E4 PR: Public Relations, Media Relations, Reputation Management

Reputation Management, Media Relations Management, Public Relations, PR Services: E4 PR


I started E4 PR informally in June 2009, when I discovered and started promoting Princess Amayo. Then in October 2009, I started promoting Nollywood actress, Nse Ikpe-Etim, who introduced me to Monalisa Chinda early this year, and before I knew it, more people started coming to me; so I formally started full swing in January 2010. Prior to this, I was a teacher for eight years. From a very young age, I have always been articulate in language and writings; I read loads of novels as well, which helped boost my eloquence. I am very particular about dotting all my i's and crossing all my t's; therefore it did not come as a surprise to people that knows me when I chose to read Education Studies in University (Greenwich).

Although I love teaching, I wasn't fully satisfied after I graduated from University, especially as motherhood did not permit me to work full time, since I had no help with childcare. I have always been a peoples' person and talking comes naturally to me. In fact, I regularly joke that I can talk for the whole of England and France, so why not put it into good use...hence my PR career was berthed. Let's just say that I have found my niche.

I must however admit that one of my inspirations for starting E4 PR was CAN Associates (Peter Andre's management). I love the way they package their Artistes and their PR is always on point. I was addicted to watching Peter Andre's reality TV show in England, and the more I watched, it strengthened my resolve to go into Artiste Management.

It was not easy in the beginning, as what I do is very hard work. I am a workaholic and a perfectionist and as a result, I end up doing so many things myself even when I hire help, because I can only trust myself to do the job perfectly. I have eight stars under my management at present and I profiled and composed all their write ups myself.

If you see the work that I do, then you would realise why my public relations techniques are unique. First of all, I give my stars a complete make-over, revamping their images and making them more sellable. I plan and direct each of their themes myself, then I liaise with Princess Amayo, one of the best make-up artists in the world, telling her exactly how I want each of my stars to look and she always expertly re-enacts my themes, as she knows that I am very fussy about perfection. For instance, with Chioma Akpotha's rock chic make-over shoot, I was very worried that it may not come out exactly how I wanted it and the shoot had to be cancelled until I was sure that everything was in place. The reason I was so particular about Chioma's shoot was because I wanted the public to see another side to her other than the "angelic/goody two shoes" image that people have of her. Chioma Akpotha is a very good actress, so it was important for people to see that she can also be sassy. When I was planning Chioma Akpotha's look, I said to her, "please, just allow me roughen you up for a day." She nailed it. She did a fantastic job! Chioma Akpotha gave the right attitude and was a proper “ruff rider/ride or die chic” during the shoot. I could not believe how good she was. I was very impressed. You know, Princess Amayo is an artist as well as a make-up artist, so fancy meeting another artist that turned out to be one of the bikers! It was awesome!

With Desmond Elliot and Joseph Benjamin's football photo shoot, it was just the spirit of the world cup that I got the idea from and then I planned their looks and asked Princess to draw tattoos on them. With Monalisa Chinda, whenever I look at her lovely eyes, I just think, exotic exotic exotic! So I planned her themes according to what was brewing in my head each time I looked at her. Look at the photo of her with a blue veil for instance. She truly does look foreign...like a very beautiful Sheik's wife or so. And with Susan Peters, hers was just effortless. She is already a model and knows how to pose et al. I still can't get over how beautiful she looked in all her shoots.

I planned five main shoots for my ladies (beauty, fantasy, glam, corporate and gele). The beauty shoot is always my favourite because it involves no jewelry and very light make-up. This way, the public get to see their favourite stars looking naturally beautiful and almost vulnerable without all the glam. The fantasy shoot involves body art (Chioma Akpotha and Susan Peters had flowers drawn on their faces and Monalisa Chinda had hers drawn on her hand). The glam shoot involves loads of accessorizing and more make-up, the corporate shoot of course is their business looks and the gele is traditional. Chioma Akpotha was the only one that had an extra rock chic shoot. The guys had a corporate look as well and Desmond Elliot had an additional old school shoot.

Apart from Artiste Management, I am also a talent spotter and want to be responsible for unleashing new talents into Nigeria. Princess Amayo is living proof that if I believe you have genuine talent, I will go the extra mile to help you realise your dream. Princess Amayo came to me with just her talent and now she has two trophies to her name. I hope this would serve as encouragement to other people with genuine talent not to give up on their dreams; Nigeria needs new talents all the time. When I look at Princess, I feel a sense of pride because she is E4 PR's baby; my number one talent who has never let me down. Princess makes my work worthwhile because she always delivers and proves each time that my investment in her career is not in vain. Princess Amayo is the best makeup Artist that Nigeria has ever produced. I know that she is still fairly new in Nigeria, but mark my words; a lot of people will be echoing the same thing as you discover more of Princess Amayo. My aim is to get Princess Amayo on top fashion shows, as a judge on television fashion shows, amongst other things that I am keeping close to my chest at present.

I have great passion for what I do because it signifies the strength of my belief in the success of my work. What motivates me to keep going on even in difficult or challenging times is the price at the end of the race. I have a slogan that I use to encourage myself and if you are my friend on Facebook, you may have noticed it on my profile. It goes thus: "Love the people that treat you right, forgive the ones who don't and believe that everything happens for a reason. If you get a chance, grab it; if it changes your life, let it. Nobody said it would be easy, but life is too short for regrets." I genuinely believe that God does reward hard work, so I will keep pressing on regardless and never give up.