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Her Media Diary Episode 50: “Spinning Truth to Power” with Farah Fortune
10 Plays2 days ago
Farah Fortune is the founder & Managing Director of African Star Communications, a full-service PR agency, focusing on customized strategic public relations campaigns.
Farah, dubbed ‘The Pitbull in Heels’, established her PR agency in 2008 with just R1,000, a laptop, and a phone, and is the brain behind some of the continent’s most iconic brand and celebrity campaigns.
In this episode, Farah talks about starting from scratch, managing public crises, mentoring young women in PR, and vital tips every communications professional should have. She also talks about the benefits of building and maintaining a strong relationship with the media as a PR manager, being authentic and giving genuine, relevant information at all times.
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If you’d like to join an episode of this podcast, send an email to yemisi@africanwomeninmedia.com. Or visit our website at www.hermediadiary.com
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Transcript
Podcast Introduction
00:00:03
Speaker
so welcome to hered diary to podcast where African women share the real experiences, bold moves and behind the scenes moments that shaped their journey. I'm your host, Dr. Yemisi Akimbo Bola.
00:00:14
Speaker
And in each episode, we're pulling back the curtain on what it really means to build a media career, to break barriers and stay true to your voice. Whether you're just starting out or already making waves, this space is
Building a PR Empire
00:00:26
Speaker
for you.
00:00:26
Speaker
My guest today is Farrah Fortune, also known as the Pitbull in Hills. I'm looking forward to hearing more about that. She's the founder and CEO of African Star Communications.
00:00:38
Speaker
A multi-award winning firm, which she started with just a laptop, a phone and a thousand rand. Farah is the brain behind some of the continent's most iconic brand and celebrity campaigns.
00:00:50
Speaker
In this episode, we'll talk about starting from scratch, surviving public crisis, mentoring young women in PR, and why every communications professional needs to marry boldness and authenticity.
00:01:02
Speaker
So stay with us.
00:01:14
Speaker
So Farah, welcome to Hermida Diary. Thank you so much for joining us on the podcast. You've built a PR empire, right? That covers the continent. ah That started with just a thousand rand, a laptop and a phone.
00:01:29
Speaker
That's amazing. But let's let's rewind. Before we get into the nitty gritty of that, let's rewind. Who was Farah before the press releases, the red carpets and the celebrity clientele?
Early Career Adventures
00:01:40
Speaker
Farah grew up in the UK and actually One of my first job jobs was actually working for immigration there. oh course very weird don't ask me i actually started working for i used to work at the doll center i used to sign on people for unemployment so i went to the twice bureau yeah yeah so i i i needed a job and and they were offering a job and there was a lot of career prospects within it i was also studying law at the time um and i was doing that part-time so i was going to classes in the evening and then
00:02:16
Speaker
One day, somebody from immigration walked in, and they were like, we are starting this new department within the unemployment centers, issuing national insurance numbers, but We have to train you on all these things.
00:02:29
Speaker
um And I was like, yeah, I want to do that. I want to progress from this career. I don't know where it's going. So let's you know see more money. I mean, who wouldn't want more money?
00:02:40
Speaker
And I ended up being trained on passports and how to spot fake passports, how to test fake money, fake passports, to people about their immigration status and how to catch people when they're lying.
00:02:57
Speaker
I was trained in all these like spy techniques. It was amazing. I was going to say it's like MI5 level training. I'll come to that in a minute in terms of them.
00:03:08
Speaker
um But it was just so crazy and I learned so much and um Actually, because i at the time there was this huge influx of fake South African passports as well. So I worked a lot on that and it was people were coming in who had fake South African passports. And because I speak Afrikaans, obviously my first thing would always be like, so do you speak Afrikaans? And they'd be like, yes, yes.
00:03:31
Speaker
And then I'd speak Afrikaans and next thing they're being deported. You know, it was just like, um and then I got an amazing opportunity. I was, I was very, very blessed.
00:03:45
Speaker
um I worked in the department for a number of years and I got an amazing opportunity to apply to MI6. um and Then I ended up meeting my husband at the time and that fell completely through.
00:03:57
Speaker
But that would have been my career um yeah i think so you would have been this sp ra I think I could have deeply been ingrained in the spy world by now.
00:04:08
Speaker
um But I also understood like what I was aiming for. I would have never been able to have kids. I would have never been able to get married. um family life was completely out of the question in any other career. So I was going to have to throw myself completely into um this whole other career. And it's it's so crazy how life just veers you off from what you think you're going to do.
00:04:30
Speaker
Absolutely. And it's interesting what you said about kind of making those decisions, actually, because it's, you know, Those are the realities, like the wider aspects of life that you wanted beyond the job that meant actually you needed to take a different career path. So what was, war talk us through your process during that time when you werere kind of making those conscious decisions or was it conscious or just kind of, you know, did life happen as well?
