#UKBCNPresents: 3 key takeaways from our Position and Purpose event
Ahh January. A month traditionally filled with promise and enthusiasm - even after the Year We’d Rather Forget.
We’re hopeful about what 2021 has in store for Black PR and comms professionals; so much so that we dedicated our first event of the year to helping you find your ideal position and hone your purpose.
Our Position & Purpose event brought together four of the UK’s leading PR, communications and creative experts for a frank (virtual) discussion about self-promotion, mentoring and the classic passion-or-pay dilemma.
Accredited careers counsellor Czarina Charles kicked things off with a short presentation on what it means to be purposeful and what you can expect from a careers coach. Czarina also revealed our new partnership with her company, Flourish Careers, which will give members exclusive career support services for free! Become a member and get your career on!
Our panellists, including Ete Davies, Kim Allain, Devonne Spence and Genelle Aldred then took the virtual stage to answer some thought-provoking questions from Annique Simpson, our Head of Content and host for the night, and our keen audience.
Here are three key takeaways from the event:
Balancing your purpose, passion and paycheck is a delicate act - sometimes you’ll be able to take on roles or clients that closely align with your core values. Other times you’ll need to put the ‘bag’ first. Either is fine, so long as it works for your personal circumstances. The key is to have an open and flexible mindset, and to be realistic about what you can offer vs what your industry/market needs.
A mentor or coach can really help you navigate your journey - when picking your mentor, don’t feel forced to pick someone who looks like you. Instead, look for someone who is killing it in your ideal field or who knows you well (eg. a former manager) so the trust is already there. You may even benefit from having a mix of mentors, sponsors and coaches.
Shout about your work, but make sure you can back it up - yes, no one likes a show-off but it’s vital that we get comfortable with singing our own praises, especially when 1-in-7 Black British PR professionals receive no recognition for their work and half of us never get promoted. Social media, especially LinkedIn, is a good place to start talking about the great work you’re doing. Make sure you can back up everything you say you know and can do. A good reputation can take years to build and minutes to destroy.
Big thanks go to our five amazing, industry leading contributors and everyone who attended. If you are a member and you missed the event you can catch up here.
Don’t miss our next event Innovation & Influence on Thursday 4 February, we’ll see you then.