Trailblazers and leaders: Barbara Phillips

Barbara Phillips | Director | Brownstone Communications

How did you get into marketing/comms?

Totally unconventionally! I was a self-funding university student and did media sales to support myself. Through media sales, I started doing sponsorships and through sponsorships, I met some of the rare Black PR professionals around in the 90’s. I helped out on big Black events for the experience and did a very short stint at The Voice as Head of Promotions where I worked on the Notting Hill Carnival and Afro Hair & Beauty. From there I started Brownstone Communications to help mainstream organisations market themselves to the Black community and get to grips with the new terms of Diversity and Inclusion. Then after a few years of being my own boss, I completed a Master’s in Communications Management to make sure I was giving my clients the best service. From there I went back in-house as head of comms and the rest is history.

What does an average day look like?

I am and have always been completely proactive and self-motivated. I like to pride myself on making something out of nothing and not expecting anything to fall in my lap (if only). So it’s waking up, lots of reading, deciding what tasks I absolutely need to do that day. I go to the gym or go for a walk and then work on any client briefs and create proposals to pitch. It is unlikely I can go one day with the least one Zoom. And I have been blessed to speak regularly in public about racial equity, so take every opportunity to speak or at least comment. I’ll also complete any work related to my voluntary roles as Chair of REEB, member of Racial Diversity Committee of Motorsport UK as a sitting Magistrate and as the Inclusion and Diversity Magistrate for the London Region.

What advice would you give yourself knowing there was going to be a pandemic?

I’m a go with the flow person, so I wouldn’t do much different apart from eating less and exercising more, that lockdown weight is still clinging to all the wrong parts!

What is the one thing you wish you’d known when you started working?

I faced naked racism in my very first job. I wished I'd known this was the norm for every, single role. And that it wasn't me being “aggressive, having a chip on my shoulder, a bad attitude, too uppity, too much to say for myself" - yes the quotation marks are correct. I would have just ignored most of the savages I worked for and not wasted every second I did, believing them, instead of myself.

What’s your greatest achievement to date?

It has to be to have freed myself from all of the negative pressure put on Black women to behave a certain way to make our white female colleagues feel comfortable. This means I can work successfully at a very senior level without making a single friend because the people who need to respect me usually do. And further, I decided that Barbara was going to turn up for work and if you didn't like that version of Barbara (ie being my authentic self), then you could dispense with my services. As Oscar Wilde said, “Be yourself. Everyone else is taken”. If yourself is Blackity Black, Black, then be that. Your mental well-being will thank you.

Is there a particular comms campaign that you’ve seen in your career that you didn’t work on but wish you had?

So many! I’ve been around a while! Right now it’s anything that harnesses Black creativity as some have tried to hide it, but it burst through anyway - that is always a joy. I must admit I would have loved to have worked on Edward Enniful’s first edition of British Vogue. I kissed those pages, as I did the activist edition. I used to collect copies of Vogue in my youth because it was so gorgeous. But stopped because I got bored with the one unflinching image of beauty (Naomi, Beverly, Iman notwithstanding). So when Edward brought something more realistic I picked up where I left off and buy it regularly now.

What’s the key skill you think a successful business owner requires?

I’d say being clear about your product and service, how it differs from anybody else’s; unwavering belief in your ability to deliver the best way you know how, learn from your mistakes, be a lifelong student and as I said earlier, be able to make an opportunity for yourself when on the surface, there doesn’t seem to be one.