Trailblazers and leaders: Ebony Gayle
Ebony Gayle | PR & Communications Strategist | Ebony Gayle Communications
How did you get into marketing/comms?
I went to the BRIT school and was studying graphic design and did some dance on the side. They had some taster sessions and one was for marketing and that piqued my interest and essentially my direction. I went to university and studied a business communications degree and thought I'd go into advertising. However once I started to research the roles I found that everything seemed very separate, whereas PR/comms covered a mix of creativity and strategy which I enjoyed. While at uni I did some work experience in agencies, one was beauty, and another was fashion. The experience with the fashion PR agency put me off the fashion industry but it didn't put me off a career in comms and PR.
What is something that you do every day without fail?
I pull my affirmation cards - some food for thought for the soul and check Twitter lol - Twitter keeps you abreast of lots of things going on in the world so I check in daily.
What is the best piece of advice that you’ve received? And who gave it to you?
Worrying is like a rocking chair, gives you something to do, but gets you nowhere. A quote from my late gran, she was full of gems, but this is something that has stuck with me and can apply to work and life in general as life is life-ing.
What is a tool/hack that you would recommend to anyone starting out in PR/Comms/Marketing?
Start building your network of industry contacts and get yourself a mentor.
What’s your greatest achievement to date?
I'd say being a mum to my daughter and taking the leap of faith to be self-employed and working with some great clients and campaigns. Being empowered to spread my wings in other areas, like having my podcast, writing a book, creating online courses, and embracing my entrepreneurial interests. I don't reflect on my achievements as much as probably should, but when I do I give myself a pat on the back for the growth - If you had asked me years ago if I'd do any of these things I might have looked at you like you are cray cray.
Is there a particular comms campaign that you’ve seen in your career that you didn’t work on but wish you had?
Well there are two that I feel like this about, to be honest, one is the UK Black adoption campaign, and the other Barbie movie. Very different I know, but I really thought the Black adoption campaign was an important one and well executed, it highlighted the social disparity that Black children spend longer time in care and mainly because of their race. The campaign set out to tackle and dispel some of the misconceptions that Black people had about eligibility, it being an intrusive process, and more. It resulted in a rise in black people registering for adoption. A campaign with purpose and a great outcome.
The other is the Barbie movie - I mean it speaks for itself, it was everywhere, billboards, socials, the leveraging of brand collabs and nostalgia, the buzz and excitement, the queues for the movies, the Barbie boxes it was a great campaign showing Barbe had moved with the times and the buzz def yielded results on a global scale.
What’s the key skill you think a successful PR/comms/marketing pro requires?
Great listening skills and the ability to make complex info simple and digestible for many audiences in a creatively engaging way.
In three words, describe your approach to your role/work?
Creative, concise, and calm.
What’s a question every PR/marketing pro should ask themselves?
Will anyone care? It's important to ask this as I have worked with clients who want to PR everything, but not everything is newsworthy.
