Breaking Through in Your Niche with Adela Hussain
“I walked away and I said, ‘You know what, I don’t believe a word of what you said even though you’re a qualified journalist,’ I’m going to show you. Then within 12 months, I was in 14 different publications.”
I’m honored to have Adela Hussain on the podcast today to talk to us about breaking through in your market. Adela is a disruptive publicist and is a master at helping you pitch your business to people that don’t know you…yet. Known for her high energy and laser-sharp thinking, Adela creates equity in publicity by removing the gatekeeper and helps build authentic connections between rising, ambitious, liberal entrepreneurs and world-class journalists. Throughout our conversation, Adela shares the challenge she has faced as a woman of color in the British fashion market and how she did a complete 180 in choosing a different target demographic which helped to launch her 5-figure mastermind. A big takeaway she leaves us with is to stop waiting for permission and to back yourself with the faith that the universe will support you. You don’t want to miss this episode!
Topics:
How Adela’s PR business came to be, even after she was told she would never be featured
Knowing when and when not to listen to what others have to say about your possible success
The challenge that Adela faces as being a woman of color in her brand market/niche
Why it’s so important to stop waiting for permission and leap with faith that you’ll be supported
How to position yourself as a thought leader in your space by leading with story
About Adela:
Adela’s a disruptive publicist and is a master at helping you pitch your business to people that don’t know you…yet. Known for her high energy and laser-sharp thinking, Adela creates equity in publicity by removing the gatekeeper and helps build authentic connections between rising, ambitious, liberal entrepreneurs and world-class journalists. Adela discovered she had a talent for pitching when she first started doing PR for her own fashion tech start up and was featured in 14 publications in 12 months, including the Harvard Business Review without pitching! A former Management Consultant, she has been featured in the BBC, The Sunday Times, The Guardian, The Independent, Stylist, Psychologies, Metro and 10 other publications. She was also a finalist in Cosmopolitan’s Self Made Award in 2017 and in 2018 she was in Sarah Woods’ Top 10 Female Founders In The UK To Watch list. Her Pitch to Press Program and Media Mastermind, The Parlour have helped hundreds of founders fall in love with PR and master their media pitching to sky rocket their sales.
For more from Adela, be sure to:
- Check out her website.
- Follow her on Instagram @adela_hussain
For more, make sure to:
- Follow me on Instagram @frenchie.ferenczi
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Frenchie:
Hello. Hello. And welcome back to strategy snacks. I am so excited today to have my friend and expert media consultant, Adela Hussein with us. Adela and I have collaborated in a lot of ways. We've known each other since the early days of both of our businesses and have been through a lot of iterations and journeys together.
And I am so excited to have her here and have her share her genius and wisdom with all of you, Adela. Welcome.
Adela: Thank you [00:01:00] so much, Frenchie. I'm so delighted to be here. I feel, yeah, we are business, bonded business buddies, so I am truly excited about this, uh, beautiful, um, interview and, um, I know that everyone's going to get a lot of wisdom from it.
Frenchie: I love it. I love it. Well, first of all, tell us a little bit more about yourself beyond mine, just like gushing about you and everything you
Adela: do. Oh, Back at you Frenchie, by the way. Um, so my name's Adele Hussain, as you can hear, I have a slightly smooth British accent. I live here in England across the Atlantic.
If you're based in the U S, um, near Notting Hill. So if you've seen the Hugh Grant movie, uh, I'm often having my nails done next to that blue door. So then you can, then you can kind of visualize me in London. Um, so I am a disruptive publicist and story hunter, and I create equity in the world of publicity by removing the gatekeepers.
And what [00:02:00] that means is I help rising, ambitious, liberal experts in the health and wellness and also the world of work. industries, build authentic, meaningful relationships with world class journalists so that they can land high profile media features. Um, so my goal is to help you get, you know, land publicity, you know, in very simple terms.
Um, yeah, go for
Frenchie: it, Frenchie. I love it. No, and you're, and you're amazing at it, right? I think you are. Uh, I think we're sets you apart in so many ways. I mean, one, your relationship building skills, but also just your ability to find the story right and to find a story that is unique and different. And I think that's something that is lacking a lot of the time and That's how you get into the press, right?
That's how you get featured is the story. A hundred
Adela: percent. A hundred percent. I am. Uh, and that's just why I have updated my bio to say that I'm a story hunter. Like I love going [00:03:00] through the jungle and climbing mountains and, you know, instead of climbing to the top of a mountain, or it could be the I look, look for the gold in the story.
Um, And, and I think that comes down to Frenchie, my, growing up as an only child for 19 years, um, and sitting there and just watching so many films when I was 18, when I was little, um, and reading a lot of books and just. Always being passionate about storytelling. Um, and I discovered actually I had a sort of talent for this area when I had, um, in my last business, I ran a fashion company and I was featured in places like the BBC, Sunday Times, The Guardian, Independence, Psychology's Magazine, and, um, you know, about 14 publications in 12 months.