00:04:55
Speaker
I was 24. I was, I didn't know life. Gosh, you know, you think you're 24, but let me tell you, if you're 24 and you're watching this, like you just need to live every day as it comes. Because honestly, how you think life will probably take you is completely different. And what do you know at 24?
00:05:13
Speaker
You think you know everything, but looking back now, I'm like, I should have listened to my mom. Like I really, you really realize how much your parents were actually right when you grow up and don't, ah my mother must never see this interview. So she couldn't say, I was going to say, I'm going share this to my daughter. i know she yeah But she really was. And, and, um, you know, you,
00:05:37
Speaker
Life, like i said, life can take a very different trajectory to what you imagine life should be. um And yeah. So what was that trajectory for you? What was that trajectory that life took at age
Personal Life Turns
00:05:51
Speaker
24?
00:05:51
Speaker
um I ended up meeting ah my now ex-husband. And I was 24, I was in love. I didn't know any better. Sorry, guys. Like, yeah, I mean, we all make mistakes and we have to figure them out. and But at the time I was genuinely in love and I really wanted to start a family with this person, um you know, in the sense that I wanted to have us to be a family.
00:06:15
Speaker
I'd never initially wanted to have kids. um It was never part of my plans in life. um And it's so weird because I come from such a big family with six kids. um So me not wanting to have kids was always like a contention ah subject in my family. um And I ended up unexpectedly getting married and unexpectedly falling pregnant um with the most beautiful gift um I think God has ever given me. And yeah, that that was really what the trajectory was, I think.
00:06:47
Speaker
meeting him. um i lived in England at the time. I had no intentions of moving back to South Africa at the time. And when I met him, he was living in Canada. He was South African, grew up in Canada, came back to South Africa.
00:06:59
Speaker
And so I came back as well. um And yeah, that you know, I've been here ever since. And i and sometimes I really think, you know, um God has plans that we really don't think that are in our heads or plans at all. When I look at my journey, I'm like, I never imagined ending up in South Africa. I never imagined being this person that I am now. I never imagined my name out there in any way whatsoever, because that wasn't my plan.
00:07:31
Speaker
Yeah, that was in the past. No, yeah you're absolutely right. I think a lot of people can resonate with what you said about, you know, your business making plans, but the universe, God has a completely different plan for you. I mean, ah flow with it, I guess, right?
Entrepreneurial Beginnings
00:07:44
Speaker
Definitely, definitely, definite And you so you starting um you started africa African Star Communications in 2008, I believe, right which is around this period of the financial crisis. So that was quite brave of you also at the time. right What was your mindset when you took that first step?
00:08:02
Speaker
like What were you telling yourself during those early years? Because we all know that starting out is not you know yeah as and um beautiful and and and and c glamorous as it always sounds.
00:08:14
Speaker
stupidity, disillusion and complete ignorance about the world financial crisis at the time. I was 20, think i was when I started this business,
00:08:29
Speaker
twenty seven or twenty eight um and
00:08:36
Speaker
had no understanding ah find it I had no understanding of, not no understanding of finances, but I didn't really know the financial commitments in terms of running a business, taxes, dealing with the legalities of this business, so many things.
00:08:56
Speaker
I'll be very honest with you. I think if I was more aware of what was going on around me from a financial perspective at the time, I probably wouldn't have. I probably kept my job and being a little bit more secure and think, oh, I can't let go of this job right now. I need to make sure I'm able to pay bills.
00:09:11
Speaker
But I was so unhappy in my job. I think maybe even had I known that information, I probably would have done it anyway because i i really hated my job.
00:09:22
Speaker
I, I, it's not necessarily the people I worked with, maybe the people I worked for, but not the people I worked with. And, and, um, yeah, it was, it was a big decision for me at the time. I'd, I'd never, I never understood that the dynamics or the, oh, how big that decision was. I think till many, many years later.
00:09:48
Speaker
I guess when you're starting to out a business, or starting anything new, you kind of need a bit of that naivety actually to get through it. You know you need the most insane thoughts in your head when you start a business or you're entrepreneur.
00:10:04
Speaker
If you are an entrepreneur, you have some sort of level of mental illness. I don't care what anybody says, including me. What possesses you to just let go of you know ah ah stuff ah stable form of income to want to go and try and make it? Because I can tell you now, most ah most people that work nine to fives in this economy are probably richer than most of the entrepreneurs out there.
00:10:31
Speaker
So it's very much a passion project when you start your own business. Yeah.
