When she was growing up, Brandy Star Merriweather’s family moved around a lot. She was an extrovert who quickly discovered a passion for communications.
“I was always involved in student council,” she remembered. “I was the girl who did the announcements in the morning, The Pledge of Allegiance. I was always utilizing my voice and amplifying others’ voices, advocating for others. There were even times when I would get in trouble for speaking up for the whole class.”
In high school, a mother who she babysat for was an attorney in Atlanta. Soon, Merriweather began helping with tasks beyond babysitting. The attorney’s publicist took Merriweather under her wing and became her first mentor. When the publicist wasn’t around, “I’d step in and answer phone calls. I got a glimpse of where my skillset could also be used.”
In college, she studied public relations and began practicing PR. Merriweather, whose Instagram handle is @TheGenZPublicist, now has a PR and marketing agency in Atlanta called BStarPR. Among the clients that she works and advocates for are HBCUs and BIPOC content creators.
In a recent interview with PRSA Publications Director John Elsasser, Merriweather, a recipient of the Comcast RISE grant, discussed how she builds relationships and curates experiences that resonate with audiences.
“Building authentic relationships comes from being yourself and allowing time to connect with people,” she said. “Those relationships come from people watching you work.”
Whenever she’s had the opportunity to work with a different PR agency, “I have leaned into the fact that I was the young one, the Gen Z’er. If they needed information on social media opportunities, I leaned into it. I was just being authentic to myself,” an approach that has helped her build a niche in PR, she said.
“Find what makes you different and then stay in that lane and rock it out,” she said. “Because those relationships will come, the people will come.”
‘A conscious extrovert’
Her natural extroversion helped her make friends when her family moved during her childhood and later helped her build a PR practice. But Merriweather calls herself a “conscious extrovert.” She tries to remain self-aware, even as she remains true to herself.
“I see moments when I might be over-speaking or when I see other people not speaking as much and I can see what they have to give to the world.”
Her extroversion notwithstanding, she advises other young communicators to start by being observant. “I have to remind myself to listen first,” she said. “Come up with a strategy and make sure that when it’s your time to speak, you know exactly what you want to say, how you want to say it.”
This past August, Merriweather was among the first influencers to attend the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. What did the experience teach her about the intersection of public relations and political engagement?
“The way that people are able to communicate and receive messaging right now is at an all-time high, especially with technology advancements,” she said. “It’s how people perceive information and make decisions.”
Her generation wants to work with people and organizations that have good morals and standards, she said. “We’re not to be played with. We are gonna speak up.”
[Illustration credit: intelligent horizons]
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