AddThis SmartLayers

Ex-daily reporter bounces back from double redundancy to launch PR firm

Alison Gallagher-HughesA former regional journalist is celebrating a year in business on her own after twice being made redundant.

Alison Gallagher-Hughes launched her own marketing consultancy called Tillymint Communications after losing her job due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Alison, pictured, is a former senior reporter on Wolverhampton daily the Express & Star, which she left to work in public relations for Staffordshire Police.

She spent 13 years with the force, becoming marketing communications manager, before taking voluntary redundancy a decade ago.

Stafford-based Alison has since gone on to work in several other PR jobs, but was made redundant from her most recent role in September 2020 – prompting her to launch Tillymint later on last year.

She has now spoken to Reach plc’s Business Live about how she has found the experience.

Said Alison: “The pandemic had brought the agency to its knees, and I suspected that the writing would be on the wall at some point in the future, so I started making a bit of preparation early on.

“Eventually the agency jettisoned most of its staff and that was the kick up the bum that I needed to move things forward.”

“In some ways I’ve come full circle. I started off writing, then I went into the mechanics of marketing and communications – such as strategy, advertising and market research – and then I came back round to writing PR, and now that’s what I do again.

“The market for marketing and communications activity has become more buoyant, and now I want to continue to build the business up. At some point I need to pivot my business model and actually start to take people on so we can become more of an agency rather than an independent consultancy.”