Nerrisa Pratt
Founder of PR, marketing and social media agency Untld Project
“... online courses, seminars, college courses and reports all help to keep me current because, in this day and age in my industry, if you can’t keep your finger on the pulse, you’ll quickly find you’ve made yourself irrelevant.”
Tell us a bit about your current job.
I’m the founder of PR, Marketing and Social Media Agency, Untld Project and we support creative, crafty and independent brands to reach their full potential with a range of services. We like to think of ourselves as an extension of brands, taking the headache out of owning an indie biz.
What and where did you study after school
After receiving way lower grades than I definitely could have achieved at school, I then went on to college to continue my legacy of being ‘average’ and got my A-levels (just) after making a deal with my parents that as long as I had those to fall back on I could do what I wanted next.
Next was an Art and Design Foundation at UCA Farnham and the minute I started there, I knew I’d found my place. I’d always wanted to work in fashion, from creating my own, very questionable clothing as a teen to collecting magazines and being a serial moodboard maker, I always had a passion for fashion and I loved that my foundation was putting me on the path to doing that.
After a few semesters, we had to start looking at universities and I had always been adamant that I didn’t want to go, instead preferring to go straight to brands and work my way up to CEO. But after some longer conversations with a brilliant textiles teacher I had, she was very honest and explained just how hard it would be to actually ‘make it’ in fashion design let alone earning a decent living from it too. She took so much time to explain the other options like PR and communications (social media jobs weren't a thing then!) and I promptly went on to apply for a degree at UCA Epsom in Fashion Promotion and Imaging.
How did you get from answer 2 to answer 1?
One of the reasons I picked my university course was the interview I had to secure my place on the course with one of my tutors, Dal Choda. The original ‘slashie’, he not only taught on the fashion course, but also had a seriously successful career writing for fashion magazines, presenting for the BFC and so much more. He was very much of the opinion that as much as I needed the degree, he was more than happy for me to intern over coming to lectures every time.
Throughout my course I was able to meet and connect with so many brands and people, including working backstage at fashion week, looking after celebrities at corporate events and assisting stylists on shoots. As a person, if I’m not learning something new, I tend to lose interest and with my internships I kept coming back to the roles that were PR and event-focused, as they were always so exciting, required me to think on my feet and, although there was so much responsibility and pressure, I loved the feeling of success when it was all over and I was part of the team that had nailed it.
After graduating in August 2013, I applied for BWP Group, an amazing retail marketing agency based near me in Buckinghamshire, and I started my first ever proper ‘big girl’ job in January 2014, working for an amazing team running events and selling in news stories for brands like IKEA, Polaroid and The Fragrance Shop.
How does your formal education feed into your present career (if at all)?
It does and it doesn’t. The connections, terminology and experience all helped me on my way, but when I went into agency, I quickly realised that the actual practical skills that you require when working a 9-5 were seriously lacking. I didn’t know how to draft a press release, I had no idea what a media list was and I was TERRIBLE at finance and budgets.
I can’t actually imagine how bad it would have been if I didn’t at least have the experience of internships to get me started.
What things have you learnt outside of formal education that have been helpful to your career?
I would say that most of what I now know is self-taught at this point. Of course things like writing a press release stay with you, but even the necessity of a press release has evolved now that you can DM a fashion editor or whizz them over an email. And again social media wasn’t really a huge thing when I first started out and so I’ve had to be adaptable. I spend a lot of money on my personal growth; online courses, seminars, college courses and reports all help to keep me current because in this day and age in my industry if you can’t keep your finger on the pulse, you’ll quickly find you’ve made yourself irrelevant.
What are the really useful skills for someone in your job to possess?
Being adaptable is probably the main reason for my successes. I pick up new things quite quickly and having a brain that works that way is a godsend when there are a million ways to do one thing. I’m also brilliant at forming new relationships with people and can read the room quite quickly to make sure the conversation keeps flowing and everyone is happy – essential when it comes to winning new clients and making sure events run smoothly.
What does an average day at work look like for you?
Never the same which is what I love about my job.
I don’t tend to work set hours and often find I’ll just keep going until I hit a natural stop – it’s the best thing about my job, and my boyfriend would likely say the worst.
What's the best thing about your job?
I guess it would be that I’ve managed to carve out a niche for myself in an area that I really love; shopping small and making are two of my lifelong passions and being able to utilise my PR and Marketing skills to make a real difference to brands I admire is a really amazing feeling.
What's your least favourite aspect of your job?
As much as I love what I do, I’m always ‘on'. Clients hit the headlines and post on social media at all times of the day as well as on weekends, Christmas, New Year’s etc and so it can be hard to switch off. I think because I really care about what I do as well, I’ll always do whatever it takes to go above and beyond even when I should probably be having a day off!
What (concrete) advice would you give someone seeking a job like yours?
Prepare to study and get practical experience in equal measure. I really wouldn’t be where I am now without that combination, it’s not that it can’t be done, more that the combination of the two helped me to understand the broader aspects of the industry and quickly helped me to understand how hard I would need to work to get there.
Once I had that mindset, the PR world was my oyster.