PR Not BS

Today my visitor is Jane, better known as Lady Janey, who I met on one of my courses a few years ago. She shares what she learnt on that course and what she’s achieved since using that knowledge.    A very busy lady, Jane is a consumer champion, who presents on radio, appears on TV, writes for publications, her own blog and national papers.   She talks to me about her blog and how that has develop...

My guest today is former detective superintendent, Julie Mackay, who with my friend, broadcast journalist Robert Murphy, co-authored the best-selling true crime book, ‘To Hunt a Killer’. During our talk we manage to cover everything from stories of crime, the importance of intuition, changes in policing, cold cases, media and the police, to period poverty! A retired detective superintendent, Julia...

Today’s guest is a first in terms of what she does, which is quite niche. Melissa Hobson writes about the ocean; marine science, marine conservation and interesting studies about the sea and the creatures within. Journalist and writer Melissa has been published in The Guardian, National Geographic Online, New Scientist and many other scientific publications.  She is not a scientist herself, but a...

Today my guest and I have a fascinating talk about old school journalism and the differences between the past and present in the industry. And Marcus Grodentz has lots of knowledge to share, having started as a copy boy in a news agency in London, and now, having worked in the industry for several years, he has moved into a PR career, before later becoming a life coach. A great talking point is ou...

Today’s guest is Olivia Foster who is a TV producer working for shows like This Morning, Who Dares Wins and many more.  Before working in TV, Olivia was a journalist working for magazines such as Heat, Grazia and Marie Claire, which she loved. She talks about how she finds TV a far more dynamic medium to work in.  She also explains what a producer actually does, because few of us know (I do becaus...

Today I’m joined by my friend and client, Louise Hunt Skelley PLY. Louise has been working with me for a year, after retiring from a career as an elite athlete, as a former top 10 wheelchair tennis player.  Since retiring and ready to take the next step in her career, she has fully embraced PR. She shares why she thinks the investment in PR is well worth it, and how it has helped her to build her...

My guest today is Claire Brewerton, the owner of Virtual Business Centre, a telephone answering company based outside Malmesbury. However, the business works with clients from Scotland to Exeter and everywhere in between. Claire talks about how at the beginning of the business she did absolutely everything, answering phone calls 7 days a week, but now she has a team of 24. She is still the chief,...

Today I’m talking to someone who I have been working with since 2021. Cartoonist Morgan Gleave is familiar to you though you might not know it – he created the cartoon that I use for my podcast! Many of us love cartoons, comics and animation, but how many of us use them for our business? Morgan has been drawing all of his life, and finally took the plunge to go full time a few years ago, creating...

Today I’m pleased to be introducing a PR journo-hybrid who works in a very similar way to me. Niamh is a freelance national journalist, covering celebrity entertainment, showbiz and television. She also works for quite a few national titles, such as The Mirror, Daily Star, Okay magazine, and lots more.  Niamh talks about some of the celebrities she has worked with and the programmes she’s covered,...

Today’s episode is with digital marketing entrepreneur Carl Hewitt, who reached out to me on LinkedIn. Carl is an enthusiastic young businessman, who is the CEO and co-founder of a paid media and web agency Hewitt Matthews, based in Portsmouth. Carl is one of several people I’ve interviewed who started out in business at an early age, and doesn’t come from a family of business owners.  He started...

This podcast is vital listening for anyone who is in a relationship where they are not treated with the respect they should be, and feel they are in danger. My two guests are, Jodie Fraser, and Nick Gazzard, who are going to talk about a trust, set up in the memory of Nick’s daughter, Hollie.        Jodie Fraser works in the block management sector, and manages blocks of flats on behalf of residen...

Today’s guest is possibly the best known female, psychic medium in the UK, and I’m happy to say, also a client of mine – T J Higgs. TJ shares how, as a youngster, she thought everyone else was odd, rather than her, because since a very young age she has seen spirits, auras and could tell when people were lying, but was unable to explain to them, why.  Have you ever seen anyone’s eyes change colour...