Business Wisdom
00:10:35
Speaker
Yeah. And you know, the key thing is that actually you don't have to know it all. That was one of the things I learned along the way of starting my own businesses is that actually you don't need to know it all.
00:10:45
Speaker
And i I guess in many ways, there's a lot of women also that feel that we need to have tick all the boxes first before we get started with lot of things, isn't it? But actually for the finance stuff, you can just hire an accountant.
00:10:57
Speaker
You don't need to know. literallyly Literally, literally. And you know, you're saying that and it's so true because that's how I learned about finance. I knew i didn't want to get in trouble with the tax man, but I knew I didn't know enough about how to do taxes or what was taxable, what I could, um you know, what was deductible, what wasn't, what I could use the company card for, what I couldn't.
00:11:22
Speaker
um And that was so informative from my perspective. from my accountant and just learning that. So one thing I definitely learned very early on in my career, and I very much thank Richard Branson for this.
00:11:37
Speaker
I read it in one of his books and he literally says, whatever you don't know, hire someone. Whatever you don't know, outsource. I am not an IT person.
00:11:47
Speaker
You've seen that from the beginning of this interview that was off camera. oh and That just worked. So I am not an IT person. If you ask me to do anything IT, I call my daughter. She is my IT person.
00:12:01
Speaker
um For me in my life, whenever something is not working at home that's digital, I call her. But I don't know anything about IT, but I do. IT for PR in IT. Why?
00:12:15
Speaker
Because I outsource the work. So one thing Richard Branson taught me very early on in my career is what you don't know, outsource. Yeah. Yeah. I think we were reading the same book I remember he he gave that story about how they had his first meetings with this financial team.
00:12:31
Speaker
And I think one of his, one of his executive team said, you do you know the difference between gross and ne and it' like no and thats But this is one of the recent richest men in the world, right? And yeah we're not saying should go into entrepreneurship having no skill, but what saying actually follow follow your passion, follow what you want to and help source where you don't have the skills, develop up the skills where you need to have the skills yeah as well. yeah And so you've you've gone on to represent some of Africa's biggest brands and brightest stars from Sotsi.
00:13:07
Speaker
so's see Did I pronounce that right? Yes. To Coca-Cola and the rest. Right. So what's the through line in your approach to brand storytelling? tell Talk us through thats your approach, but then also that process of getting to the point where you are landing these names
PR and Relationships
00:13:26
Speaker
as well.
00:13:26
Speaker
um I think let's go start with landing the names. I think I learned very early on that people don't hire you for what you know.
00:13:38
Speaker
They hire you for who you know. and And that makes the biggest difference, especially from PR, because we are a lot of public, we are many public relations professionals, many.
00:13:51
Speaker
And we have to, there's only so much space in a newspaper magazine online that you can occupy. And you've got to make sure that your space, you know, you're fighting amongst, you know, 50 other PR people that are trying to get that space as well from that journalist.
00:14:09
Speaker
But if I take that journalist out to eat for lunch now and again, I build a relationship with that journalist. I invite that journalist to events. I make sure that when we get merchandise from um our our clients, we're sending that journalist a cute little goodie bag of something. It's relationships.
00:14:29
Speaker
That's how this entire industry works. It's relationships. Someone will come and give you the biggest space of that page because they have a big better relationship with you than the next person who's contacted them.
00:14:40
Speaker
And it's really, ah for me, I realized that early on, and I'm very grateful to have learned that early on, that relationships is what builds business. Whether you're PR, whether you sell diamonds, gold, it doesn't matter what you do. It's relationships.
00:14:56
Speaker
um And I built my relationships in the industry with people who were starting out just like I am. So when I started out, a lot of the people I used to work with were the interns or they were just new journalists.
00:15:08
Speaker
They're now editors. They're now the directors of the media companies. So now it's not a case of typing an email into an info address, hoping I'll get a reply. I'm picking my phone up and I'm WhatsAppping them because I've built that relationship.
00:15:22
Speaker
Mm-hmm. And that makes all the difference in how your business will run, how people perceive you to be, the relationships you build with them, um how they take care of you and how you take care of them. And it's it's really about that. But it's also about making sure that you are giving...
00:15:40
Speaker
your journalist relevant information, exclusive information that when they go to their boss with it, their boss is so happy with it and so, so happy to give more space even sometimes because they're the only ones sitting with that story. So you've also got to make sure you make your journalists look good as much as they make you look good to your client. Absolutely.
00:16:02
Speaker
Absolutely. yeah And I think relationship also comes with genuinity, like being genuine. You know, people can spoil a fake from miles away. And so that relationship has got to be genuine and what you're doing is going be genuine as well.
00:16:14
Speaker
Of course, definitely. And I think just to answer the other part of the question, you know, like how do you keep that? It's all about authenticity. um If you lie. At some point, the lie is going to come out. It can come out in two weeks. It can come out in 10 years, whatever.