Uh, very, very quickly, uh, and ended up firing my two publicists, actually, because I realized I could tell my story better than them, um, and also won [00:04:00] various awards and, uh, I saw the power of media very in, in what was. Of what is still is a deeply competitive industry. The fashion industry is one of the hardest industries to crack as an entrepreneur.
Um, and just got a lot of publicity awards and collaborations with influencers and movers and shakers in. A very, you know, snooty part of the world in London, um, and cracked it. And so, yeah, I then went on to, um, leave my company and start a new one selling what I know, because I've been there and experienced it.
Frenchie: I love it. I love it. Okay. So on that note, you gave us a little bit of a peek into your experience and all that. When you think about either this business or your past business, like what has been one of your biggest business wins and moments that you've celebrated?
Adela: Yeah. Such a good question. Such a good question.
Love it. Um, so I'm going to kind of, [00:05:00] um, Share that. I've got two wins actually. My biggest business win. Um, and they're interrelated. So, um. The most meaningful thing that happened was actually also my lowest point, right? Uh, when I had the last company that I mentioned, my fashion business, um, was almost like a sort of very enthusiastic Labrador, right?
You know, I started the company, I was lining up all these, um, collaborations and it was 2016. Um, and I was getting invited to do all these talks at places like Accenture, um, The UK's most famous blogger for food had agreed to a collaboration and just posted my product and services to her thousands and thousands of Instagram followers.
So I was super high on, on, on a particular day when I was going into a naturally high, uh, going into a meeting, [00:06:00] uh, going into a meeting with a top. journalist, right? Um, that, uh, was working for the publication. I really wanted my business to be featured in. And, uh, she ran, she was running a, a women's entrepreneurial community in London and we had coffee.
In that meeting, I said, look, I'm, I'm, you know, super enthusiastic, very bouncy. I've just had this collaboration. Look, there's this brilliant Instagrammer who's just posted about my business. My dream is to get into this one magazine and you're the journalist who writes for that. You know, do you think, you know, do you, could you give me advice on how I could get featured in the media?
And she looked at my Instagram following, which was 3000 people at the time. Um, and she said, Adela, you will never, ever get featured in the media with less than 10, 000 followers. Um, and in that moment, my heart broke actually. And then don't forget, I came from a very corporate background where I was used to dealing with [00:07:00] ex army men, you know, 469 million mergers and acquisitions.
But this was personal. This was my business. This wasn't someone else, some random client for a big corporate company, you know, company. And I just thought, You're there to support female entrepreneurs and you're telling me I'll never get featured. Um, and my sort of soul just sort of sloped down, you know, me, you know, when she turned around and maybe wiped a tear from my eye, I thought, okay, fine, I won't get ever, ever get featured.
And we ended the coffee there. And then, you know, we were very, very pleasant. And then I just walked away and I just said, you know what, I don't believe you. A word of what you've said, even though you're a qualified journalist, um, And so I said, you know, am I allowed to swear on this, on stretchy sex? Yes, you are, you are.
I quite literally said, fuck it, fuck you and fuck it. Um, I sound like Miriam Margulies here, a very famous, uh, famous actress who swears in every [00:08:00] single podcast interview. Um, and I said, fuck it, I'm going to show you. Uh, and, and so, you know, walked back to my desk, I sort of brushed off that comment. Within 12 months, I was in 14 different publications.
Um, I was in Harvard business review without pitching, uh, Cosmopolitan put me in the top 10 female founders of the year award. Sarah Wood, who was a very famous tech entrepreneur who sold her company to Murdoch for 350 million met, had met me and put me in the top 10 female founders to watch list on LinkedIn.
Uh, and it was unbelievable. And I was invited onto TV twice, you know, Shark Tank. The equivalent of that dragon's den. And I just thought, and I look back at this one journalist after all that. And I think if I had listened to you, Oh my God, none of this would have happened. None of it would have happened.
Um, and so the interesting thing is now Frenchie that [00:09:00] I sell, I mean, you know, spots on a media mastermind, helping entrepreneurs get to get in front of the media. And the best win, actually, if you really look at the hard results of my clients, the best win, uh, was actually six weeks ago, Frenchie, when one of my, and this isn't related, right?
Uh, one of my clients, a very kind of fresh, fresh expert, not, not fresh in her expertise, but kind of fresh to promoting herself. She has six followers on Instagram and she has landed. A six page feature in a national magazine that she wrote herself. I love
Frenchie: it. That's amazing.
Adela: If AI listened to that mean girl, mean girl journalist, all journalists are like this.
I have a lot of amazing relationships with journalists, right? I love them to pieces, but this one particular one sticks with me as my, my mean girl, my mean inner critic, right? But can you imagine if I listened to her, I wouldn't have that [00:10:00] ripple effect, right? She, she, this, this lovely client, uh, uh, uh, Aaliyah Murakhan.