My visitor today is from the part of the country where I was born - Somerset. Ben McGrail is an ITV journalist, with a role as Somerset correspondent for ITV News, West Country.  A lot of our discussion is about working within a region, rather than being national. Its easy to think that the pinnacle of a career is to work on a national ‘title’ or for a national ‘programme’ yet it’s not always the...

Today’s guest is Chris Maslin, an accountant and tax advisor who has sold his business to an Employee Ownership Trust – have you ever heard of such a trust?  Chris tells me why Employee Ownership (EO) can be a good exit plan for business owners who deeply care about the future of their company and its employees when they step away.  He also explains the pros and cons between EO and a management bu...

Today I’m talking to my friend and fellow journalist Samantha Brick. Sam is a Feature writer, who loves writing about people, and has lived in France since 2008 with her husband and their family of dogs.  Sam tells me what it means to work as a feature writer.  She loves to write about relationships, family issues and events, careers, whether we’re mothers or not, our friendships – in fact, anythi...

Some of you will have routinely heard me talk about the importance of good photography to go with your PR, and today I’m talking to a photographer who I regularly work with - the wonderful Barbara Leatham. Barbara talks about how she has had her own photography business which is now in its 15th year, and how her previous training in marketing and graphic design informs her photography in terms of...

Today I’m talking to a Paralympian Gold Medal winner, who was awarded an MBE last year – Chris Hunt Skelley MBE PLY.   Chris, a Judo champion, is visually impaired and has a condition called Ocular Albinism, and although he was affected by the problem from a young age, he wasn’t diagnosed until he was 17.  He talks about the harrowing experience of living through the time when he realised that his...

I met Katie Neeves early in 2022, and my interview with her came as a result of that meeting. There’s a lot of misinformation on being trans & I asked if she would share her story and her insights with me and my listeners – and to my delight, she said ‘yes’!  Our conversation in this podcast ranges from Gender Dysmorphia to a discussion about loos and urinals, how transphobic some of the mains...

My guest today, Nicola Snell, does just that, with her business Press Loft. Nicola’s ethos is to make PR simple and to help get her clients products in front of journalists. She shares with me, just how Press Loft works for businesses that are product based. Nicola Snell has cleverly combined the idea of product PR and businesses being reactive to journalists, by providing a huge range of images o...

Fiona, as a PR specialist and expert has one aim in her professional life - to help people and their businesses become more visible. She looks into the future, and offers her ten tips about the things that she predicts the media will be positive about and engaged with - and she shares how you can get your voice heard around those themes. Her three most important tips are; To always try to find a p...

PR isn’t expecting floods of clients at your door after sending out one press release, entrepreneur and investor Kyle Raffo tells Fiona in her latest podcast.  Kyle Raffo, who runs one of the UK’s leading printing and merchandising company Embello and has invested in several other businesses, is not even 30 years old. In this episode he shares with Fiona his early entrepreneurial drive and where i...

Danielle Homes co-founded Black Nova Designs in Wiltshire and believes her company's rapid growth is down to tireless and persistent PR and marketing efforts.  Black Nova designs specialises in I.T. solutions for home and business and also provides web design and web hosting services. Danielle and her husband Kyle launch the business in 2015 and seven years later, they employ 10 staff and are...

ITV journalist Rob Murphy is the latest guest on Fiona's brilliant podcast line-up. What he has to say will open your eyes to what journalists crave in seeking a good story to cover. Rob is a seasoned television journalist covering mainly crime and investigations but he's also a successful podcaster and author. His book 'To Hunt A Killer' was co-authored with detective Julie Ma...

On this episode, Fiona meets the founder of the Women's Business Club, Angela de Souza.  Angela's latest project is called Coffee and Coworking which creates spaces for businesswomen to gain support and empowerment so no woman has to build a business alone. Angela successfully set up the Women's Business Club after her first business failed because she loves to build communities. Sh...

This week's guest on Fiona Scott's podcast is sometimes referred to as "The Pink Powerhouse" (think spiky pink hair) or "The Super Soul Coach" - Taz Thornton. Taz is a former journalist and high-flying marketing professional whose difficult back story was first the breaking of her but then the making of her. As she explains to Fiona, she overcame her own significant s...