How does your usual day look like?

My dog wakes me up around 7 am, and due to his enthusiasm for his morning walks, I am out of the house by 7:15 am for a bleary-eyed walk in the park. I head to Starbucks en route for a Chai Tea Latte and practice a gratitude meditation as I walk to start my day in the park, surrounded by nature and full of gratitude.

I then jump on calls with my colleagues in India and Nigeria for a daily check-in, which is incredibly important for connection as our team largely works remotely, so having time daily for a chat builds bonds and collaboration. I then head back to my desk and, on Mondays and Tuesdays, often have back-to-back video calls with short breaks for walking my dog.

Lunch is usually at my desk, and I forage around for food in the kitchen with little thought or care as I get into work mode, and when I am in the flow, I lose concept of time and work for 12 hours straight. I am thankful for having a dog, as having him forces me to go for regular walks. I love my work and adore my colleagues and clients, so work feels more like play.

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After work, if there is no event to attend, I often order food as I cannot cook and spend the evening watching a documentary or binge-watching a series on Netflix.

Wednesdays and Thursdays are days for in-person meetings, so they are full of lovely breakfasts, lunches and teas with colleagues, clients and journalists.

Fridays, I reserve for strategy work with little or no interruptions, so minimal meetings to help me focus.

What are the things you like the most about your job?

I like working with my colleagues. We are lucky as a team to have people who are passionate about PR, and I learn so much from them daily. It is so important to work together in a positive environment, all of our colleagues are not only brilliant at what they do and driven, but they all are incredibly kind and supportive. Life is too short to work with toxic people. We are lucky to have good clients and a community of supporting journalists and a global network of people with shared values that we have built over the past 14 years.

What are some of the skills you utilise the most in your day-to-day at work?

Listening is a key skill I use on a daily basis. It is an active process to really listen as well as observe. After all, research showcases that communication is 55% non-verbal, 38% vocal, and 7% words only, so understanding body language is important in tuning into people. I am in the business of people, so being able to understand them as well as communicating to them in the style that they will be most responsive to is my primary skill in engaging with clients and colleagues.

Another key skill in consulting is the ability to multi-task and prioritise, as well as the ability to pivot and respond quickly as time-sensitive issues bubble up on a daily basis with little or no warning.

What was one of your happiest days in your career and why?

One of the happiest moments of my career was when I boarded a plane in 2011 for my first business trip heading to Kyiv in Ukraine, to work on a cultural diplomacy project to harness the power of contemporary art to present Ukrainian culture and creative talents on a global stage as its inaugural biennale. Blending travel, culture and storytelling was exhilarating, and I have been incredibly lucky to have worked in a series of fascinating client projects over the last 14 years.

What was the toughest career decision you ever made?

Letting go of staff members is the hardest part of my role. Colleagues become like family as we spend most of our waking hours with each other, so it's really difficult to let go of team members when performance is an issue. I reconcile my decision by telling myself it is far kinder to let them go so they can find a team that values their skill set and a culture that enables them to flourish. I believe that we all have value to offer teams and often need to find the right culture and role to flourish. Often we blindly promote people who are technically brilliant at their roles into managerial positions without thinking about whether managing people is the right thing to do for that colleague- some people work well as individual contributors, and others flourish building teams and managing projects.

What is something you had to learn to become better at your work?

One of the areas I still need to work on is the ability to give constructive feedback. My tone can be perceived as harsh and overly critical. I receive anonymous feedback from my colleagues regularly; it is an area that has dogged me for years. I have learnt that certain triggers, such as stress or working long hours, result in my management style deteriorating in giving feedback. I am learning to give positive feedback as it is as important if not more, than giving negative feedback. My big focus now is kindness, how to be a kinder manager and adopt a more empathetic tone.

How did you get to start your own PR company?

I became a CEO by co-founding Curzon PR and giving myself the title! I was the Founder and CEO of a tax consulting firm for over ten years prior to setting up Curzon PR, so I have been running businesses for over 25 years. Having the title of CEO and having the skillset are two different things. I feel there is so much more to learn about leadership before I consider myself a successful CEO. It's a work in progress.

What's the one piece of career advice you have for anyone interested in following your footsteps?

Kindness to self and others is key to thriving in a people's business. It took me 20 years to realise the importance of kindness in business to build relational capital in networks. Self-care is critical to ensure you have the stamina to plough through the trials and tribulations of running a business.

What's your number one productivity hack / when or how are you most effective?

I am tuned into my mind and body and know that mornings my mind is most receptive to complex thinking, so I allocate morning meetings and tasks which require complex critical thinking. I also know that in the early part of the week after the weekend rest, my brain is open to challenging briefs, but as the week progresses, my mind becomes less responsive, so I schedule meetings and tasks accordingly. Wrapping work around the way your mind functions is key to impact.