the pre-nursery routine was very rusty (but lovely) and then a frosty wal

Starting my business hasn’t made me fearless, but I wish I'd trusted myself and done it sooner, because although challenging at times, the past four months have been great. Yes, there’s admin. Yes, HMRC requires witchcraft and a great accountant. But the work is more varied and interesting, the wins feel bigger and building something in my own name is rewarding. Plus the boss is awesome and lets me go for soul nourishing lunches with glorious former colleagues occasionally. 

This was me a few weeks ago. I couldn’t speak, swallow or move. As a professional communicator (and singer) being mute was unsettling to say the least. By way of charades skills I managed to communicate what was happening and was hooked up to IV antibiotics, steroids and morphine (marvellous stuff). But this isn’t a sympathy post, I’m recovered. It is an observation on communication (plus an apology and a thank you – so stay with me). The observation(s): firstly trying to rea

Two full months (and a little bit) into running my own PR and Marketing consultancy, and the world feels a little different. My calendar has stopped behaving like a conveyor belt or a place where dreams go to die, and has started becoming more like my art studio: sometimes cluttered, sometimes calm, definitely a creative space and always mine to shape. It’s a joy.   So far I’ve had the privilege of supporting organisations working in business development, sustainability, manu