00:16:29
Speaker
But your lie will eventually come out and you've got to make sure that you tell the truth. And people always think, you know, PR people are spin doctors. Yes, we are. But the one thing i think I've done very successfully over my career is spun the truth.
00:16:46
Speaker
and make sure that the truth always comes out. Because a lot of people, I find a lot of people when they're in the midst of a scandal, you could be an artist, you can be a politician, doesn't matter. When you're in the midst of a scandal, they hide.
00:16:59
Speaker
Come on and say, okay, I did it. I had an affair. I did this. shouldn't have done this. Apologize. And we move on because I promise you in another week or so, you are not going to be the headline news, especially when you own up.
00:17:13
Speaker
The minute you hide something, the minute you sneak away from it, people keep digging to find more. So own up to your things. What's up? What's someone going to say when you say I'm wrong?
00:17:25
Speaker
So you're wrong, you apologize, you move on. And you'll find that a lot more people who use that stance are a lot more successful in getting over their crisis or crises than the people who hide and bury their heads in the sand.
00:17:40
Speaker
Absolutely. And kind of, I suppose what you're doing by not telling the truth is you you're giving room to all the theories and the conspiracies and all the and stories that people make up. Exactly.
00:17:52
Speaker
and And I mean, even if you cannot tell the truth as a public relations person, you've got to make sure that you you at least understand what is the next move for your client then.
00:18:04
Speaker
If you can't come out and say, for whatever reason, you can't come out and say a certain thing, you're under an NDA, for whatever reason, you've really got to make sure that you explain that, you know, this these are my circumstances, um should this go to court, I'll speak there, you know, it's it's about making sure that you explain, there's nothing worse than bearing it burying your head in the sand, it doesn't help anyone. We've seen many a career fall apart from people who've had very bad advice from PR people and
00:18:36
Speaker
ah Sometimes the problem with that is a lot of PR people aren't qualified PR people. They are people who is a friend of a friend who has some contacts in the newspaper, then now suddenly you're public relations person.
00:18:49
Speaker
And that's just not how it works. And eventually that strategy isn't going to work for you because you've had no real formal training in how to actually deal with this. And that's why we are seeing chat chibi press releases all over the place because people actually don't know how to write.
00:19:05
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, we'll come to AI and chat chibi in a second, but I want to dig deeper into this crisis communication aspect. Hello listeners. Give me moment of your time to introduce you to our learning platform.
00:19:17
Speaker
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Speaker
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Speaker
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00:19:56
Speaker
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00:20:04
Speaker
You know, from the outside, pr looks very glamorous and, you know, very exciting. you're in You know, you're in it with all these brands and all of that. You know, but there is that chaos. There is this crisis that happens, as you you know, which is natural for any brand and any m celebrity.
00:20:19
Speaker
and So how do you approach that? know you've talked about building those relationships with the journalists, et cetera, in order to facilitate your access that you have now.
Crisis Management Strategies
00:20:27
Speaker
But what is that first thing that you do when a scandal breaks?
00:20:30
Speaker
The first thing I do when a scandal breaks is I sit my client down and ask how much of is this is true. And I'm very grateful that ah I have great relationships with my clients that they will not lie to me. Because my thing is always, if you lie to me and the truth comes out, I will drop you because you cannot expect me to do my job if I don't know all the facts.
00:20:50
Speaker
um So for me with crisis comms, you know, i actually have a crisis comms plan that I use religiously um in terms of, you know, who signs off what, who needs to see what, who's the spokesperson for each of these subjects.
00:21:04
Speaker
you know I go through my plan in terms of my step-by-step of what's supposed to be done, um it's specifically if it's a corporate. um If it's an individual, again, i always ask, like i said, I ask, is this true?
00:21:17
Speaker
How much of it is true? um And then we need to go through a strategy plan of, okay, Are you able to admit this? Are you not? Are there NDAs involved?
00:21:28
Speaker
um How comfortable are you with the entire story? What do we need to not, what is what is in the best interest of the public to know um that will also help you with um your image? And it's really not about whitewashing someone's image because one thing I have learned is that clients never learn their lesson. They'll go do that thing again most of the time.
00:21:52
Speaker
And you've got to make sure they also understand the ramifications of doing something again and again and again. Because one thing I have transitioned a lot into in the past three or four years um is political PR, which is not something I'm very vocal about on my social media pages.
00:22:09
Speaker
But behind the scenes, I work with a lot of political parties across Africa. And You know, one thing I've realized is I'm going to give it up just to the Botswana government because I worked with UDC at election time. And, you know, they are so pedantic about making sure the truth is out there.
