Sitting in my university house in 2013, I was battling with the stark realisation I’d been holding back for some months - university just wasn’t for me. It wasn’t anyone’s fault, I loved my course, my course mates and my housemates, but it just wasn’t the place for me. So, I took the bold move to drop out. I was looking for jobs straight away. I’ve always been great at two things - writing and talking to people - and I knew I wanted to work somewhere where I could capitalise on those skills.

I landed my first full-time ‘big girl’ job as a Marketing Copywriter in the private sector, and spent my days writing engaging product descriptions for items sold by the company on Amazon, being a chair of the social committee and running the social media channels. I also undertook a workplace City & Guilds qualification in Digital Marketing.

After two and a half years, I was hungry for more responsibility, and I left for the start of my official Communications career. Spending the next three years(ish) as a Communications Officer for the NHS was great fun, but I started to see the way the job can be perceived by others, an issue which I’ve been passionate about challenging ever since.

In 2020, I became Corporate Communications Manager for the fire service. Over three years, I proudly led my brilliant little team to deliver all sorts, from the delivery of campaigns to major incident responses. My peers understood the value of communications, and we really ‘had a seat at the table’, which is always great to see.

The issue here actually came from the other side - members of the public. When advertising for communications roles, we’d receive comments on social media questioning “Why does a fire service need a communications team?”

I typed out a polite response - with statistics - to show some of the fantastic things our team delivered that year. The TikTok channel we started? You may think it’s a joke, but our 12k followers liked it - including the girl who saw our videos about smoke alarms and messaged us to say her parents didn’t have any because they were ‘too expensive’. This led to us fitting some for them for free.

Now, I lead on Crisis Communications here at Rock Kitchen Harris. I know that as I continue in my career, I will no doubt experience more suggestions that Communications is a ‘fluffy’ role, and something which is “nice to do”. Here’s my advice to anyone who thinks this:

• Remember that we have all worked to be here - I may have fallen into Communications, but I’ve worked hard to stay and develop in the remit. I am doing a postgraduate course in Crisis Communications, have monthly mentoring sessions with a communications peer, and have done nine years in various roles and sectors.
• You’ll probably need us at some point - whether it’s to design a poster or to lead on media relations for a large-scale reputational crisis, Communications teams are often the very quiet beating heart at the centre of it all.
• We’re a core part of the employee and customer experience - whether we’re communicating a big organisational change to a workforce, or carefully crafting an apology to customers, Communications teams are key in delivering a positive experience.
• We build and nurture internal relationships, we keep our ear to the ground, we know our stuff. Your Communications team is there to help make sure a message lands perfectly for all audiences.

I’ll stay hopeful for a mindset shift, which moves communications into a more respected position. I know this is the case in loads of workplaces, and I have had some brilliant experiences. Here at RKH, Communications sits as a valued part of the PR team, and works as a core function to support clients with delivering impactful messaging for all audiences.

But in the meantime, I will keep preaching, and encourage everyone to support their peers in Communications, and maybe try to avoid using the words ‘fluff’ or ‘sparkle’ in any emails you send to them.