The PRovoke Media Podcast

How PR can move from words to action on support for PoC (Ep. 229)

At the start of the Black Lives Matter protests, Katy Howell, the CEO of social media agency Immediate Future, posted a moving video on LinkedIn about her own experience of systemic racism in the UK. She joins Maja Pawinska Sims on the PRovoke podcast to talk about how agencies in the creatives industries can move from pledges to solid action on supporting Black and ethnic minority employees. 

Overcoming the PR industry's mental health problem (Ep. 228)

Katie de Cozar, head of enterprise technology at B2B specialist agency CCgroup, PRovoke's EMEA Technology Agency of the Year, joins Maja Pawinska Sims on the podcast to talk about the PR industry's mental health crisis, particularly given the impact of the Covid-19 lockdown and the renewed focus on inclusive working environments.

Psychologist LaMisha Hill: ‘We Need to Stop Saying That Talking About Race Is Hard’ (Ep. 227)

This episode of the PRovoke Podcast features LaMisha Hill, PhD a licensed counseling psychologist and director of multicultural affairs for the office of diversity and outreach at the University of California San Francisco. Hill talks with Aarti Shah about the way organizations can build equitable and inclusive cultures. The conversation will also cover the implications of systematic racism and Covid-19 as both disproportionately affect Black communities.

Show Notes
6 Tools for Allyship

Video Interview  

Google's LaToya Drake on Google News Initiative and Inclusive Storytelling (Ep. 226)

This episode of the PRovoke Podcast features Google's LaToya Drake, a founding member of the Google News Initiative (GNI) and a champion for inclusive storytelling. In a conversation with Aarti Shah, Drake talks about how GNI emerged at Google and how the effort elevates underrepresented voices in media. Drake also discusses diversity in technology and communications — and how brands and agencies can work towards more inclusive storytelling in their own narratives.

Show Notes
Google News Initiative (GNI)
Google's Head of Product Inclusion Annie Jean-Baptiste
A video version of this interview 

 

 

 

George Coleman on why "Twitter is not the country" (Ep. 225)

George Coleman is co-CEO of Current Global, formed last year by the merger of two of Interpublic’s PR firms, US-based Current Marketing and Weber Shandwick unit Creation, which he founded. Coleman joins EMEA editor Maja Pawinska Sims on the PRovoke podcast to talk about how the PR industry can rise above unconscious bias and tribalism on social media, particularly in febrile political and social times, and why PR teams need input from a broader range of specialists to avoid “marketing by selfie stick,” including behavioural scientists.

Google's Head of Product Inclusion Annie Jean-Baptiste (Ep. 224)

In this episode of the PRovoke Podcast, Google's head of product inclusion Annie Jean-Baptiste talks about the movement she created three years ago inside Google to help underrepresented users feel seen throughout the product design process. In this conversation with Aarti Shah, she guides communications and PR professionals on how they can help the organizations they work with build more inclusive products — while also ensuring communications/PR and services are designed with inclusion. Jean-Baptiste is also author of the upcoming book, Building For Everyone: Expand Your Market With Design Practices From Google's Product Inclusion Team.

 

Jessica Hope on the rise of Africa-focused tech agency Wimbart (Ep. 223)

Jessica Hope launched Wimbart in London in 2014, as an independent PR agency specialising in Africa and emerging markets, with a focus on the continent’s tech and start-up sectors. She joins Arun Sudhaman on the PRovoke podcast to discuss the firm's rise and its ability to serve as a 'safe space' for Black PR executives in a notoriously white industry.

Curtis Sparrer On Sustaining An Agency Amid Shutdowns (Ep. 222)

Curtis Sparrer, principal of tech PR boutique Bospar, joins Diana Marszalek on the PRovoke podcast to discuss how having a virtual shop before the lockdown – plus the right mix of clients – has helped the agency continue to thrive during the Covid-19 pandemic. 

How Covid-19 mobilized public health comms (Ep. 221)

Garland Stansell, chief communications officer of the Children’s Hospital of Alabama and the PRSA’s 2020 national chair, joins Diana Marszalek on the PRovoke Podcast to talk about how the ongoing coronavirus pandemic has mobilised communications within the public health sphere. 

Reggie Dance on How Corporate America Can Acknowledge, Listen and Take Action (Ep. 220)

In this episode of the PRovoke Media podcast, we speak to Reggie Dance, VP at Coyne PR, about the role corporate America can play in making “liberty and justice for all” a reality from Black Americans. The conversation followed a piece that Dance wrote "Dear Corporate America: Acknowledge, Listen and Take Action." In this episode, he talks about the recommendations in that piece and how brands and agencies can turn this moment into a sustainable movement.