00:22:34
Speaker
They are one of the parties I really work with making sure that you know, they want the public to know the truth. They want people to trust them.
00:22:45
Speaker
um And I absolutely love that about working with them. They really wanted to be so transparent and they were really there for the people of Botswana. So that was so refreshing to work with a government who was so intent on making sure, um you know, the public knew everything.
00:23:02
Speaker
But and it comes to Making sure crisis comms actually works. You've got to make sure that you have a good enough relationship with your client to make sure you're going to stick by them. there's there's just There's two things I don't stick by you as a client for, murder and rape.
00:23:23
Speaker
If there are other things that you have done, i can't say. And that's purely from an ethical point of view. For me, a moral point of view, it's just not somebody I work with. um And so it's really important for me to always know the truth. But if you are crisis com coming your client, the truth literally will set you free.
00:23:42
Speaker
It's good to hear you say that you have certain boundaries you just won't cross, right? Yeah. But you also, but there, there are, and a lot of people who have done those things and who have used PR as a way to, like you said, whitewash the situation.
00:23:57
Speaker
And one of the stories that came to mind, and one of the situations that came to mind was the the the the domestic violence suit between Johnny Depp Amber Heard. right and I remember during that period of the court case, how all you you were just bombarded on social media with all of this account and content that was just discrediting Amber Heard.
00:24:19
Speaker
right and it was It was almost as if if it was kind of like hey i guess that strategy of of kind of tainting the messenger as opposed to the message kind of thing. Which is very common. in It's a very common PR strategy.
00:24:31
Speaker
Very. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And so there's that aspect of it, of, of you know, in this particular case where a a woman who is who is kind of alleged domestic violence and how kind of the PR machine for the other celebrity was used to just destroy her image.
00:24:49
Speaker
It was bad. It was really bad. And I think a lot of the time, you know, um it's a common PR strategy, and especially in this in a situation like that.
00:25:01
Speaker
It is such a common PR strategy to dig up, destroy, um you know, really... minimize the other person or company or whatever that the other subject is um in order to make sure that your client looks better. And you see it a lot in a Hollywood.
00:25:22
Speaker
And even in Africa, we see it here a lot with celebrities. I mean, we if you look at, um let's look at the case, and maybe i'm I'm being very touchy here, but let's look at the case of Devanj and Annie.
00:25:35
Speaker
no accept um And it was very much from a media, social media point of view, made to look unstable. Like she wasn't um in a good place to be a mom, a wife or anyone else. She needed help whatever.
00:25:54
Speaker
And I think, you know, you really need to look at the back history of that. We want in that marriage. But from what we've seen, there was a lot of... um many situations where not a lot of women would stay in those situations. yeah And I think, you know, anybody or any woman or any man that's in that situation, you that would do a lot to your mental health.
00:26:17
Speaker
But again, you know, from from the other point of view, like, his fans went in and made her look so unstable and this is why he's doing this and this is why he's, um you know, leaving and all these other things. And it's not about blame for either one of them, but it definitely is about who who has the the the better PR team and the more money you have, the more better your PR team pretty much.
00:26:43
Speaker
um and And I think in a situation like that, from ah from a celebrity perspective, we can see that even in Africa, you know, we have the same PR strategies from some people in terms of making the other party look bad.
00:27:00
Speaker
We have the same thing, you know, going on now in South Africa with our police commissioner, our police minister, and this one saying this one and this one, and now... you know Our police commissioner has come out and said there's all this corruption in the police force, and now suddenly they found fraud. They want to file fraud charges against the police commissioner who's come out and said there's corruption. So it's all it's all about it it's it's a game to so many people in terms of how bad can I make the other party look?
00:27:28
Speaker
And that's usually how a PR war is won. Yeah. Yeah. And so, I mean, a lot of our listeners, um, to the podcast are women that work in the media, but also women who want to be more engaged
Navigating Negative PR
00:27:41
Speaker
in media. And you also hear, you always hear from journalists that a lot of women and female celebrities or female politicians, for example, are very, um, risk averse when it comes to media, when it comes to doing that media interview.
00:27:54
Speaker
And it's because of these kinds of things of kind of things being twisted round against them and then be portrayed in a negative So for the for the Annies and the Amber Heads and all of those women who are kind of being victims of this PR machine, what would you say to them in terms of how, from PR perspective, as the person being, what do you call it, being black named or whatever it is?
00:28:19
Speaker
yeah What should be their strategy? How do you deal with that? I think just before you even have to get to a PR strategy, I think there as one thing we have to understand as women, especially if we are in the um in the in the public light and you have some sort of public image, whether or not you have one, but especially if you have one.
