Meet Jo Swann

For many new founders, PR feels like something for big brands with big budgets. Jo Swann has spent her career proving otherwise.

Two decades of PR

Jo is a PR expert and the owner of Chocolate PR, and she has been running her own business for 22 years. She is also the host of the PR Powerhouse podcast. Before launching Chocolate PR she worked in media, marketing and PR agencies, and over the years the business has worked with names including Whistles, the NSPCC, learndirect, Marriott Hotels, YO! Sushi, Dale Carnegie and Skipton Building Society (source: Business Up North).

Making PR possible for new founders

Today Jo is on a mission to make PR feel possible for people who are just starting out, and she has a particular focus on helping small businesses and female entrepreneurs tell their stories. On The Legacy Bench she talked about why PR so often feels out of reach for start-ups, the missing link for brand-new founders, how affordable PR can really be, and how pitch nights and networks can help her find founders at the very beginning of their journey.

Visibility, and where the line sits

Jo is passionate about the "visibility fear" that keeps so many founders, and especially women, too small and too quiet. She told the bench about getting a client into the national press before that client had a single testimonial, and that story sparked one of the liveliest debates of the episode: where is the line between confidently positioning yourself as the expert and simply faking it?

Jo Swann joined us on The Legacy Bench for "Fake It Till You Make It... Or Just Lying? 4 Guests Get Brutally Honest" — watch the full conversation.

Connect with Jo on LinkedIn and listen to PR Powerhouse with Jo Swann.