We're on a mission

To help raise each other up to grow professionally find balance personally and collectively change an industry.

PR Mums is a PR & communications recruitment business connecting PRs who have taken time out for childcare with employers. This is underpinned by a community offering support via training, events, mentoring and an online forum where issues and guidance can be openly discussed.  We will also campaign and advocate to address issues that impact the lives and careers of the community.

Latest Roles

At its core PR Mums is a PR & communications recruitment business connecting PRs with employers. To find out more about our latest roles please click below.

Community & Events

We will be working with leading voices across our core topics to create engaging monthly events and community content designed to help us learn, share a point of view, and grow personally and professionally.

Consultancy & Training

We are currently working with some exciting industry partners to create a best in class and progressive training, advisory and consultancy programme.

Coming soon

Campaigning & Advocacy

If it impacts the ability for working mums to achieve their professional goals, we will campaign for change.  This isn’t about taking on individual cases but holding the industry to account and work together for change.

Coming soon

How we work

We work with women trying to find a pathway back into the industry. We work with PR agencies and in-house communications teams looking for exceptional talent and better representation in mid to senior level roles.

This is underpinned by our community led approach, which will be amplified and funded by 25% of our profits. This sustains a network of confidence building support, ongoing training and events to PR Mums.

Our knowledge

We know the communications industry. That’s our heritage. We understand the reality. The work, the briefs, clients, operations, office politics, the frustrations, the limitations, the highs, the lows, the challenges, the skills gap.

We really understand the importance of culture, chemistry, how teams work, managing egos, and how  great talent helps you grow.

We also know what it’s like to be an employee with diminished confidence and feel a bit lost.

We are committed to finding the right people, for the right role and seeing career breakers and businesses flourish through better representation.

So whether you are a candidate or a client we understand.

Meet the Team

Copyright Credit @rankinphoto
Ferzana Bham
Managing Director

Ferzana has strong recruitment experience and has been involved in building successful strategies to hire at scale for some of the most competitive industries, globally.

As a working mother herself, she is incredibly passionate in creating a strong narrative around mothers not having to choose between their careers and their families.

Copyright Credit @rankinphoto
Clare Coughlan
Talent Manager

With a long-standing recruitment background, Clare has honed her expertise recruiting for PR, marketing and digital based roles.  With a sharp eye for talent, she has worked for some impressive agencies and in-house clients. Also, a working mother and extremely passionate about creating opportunities and flexibility for mothers in the workplace.

Copyright Credit @rankinphoto
Dr Claire Vowell
Consultant Psychologist

Dr Claire Vowell is a Counselling Psychologist with extensive experience in delivering psychological interventions to diverse populations, working clinically in the NHS, charity sector and private practice. More recently she has worked as Clinical Director and Wellbeing Lead in a digital mental health company, with a focus on delivering evidence based support at scale.

Somewhat unusually for a psychologist, Claire’s ‘first’ career was in Corporate Communications working in both agency with clients including Unilever, Manpower, Heineken and Mars, and held a senior communications position at EY.

This unique blend of experiences has equipped her with a deep understanding of the challenges faced by working parents and the complexities of a variety of different corporate environments, from small agencies to multinationals. She also a strong advocate for promoting mental health awareness and fostering a psychologically healthy, supportive work environment for all employees.

Founding Mothers

The PR Mums community platform is driven by a board of ‘Founding Mothers’ whose role is to help drive conversation, answer questions, and provide mentorship where relevant.  They also come together to help campaigning on issues and factors that impact working mums and could dissuade and obstruct a return to work such as substandard parental leave policies; cost and availability of childcare; the lack of flexible or part-time roles; issues of diminished confidence; and physical dislocation and isolation.

Shilpa Saul
Copyright Credit @rankinphoto
Shilpa Saul

Shilpa is an Inclusive Communications Director at The Unmistakables. She has over 25 years’ worth of international and UK experience gained from agency and in-house roles, working with world-famous brands across almost every sector from travel, beauty and food & drink through to FMCG, consumer tech and consumer health brands.

As a mum of three, Shilpa is passionate about advocating for equitable workplaces and is looking forward to helping other parents get back into PR after having children.

Nicola McKelvey
Copyright Credit @rankinphoto
Nicola McKelvey

Nicola has more than 20 years’ experience working in a range of award-winning PR agencies and at various in-house roles. She is currently self-employed, allowing her to work on brands in sectors she’s passionate about.

With two boys aged 9 and 11, Nicola has experienced first-hand the challenges faced by mums in PR and she wants to use this experience to support others to change the industry for the better.

Alexandra Heybourne
Copyright Credit @rankinphoto
Alexandra Heybourne

Alexandra, is a mum to a two year old boy and a Director at Freuds.  With over 20 years’ experience working in-house and at agencies, she is a specialist in entertainment, arts and media PR.

With a Mental Health First Aid diploma from the MHFA, she is eager to ensure returning to work mums are supported in mental health and wellbeing. She is also passionate about normalising discussions around fertility issues and IVF treatment.

Ali Maynard James
Copyright Credit @rankinphoto
Ali Maynard James

Ali leads the UK studios at Manifest, a creative comms agency in the UK, building brands that change the world.

Having returned to work following mat leave, Ali is keen to support returning mothers and champion leadership roles in communications

Bethany Pearson
Copyright Credit @rankinphoto
Bethany Pearson

Bethany (Betty) has worked at some of the UK’s top PR agencies over the past 15 years, including Freuds, Ketchum, and Frank and is currently a Director at Grayling. She specialises in consumer behaviour change campaigns.

Betty has a two-year-old and is currently on maternity leave after having another baby in March 2023.

As well as being a champion for parents in the industry, Betty also represents the wealth of PR talent outside of London, having relocated to the Midlands a few years ago.

Jo Vyvyan-Robinson
Copyright Credit @rankinphoto
Jo Vyvyan-Robinson

Jo is a mum of two boys and partner at Freuds.

For nearly half her 20-year career Jo has been a working PR mum so understands the mental and physical challenges and complexities of juggling a job you love with having a family.

Jo believes in the power and importance of women supporting women and feels deeply passionate about talking about and normalising the highs and lows of wanting to be both successful as a parent and in your career.