00:28:39
Speaker
is never stay silent about the abuse. Come out with it long before any kind of stories can be um can be fabricated. And even if you can't, document it.
00:28:51
Speaker
Photographs, diaries, all those things, because one thing the other party is going to do is always make you look bad. So the minute you have evidence in these things, it is so much easier for your team to rebut all these things.
00:29:06
Speaker
Because a lot of the time it's always hearsay and I'll bring it back to again to the debunge Annie thing. it's It's her fans, it's his fans, especially from a social media perspective. And they headbutting with each other because yeah, she did this, he did this, he's been having kids on her, she shouldn't have said this, she shouldn't have acted this way, why did she go on the show?
00:29:26
Speaker
If you come back to a situation like that and you just keep quiet and all you do is put your evidence out if you feel that's what you want to do, you don't have to say anything else because evidence as a woman speaks so much louder than a press release without evidence ever will.
00:29:45
Speaker
So it's always about making sure you're prepared. And I hate that we have to say that as women, that we always have to keep evidence and keep, you know, everything has to be because men are more believed. Because in all honesty, it's that saying that men will never know Men never know anyone who's abused a woman, but they know plenty of women who've been abused.
00:30:10
Speaker
So evidence is always a really good idea in cases like that. um And even if it's not abuse, even if it's something to do with work or an incident that may come out and they are trying to lay the blame on you.
00:30:25
Speaker
at work and this could come out on the news because now it looks like you've done the corruption because your signature on there. Keep evidence of everything because more than likely you're going to need this when there is a big PR scandal.
00:30:38
Speaker
ah And even if you don't have that stuff, when it does come out, the best thing to do is think carefully. Don't make rash decisions and make one statement and stick to it.
00:30:52
Speaker
Don't answer every troll you find on social media. Don't do every interview that could twist your words. Make sure the publications are reliable and they have a good reputation themselves if you decide to do it.
00:31:07
Speaker
Always try and maybe do only one interview that's an exclusive interview with an extremely well-known brand. Rather do that and put your statement out there and let that be it.
00:31:19
Speaker
Because the more and more you try and pander to people, people are going to twist your words no matter what you say. So be confident in what you say the one time only and let that be it. Because no matter what you say, it's going to be on record, on the internet, on social media, and just let that be it. You'll find a lot of time when people make statements.
00:31:39
Speaker
It's the people who make a thousand statements one after another. They're the ones you have to watch. They're the ones that aren't doing... They're either not advised well or they probably did what they're being accused of. Yeah.
00:31:52
Speaker
yeah um I mean, there's couple of things you said, that particularly about this issue issue of evidence, right? Because frankly, A lot of people are not doing that. There is no evidence. There is no evidence of, you probably don't have evidence of the of the rape that happened, you know, that kind of thing. Right?
00:32:07
Speaker
so So, you just don't have those evidences. yeah And I guess it's it's it's like you said, social media plays a big role in how fast and how how these narratives get shaped.
00:32:17
Speaker
And often it it is the woman that kind of usually comes out looking worse in such situations. yeah And so, You also mentioned earlier earlier on around AI, <unk> right?
Future of PR in Africa
00:32:31
Speaker
and And how we're we're infiltrated with AI produced strategies, AI written statements and stuff. So PR like any media is fast changing because technology is fast changing, not just the production of it for where it is.
00:32:46
Speaker
and So between using influencers, AI and media fragmentations, what do you think will define the next generation of communications in Africa? I think we also we have to realize we're going to have a digital first communications mindset from now on.
00:33:03
Speaker
um So many magazines, newspapers are are dying out and it's becoming such a rare occasion to see a magazine or a newspaper um these days. so you know Everybody's getting their information from the social dominance age. so You're on x-TikTok, Instagram, WhatsApp, LinkedIn.
00:33:23
Speaker
um and and Those are key tools for Africa specifically, especially markets like Nigeria, South Africa and Kenya. Influencers wield such a power over those platforms compared to traditional platforms. so We definitely are going to see an even bigger drive towards that and we're also going to have we have a lot of or or We're there, but we're gonna it's get bigger in terms of mobile firstrst audiences so Mobile internet being the primary access point.
00:33:57
Speaker
um PR has to craft mobile friendly content now. but You have to be more in the mind of how do we get this content into somebody's phone immediately.
00:34:09
Speaker
ah meaning they don't necessarily need to have an app for it. But how do we get them the access there? How does it appear on their phone? Is it through an SMS, which is nobody checks SMSs these days really. so Everything's about WhatsApp. We see brands now going on to WhatsApp. i mean ah Just to give you an idea, just to cut down fraudulent activity here from a courier company, I think it's a courier guy or something.
