Turning ten

My first baby was born, like so many are, of a wine fuelled chat in a bar near the European Parliament. Yesterday, she turned 10.

This first baby, a communications agency called Journalista, has grown a lot since she was born when I was just 27 years of age. Having never worked a day in a PR agency in my life.

I took my experience of working several public sector and political press offices and policy mag news desks. And opportunity from a gap I discovered as a journalist for more intelligent engagement from public relations professionals, who had taken the time and context to discover the most compelling stories of their clients. Oh, and most importantly, the awesome confidence of your 20s when you’re absolutely certain you can do it better than ‘that lot’. Of this, Journalista was born.

The name was chosen from the front cover of a book with curated stories of female journalists across the years. It issued a call to action that inspired the business: ‘those who fail to tell their own stories, are written out of history’. This founding drive to Journalista, thrives to this day. It is the desire to craft and share stories of extraordinary people and organisations to slice out a deserving place for them in history. Particularly those who champion the voices of the under represented and who represent hope and positive change, whose voices we feel need to be heard by those in the future.

This uniting purpose has drawn in some fantastic people over the years to share their talents. People who now work in number 10 (for their sins...!), lead council press offices, head up large scale transition teams in the NHS and local councils, lead art organisations, report for CNN, Bloomberg and Huffington Post. Today our team is made up of a vivid mix of former journalists, femtech business builders, actors and NHS managers. What’s interesting to me is few are from or go into other PR agencies. In the words of the most infamous Gonzo journalist : ‘We are not like the others’.

So in this vein instead of having a wine fuelled party on a rooftop to celebrate turning ten, which feels fitting of a PR agency and deserving of my fantastic team, I took the day off and celebrated with a cup of tea on Hythe beach with my kids and aunty.

Birthdays can be times for reflection and this seminal date has caused a fair few. Over the past four years this baby has frequently felt at odds with the needs of my two ‘proper’ children coming onto the scene.

Because sometimes business is personal and the costs you ask your family to bear - leaving them to childcare at just a few months old, not being there when they’re ill, barely seeing them all week, being frequently distracted in their presence - mean that moments of celebration lead you straight to gratitude for the sacrifices of those closest to you, who made it possible.

Fortunately growing the Journalista team, by almost double in the past year, has meant that the friction between my proper kids and metaphorical one is reducing. Although not between the 2 and 4 year old, who still enjoy clonking each other around the head.

Looking ahead into our tenth year we’re clarifying our proposition to our markets in digital therapeutics, health and social care, biotech and innovation. And refreshing our brand to bring our reason for being further to the forefront. Reuniting behind our original purpose stronger than ever before.

We’re also having a proper team shindig to celebrate turning into our second decade. Because this baby is no longer just mine, she belongs to a team of excellent people who make many personal sacrifices of their own to invest and care for her every day.