This month we’re getting to know Account Manager Charlotte Cloud a bit better. Read all about her journey from English teacher to tech PR specialist below, as well as her love for Matt Berry and dark comedy.

How did you get into PR?

I have always been interested in media and popular culture, and loved reading and writing from a very young age. It’s what I based my studies around and although my first “grown-up” job was teaching English and Media, I wanted to be much more hands on. I moved into a role where I led projects and events to get students engaged in arts and media. While helping them find out how to turn their passion into a profession, I lined up talks from highly successful people, interviewed them, and gathered all the advice they provided to help give students the guidance and confidence to reach for their dream. One day I used that advice to start my own career in PR.

And how did you join Context?

I was working with an agency specialising in Fintech, and I found security challenges the most fascinating aspects to learn and write about. I wanted to explore how cyber threats were experienced and addressed more generally in business, while using the knowledge I’d gained in financial regulation, IT infrastructure and consumer behaviour. Context gave me the combination I wanted.

What excites you most about tech PR?

There are plenty of tech companies, and plenty of PR and comms professionals representing them, but to get your client noticed you need to be quick, skilled and relentless. I like knowing what I’m talking about and translating it for different audiences – from CISOs to consumers. That’s an exciting fusion.

And what do you think will be the industry’s biggest challenge in the future?

This is a really significant time for change in the media. Even the nation’s favourite print newspapers are under threat, and are having to adapt to rapidly changing conditions. This means we’re likely to see fewer traditional media opportunities, so the need to stand out from the crowd is stronger than ever. To get coverage, spokespeople will need to add something genuinely insightful, useful and interesting to the discussion if they want to land the opportunity they’re aiming for. In the meantime, PR professionals will have to become far more targeted in their approach to the media, while becoming more flexible and creative in what they can offer their clients and their media contacts.

Who would be your dream client?

B&M. Not the bargains shop – the Swiss engineering company, Bolliger & Mabillard. B&M produces some of the best roller coasters in the world. I think it would be amazing to promote innovations in thrill ride mechanics and one-off coasters in theme parks like Universal Studios Orlando, especially if it meant checking them out as part of the gig!

What would be your last ever meal?

Dark… But it’d be a plate full of snow crab legs from a Florida seafood restaurant if I did have to choose.

Favourite film?

Can I pick three? I will anyway. Jurassic Park, The Terminator, Aliens.

What are you currently binge watching?

Right now I’m watching What We Do in the Shadows. I love Matt Berry and dark comedy so it absolutely works for me. I’m really excited about the next series of Black Mirror and Stranger Things – I’ll absolutely binge watch those when they’re released.

All-time favourite song?

My all-time favourite artist is David Bowie, and my current favourite at-work listen is Du Hast by Rammstein – it keeps me powering through when I’m working on a big piece of content. I tend to listen to different music depending on what’s going on, how I feel, how I want to feel and which bands I’m going to see on any given year, so I can’t narrow down an all-time favourite.