00:34:34
Speaker
They send you direct WhatsApps now with your pin so that when your delivery is coming, you have all the information in your WhatsApp. It comes directly to you. It's not an email that you might miss. It's not going to go into your spam email. so We have a very big um mobile first audience that's growing. And we need, from a peer perspective, we really need to look at how do we utilize that um for us going forward. And also just real-time responses.
00:35:03
Speaker
The expectations for immediate news is now such a need, a want, a necessity. No one wants to be left behind. So it's really just such an increase in terms of how are we How are we getting that real-time activity to people?
00:35:21
Speaker
and Also, just a lot of Pan-African pride as well um for African PR. You can see brands are moving away from that Western culture, that Western thinking,
00:35:33
Speaker
the western marketing ah absolutely love because for the first time i am seeing foreign brands and i'm going to call them foreign brands because a lot of them are not african brands because the african brands are already there they know how we think that they are talking to us and that's why we're seeing such a huge surge in local products in all african countries being consumed and we're pushing out the western products so now because of that and they're losing money you know people only change when they lose money uh we're thinking that the um foreign brands are coming in with an african mindset and you know what i do love that because i want everyone to succeed and but i also want you to talk to me like i'm a south african i don't want to tell me about a barbecue because that's a bride to me so speak to me in my language to me in my slang speak to me how
00:36:23
Speaker
I want to hear it and it's familiar to me and we're really seeing a lot of brands doing that, loving it. and Then just from ah from our cultural intelligence as well, we're really navigating Africa through more of a diverse, ethnic, linguistic, socio-political point of view like landscapes.
00:36:43
Speaker
A campaign that works in Joburg might fall flat in Accra because we are really localizing our our our products and our our PR now and I'm loving it.
00:36:56
Speaker
Absolutely. and you've You've mentored hundreds of young women as part of your organization and yeah through other platforms.
Mentorship and Industry Shift
00:37:03
Speaker
so What gaps did you see ah did you notice early that made you double down on empowering women in communication? What was the thing that you saw?
00:37:12
Speaker
that made you go down that route of mentoring and empowering your women? When I started in PR, PR was an extremely dominated industry.
00:37:23
Speaker
To find someone that you were working with that was actually a woman was so, so rare. Because all the bosses of the big PR companies at that time were all men, all of them.
00:37:38
Speaker
And for me, I was couldn't understand that. And I mean, I remember going for a number of interviews before I started my company and even before I had the job that my last job that I had.
00:37:50
Speaker
um And it was all I was interviewed by men mostly. And it was all for You know, you you look in the offices and if it was men sitting there doing PR.
00:38:03
Speaker
I remember the first account i pitched for with my company, the very first account. I went to go pitch to AIG Insurance. It was for the Manchester United um and Vodacom link up.
00:38:15
Speaker
And I walked in there and everybody was waiting. I think there must, I can't remember how many, I think there must must have been about 10 or maybe 20, I think somewhere between there. um And each of us had to go in individually and pitch. I was the only woman.
00:38:31
Speaker
I was the only woman there. So how PR has changed now to being such a female or woman dominated space, should I say, I'm so proud of that because we really came in and took over because there wasn't space for us before. And I think that always was my,
00:38:48
Speaker
biggest deciding factor in how I wanted to run the company was making sure that women had a chance in this industry. They had a chance, they understood, and also never to stay with me for too long.
00:39:00
Speaker
um Even if it was a couple of years, the point is always to either go off and learn more somewhere else that I can't teach you because I don't know everything. I'm still learning. I still study to this day at my big old age.
00:39:13
Speaker
So, you know, you don't know everything. And you also need to let people grow and go off and do other things and and expand or even start their own agencies. I mean, it's it I love that my very first employee, she's now one of the event managers at Bank of England.
00:39:32
Speaker
Wow. right and She was my very very first, she used to be my PA and helped me with PR in marketing and marketing. She studied here and then she moved over to the yeah UK and you know she worked her way up to different places and and look where she is now.
00:39:48
Speaker
um I also have and another former employee and she is now doing extremely well for herself in the influencer field. um and doing social media campaigns for clients.
00:40:03
Speaker
another Another person who's gone on to do really well and work themselves up in another company. And I'm so proud of that. And and you know I wish it was opportunities i could have given them at the time.
00:40:15
Speaker
And maybe I just wasn't big enough at the time. I didn't have the resources at the time, but I'm very grateful for providing a platform for them um and just being part of their journey. It's been so humbling. And I'm very grateful that even if it's the few women in my life I've made a difference with, I'm so glad I was part of the trajectory of what they're doing now.
00:40:41
Speaker
Absolutely. That's all always great to kind of im empower the next generation. And when you look back on your journey, um, from, you know, that's right from the MI6 dream to starting out and moving to South Africa and all the amazing work you've gone on to do.
