Rosie Shephard, the founder of Shephard Communications and The Luxury Communications Council, talks to Marina about her rise to success in the world of luxury PR, about working with King Charles; and she gives her advice on how to build your personal brand.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• I’d mark success as being more about progress than anything. If you’re doing bigger, better, more exciting things, things that fulfil you more than the year before (and there are the financial implications as well) I think you’re always moving towards success and progress. 2022 for Luxury Communications and Shephard Communications has been a successful year, but next year we hope to be even more successful.
• It’s really smart to have a personal brand. Firstly, people buy into people. So, starting with that as one of your fundamental pillars of communication is really important. However, it’s very difficult to have a product or a brand without being a little bit disruptive these days and having a unique point of view. That doesn’t mean what you’re creating has to be unique, but the conversation and your opinions around it has to be.
• The classic misconception of PR is Absolutely Fabulous where they just drank champagne all day, and there are days like that, but in essence it’s essentially about reputation management via the media and how the public, or whoever the target market is, is seeing a person or brand. It’s changed a lot since I’ve been in it, for example social media changed everything.
• Since Covid people are behaving very differently and we’ve had to really watch and adapt to that. I genuinely think the most useful tool in watching public sentiment is the TV show ‘Gogglebox’. It is brilliant – it’s highly entertaining as well and my absolute guilty pleasure – in terms of seeing what’s landing, what they’re reacting to, what people are seeing, it’s the most wonderful spread of different demographics from all over the different parts of the UK. It’s incredibly informative.

BEST MOMENTS

"We did the PR for the Platinum Jubilee for the Royal Family, working with Downing Street and Buckingham Palace. We worked on it for 16 months and it was just so unique, wonderful and exciting.’
‘Hospitality is the thread that runs through my career.’
‘It depends on the objective, but being talked about negatively still shines a light on you, the individual or brand, but obviously there are challenges with that: there’s only so much negativity a brand can take, especially with cancelling culture and trolling.’
‘It’s really, really important to me that we bring other women up and at LCC we do a big part of bringing other women in luxury up.’

ABOUT THE GUEST

Rosie Shephard is a highly influential figure in the luxury world with 16 years of award-winning communications experience. 

Frequently cited as one of the most connected influencers in luxury, Rosie is Founder of the Luxury Communications Council, the exclusive network for luxury brand communication and marketing directors. 

Website: https://shephardcommunications.com/ 

ABOUT THE PODCAST

Woman Self Made podcast brings you interviews with hugely successful women from all walks of life – world renowned business leaders, disruptive entrepreneurs, world class athletes, self-made multi-millionaires, entertainment and TV personalities. In these conversations we dive into their unique stories with an aim to deconstruct their secrets for success. We talk about their journeys, ups and down, while distilling along the way the habits, tools, tactics and tips, which you can learn and use.

So, grab your favourite drink and join us every Thursday for open conversations with the most inspiring women talking about building successful businesses, careers and living the lives of their dreams.

ABOUT THE HOST

Marina Bennett had a high-flying international career in strategy and finance, and in 2019 she decided to leave her £300k/year City job to take entrepreneurial plunge from scratch. She is now a multiple business owner on the way to her first 7 figures. Marina is also a founder of Woman. Self-made. (@womanselfmade.inc) - an online community of confident, ambitious women who want to achieve success and live the lives of their dreams.