Hayley Knight, co-founder and communications director at Be Yellow: “One of the reasons I founded my agency was to challenge gender disparity within the PR industry, and create opportunities for women to thrive. Despite PR being a female-dominated field, leadership roles are still disproportionately held by men, and barriers to entry remain high for many women—especially those from underrepresented backgrounds. I wanted to build an agency that not only delivers impactful campaigns but also fosters a culture of inclusivity, mentorship, and leadership development. Mentorship is at the heart of Be Yellow. I actively support women navigating the industry, providing guidance on career progression, leadership skills, and personal branding, and we have developed a partnership with Media Trust, in which we donate 5% of profits. Through this partnership, we offer female-led internships, and we offer hands-on experience to aspiring PR professionals, ensuring they gain the skills, confidence, and connections needed to succeed. These opportunities are designed to make the industry more accessible and to equip the next generation of female leaders with the tools to break barriers. My agency isn’t just about PR—it’s about changing the narrative and ensuring that more women have a seat at the table. By fostering a more inclusive industry, we can reshape leadership dynamics, empower female voices, and drive meaningful change.”

Jazz Gandhi, co-founder and director at Duet London: “Homogenous cultures in agencies surprised me when I chose this career 20 years ago. Not only was I ethnically different and marginalised, my multiple languages, mannerisms, values and morals were completely different, too. There were no female leaders like me with whom I could relate with. Unfortunately, tunnel vision meant that my bosses couldn’t see the value I could bring into campaigns, or my cultural ‘add’. It amazed me that for an industry that is meant to be having a relationship with the public, PR had little to almost no awareness of the diverse nature of the audiences it was ‘relating’ with. Instead, it forced folks to self edit, fit in, conform or change their mannerisms to be able to feel included in life and at work. This means some agencies are segregating as opposed to uniting, and that’s partly thanks to the campaigns these agencies were advising their clients to run. My big agency training taught me everything I wanted to build, alongside my grounding as a Punjabi Sikh warrior to selflessly serve. In addition, my wonderful life lived over in Japan and Trinidad honed in on traits such as honesty and inclusivity. Lucie Bickerdike and I joined forces in 2022 and launched Duet London with the same mission. We are as diverse as they come as a team which keeps our campaigns fresh, wholesome and grounded. Is the PR industry ready for this kind of leadership? Not really, but we are and the allies we have in our clients and a few PR buddies are too.”

Laura Oliphant, founder at Stand: “When I started in PR almost 30 years ago, the difference in how men and women were treated at work was stark. From the types of tasks we were given, to when our ideas and contributions were undervalued in meetings, it felt like I had to work 20% harder than a male colleague just to be seen as equal. I learnt to play to my strengths and see being under-estimated, as an opportunity. Although views were changing, it was tough returning to work after becoming a mum. I had the pressure, financially and professionally, to go back to work after five months, and felt I needed to push myself to be better than I was before. There was no room for vulnerability or support for the reality of balancing motherhood and a career. The final straw was being called 'emotionally fragile' and ultimately being replaced by a man with less knowledge and experience in PR. Those words cut deep and still make me angry, but they also fuelled me to build my own agency, around my own values. A place where no one is dismissed because of their gender, age, or background, and where talent speaks louder than bias. My role isn't just to lead, it's to support everyone in believing they are capable of more than they can imagine.”

Nicky Regazzoni, co-founder at The PR Network: "In 2005 George Blizzard and I set up The PR Network as we wanted to progress our own careers in the industry we loved, but without having to constantly juggle between work and home. Looking around and speaking to others who were working at a senior level, we realised we could build a new type of agency working with consultants who felt forced out of traditional working environments once they had children. At the same time, we could give clients access to brilliant director-level people at a competitive rate, as we don't need an office. The model was ahead of its time, but has proven very successful, and we're proud to have given work to hundreds of women who may otherwise have had to leave the industry in which they'd trained and devoted years of their careers. Freedom and flexibility is essential to retain women (and parents), and sadly not enough has changed in 20 years. Another great positive of our 100% remote model is that it has helped bring socio-economic diversity to the industry. Our network is not London or SE-centric, and we have experts in all corners of the UK who have run many great regional campaigns over the years for clients, including Vodafone and Apple."

Rachel Chesters, founder and MD at Start Communication: "The agency was born out of necessity. My son was a few weeks old when I was made redundant from an in-house role. I was determined not to become just another statistic – one of 54,000 women in the UK each year who lose their job simply for having a baby – so I set up on my own. Nine years later, my micro-agency is an all-women team, working alongside a trusted network of freelancers, many of whom are other women who turned freelance after facing pressures that simply didn’t align with raising a family. Too often, freelancers are treated as a commodity, despite many businesses relying on this independent workforce. We’ve built flexibility into the very heart of our business, both in the way we work, and in supporting freelancers that need extra flex. To solidify this, we recently became a supporter of the GM Good Employment Charter, extending those principles beyond our immediate team to the independents we collaborate with. We champion female businesses, founders and freelancers. And, even though it’s not always easy, we walk away from working with anyone whose values don’t align with our own. Good work and fair working conditions for women shouldn’t be a privilege."

Ella McWilliam, co-founder and co-CEO of Full Fat: "When Megan and I set up Full Fat, we wanted to create an agency that stood apart from anything we had seen or experienced before. There is no denying that the female energy we bring to our leadership is an integral part of who we are and the values we hold ourselves and our team accountable to. More often than not, when we attend industry-founder events, we find ourselves surrounded by a sea of men. Change is coming, but progress is slow. If there’s one thing we can do to help accelerate change, it’s making sure we lift others up around us, inviting those just starting out to those big meetings or pitches and loudly celebrating the brilliant women we work alongside, whether they are in the room or not. They could be a colleague, a client, or a fellow agency leader. We need to end gatekeeping and share in our collective experience and wisdom to advocate for meaningful change. We continuously analyse and benchmark our pay to ensure we have minimal to no gender pay gap across the agency, as well as support through our policies including flexible, hybrid working. We’re in the office 2 fixed days and the rest is up to the team and they can start at any time up to 10AM. Our menopause policy is packed with resources and support, as well a bespoke return to work policy with enhanced maternity and paternity pay. Recently we introduced a return-to-work coaching scheme offering in-depth sessions to help support the transition back into work, as well as broader coaching opportunities and mentorship across the team where needed."