Reflecting on Success
00:40:58
Speaker
Thank you. What are you most proud of? I'm proud of me. I'm proud of everything that i thought I would never be.
00:41:09
Speaker
I became because I really fought for it and I really wanted it. And i was a rubbish of a kid. I really was. i gave my parents so much stress.
00:41:22
Speaker
I don't even know how I ended up on the path of life. i was I'm very, God bless me so much. And my life really could have gone ah completely different way. But I am so grateful that I believed in myself enough to start this business and think that it would support me and my daughter to get through life.
00:41:45
Speaker
um And it's afforded me so many opportunities, seeing the world, working with presidents, um working with Hollywood celebrities, I never imagined that that would be my life.
00:42:01
Speaker
So I'm very proud of me for being able to do that. And I still have so many other dreams that I want to pursue. PR is not my be all and end all, but it definitely is the passionate step that has helped me get somewhere in life. And I'm i'm truly grateful for that.
00:42:21
Speaker
Yeah. Well, I had so much goosebumps as you were talking about that because it's really important that we look back on our journey to see how far we've come, you know, and to also reflect on all the other potential paths that could have just taken us off on a complete you know direction in life.
00:42:41
Speaker
I'm just really grateful for where we are. I think a lot of the times we look at our lives and whether... whether you're 20, 35, 40, 50, you always think, oh my God, I wish my life went in a different direction. I wish I'd done this differently. And I don't think we realize how grateful we should be firstly to be in the present where we actually are because so many people haven't even made it that far, not just in terms of their careers, but sometimes things happen in life and people don't make it to their next birthday.
00:43:16
Speaker
So we should be very grateful of where we are as people. um And I think we live so much in the future of what we wish we had that we completely forget what we actually have.
00:43:30
Speaker
um And that is our biggest detriment as as humans. That's like the biggest, the worst trait we have as human beings. We are so ungrateful. for what we are living right now, that we are forever living in the future. And when we get to the future, we wish we had still been in the past and done something different. You have the chance right now to do something different. So do it so that that future is very different for you.
00:43:59
Speaker
But living in that future in your head and wishing and wanting and hoping that that's what it will be, you're missing right now. And right now is what you can change.
00:44:10
Speaker
yeah Absolutely. So for up and coming African women who hope to make it big in the corporate sector and PR, what would be your parting words to them following our conversation today?
Empowerment and Perseverance
00:44:21
Speaker
Do absolutely everything that is legally and morally within your boundaries to make sure that your dreams come true. If you can get up every morning and look yourself in the mirror, knowing that you didn't have to compromise anything within yourself to be who and where you are right now, then you've made it in life.
00:44:43
Speaker
I mean, people have to very different ideas of what success is like. People always ask me, oh, what's your definition definition of success? Mine has never changed. My definition when I didn't have was the same. My definition now that I have is still the same, and that is I can put clothes on my daughter's back and there's food in my fridge.
00:45:03
Speaker
The lights are on in my house. That is success for me because when I started this business, I wasn't making money and I would go weeks without electricity because they came to cut me off because I couldn't afford the bills.
00:45:16
Speaker
You know, sending my daughter to her dad or aunt or whatever so she could eat without telling them i couldn't afford it. You know, so You know, all of those things I've lived through.
00:45:29
Speaker
I know what like not to have. So success has never changed for me. That is my success. My success is making sure that I have, my daughter has food in her tummy. she's got clothes in her back.
00:45:40
Speaker
There's food in the fridge. The lights are on. Anything besides that is one hell of a bonus. Absolutely. Thank you so much, Farah. It's been such a pleasure having you on the podcast. ah It's been a pleasure. Thank you so much. I really enjoyed chatting with you.
00:45:54
Speaker
So what struck me most about how Farah builds African-style communications, not just as a business, but as a movement for women-led leadership in an industry that really makes space for it?
00:46:06
Speaker
From navigating high stakes PR disasters to mentoring the next generation of storytellers, she's living proof that you do not need permission to lead. Just vision and consistency. Thank you for listening to Her Media the Diary. you found today's episode and conversation inspiring, don't forget to subscribe, leave a review, share this episode with somebody who needs to hear it.
00:46:26
Speaker
If you'd like to join me on an episode of the podcast, send me an email at DMC at AfricanWomenInMedia.com and visit our website, HerMediaDiary.com. Subscribe and follow Hermida Diary on all your favorite podcasts and platforms. And you can tune in on our partner radio stations from anywhere across Africa.
00:46:43
Speaker
And don't forget, join the conversation using the hashtag Hermida Diary. Until next time, stay safe, stay curious, and keep amplifying the voices and the stories that matter.
00:46:53
Speaker
and