You know, her business is touching the emotion. She would never have got that six page feature if I'd listened to this particular journalist back in 2016. That ripple effect wouldn't have happened. It's extraordinary.
Frenchie: Yeah, that's wild. And that's amazing. I mean, six pages is no joke. Six pages is a lot of, of ad space.
Adela: Yeah. But we were thinking about this earlier. Six Instagram followers and she's got six pages. Right? Yeah. So when someone tells you something, you don't always have to listen to them, right?
Frenchie: Yeah. Yeah. Also like blanket rules. I think I'm always like, when someone talks too in like very sweeping broad strokes, I'm always like, I, right?
Like if she had said only 3, 000, it's going to be harder for you to get featured. That's like one thing, but these broad scopes of like never [00:11:00] or always, anytime anyone says either of those words, it's like bing, bing, bing, bing,
Adela: bing. Yeah, yeah. And I must put a caveat here, right? Um. She's a deeply talented journalist who has so much skill in, uh, writing fantastic stories and back there, you know, fashion journalist, very good at writing her stories.
Um, and if I'd asked her a question on the actual story, I have no doubt that, you know, the expertise would have been brilliant, but. She was running a female community where she talks of inspiring, inspiring entrepreneurs. And at that moment she did not inspire me. So there's another win here about curate your circles carefully.
Yeah,
Frenchie: totally, totally. Okay. So on the flip side of this, and you kind of shared the, like the journey here around these wins, right? But what's been one of the hardest lessons for you to learn along the way? One of the biggest kind of challenges you faced. Oh,
Adela: this is juicy. I was wondering how, how deep to go into this.
Um, such a [00:12:00] good question. I love it. Um, right. So my hardest business, business lesson that I've had to soak up is actually has actually led to, uh, my best wins, right? Financially, financially. Um, And this is going to be a little bit hard to talk about, uh, but we'll go there, we'll go there and we'll go a bit deep.
So I just want to offer a trigger warning for women of color listening to this because this, this may touch on some past biases you may have had, discrimination. Um, so just, you know, if, if you are slightly sensitive to that, just pause at this moment. you know, acknowledge that. Um, but the, the hardest lesson for me was to realize that I'm in a very personal brand led market.
And, um, sometimes your face doesn't fit. And for [00:13:00] someone who is very driven, like myself, uh, who has come from working in corporate in a sea of white men, I always thought nothing was impossible. Right. And I would climb. you know, mountains, kind of prove it to myself in my 20s. I can do every space cam and raise, you know, 15, 000 for charity.
I can do anything. But when I started this particular business, you know, um, Pitch to Press three years ago, I was initially marketing to a British audience. Um, And I, you know, like a lot of people in the industry, I was leading with challenges and freebies every five minutes. I was giving away a lot of content in my social posts.
I was doing so much. I was building a free community. And there was a point like we all have to do. We have to ask for the settle, right? We have to say, here's where you can find out more. Here's where you can click buy and, and, and, you know, pay me for what I'm worth [00:14:00] essentially. And. I just remember this person sending me a message going, Oh, I loved your free challenge, but I want to know more about how you actually do this.
Uh, and I just suddenly thought, You're never going to pay me, are you? You're never going to listen to me and pay me. And it just felt like the more I was delving into the British market, the more that my face didn't fit, right? And that women would not pay me. Um, and it, and overnight I just had this epiphany and overnight I just went 180 degrees and changed demographic.
And I stopped marketing to white British and please, if you're British, please don't take this personally, um, because there's, there's a lot, and I don't have to caveat this, right? I don't want to get trolled, but there is a lot behind this that people will buy from people. Who are, who are like them, who act like them, who sound like them.
And if you're [00:15:00] like me, one of very few women of color with a well spoken accent in this personal brand market, I haven't met anyone who looks and sounds like me, like in my niche. Right. So. People buy from people who are like them and there was a point I just said no one's going to buy from me because I'm seeing the data give me those results.
However hard I, however strong the results could be, you know, the media wins I can support people with. So overnight I did a 180 and just said, you know what, I'm very used to traveling around the world in corporate, you know, working out in India, working in the States. Ironically, my, my, my former company was Accenture.
They used to work for American. Let's just go over there. And I did. And the minute I did, I kind of think you came into my world then Frenchie as well. Yeah. The minute I did, the money started rolling in for me and people were buying my work because, because I [00:16:00] started to work better in that more, that environment.
And that was a really hard lesson for me to, to soak up. Um, but it also led to my biggest financial win. And now I have a five figure mastermind and I'm never looking back. Right.
Frenchie: Right. I love that. I love that. That's incredible. And, you know, I think just also identifying where the gaps are and really getting clear on what the struggles might be and how they might be and all that sort of thing is in, in an interesting way, really allows you to, Sometimes I think there's this uphill battle to trying to change the world around you.
And rather than doing that, I think what you did so elegant, elegantly and so successfully was actually just say, how can I make this work for me? And how can I build something that I feel really proud of rather than feeling like I need to prove myself in another way, when I have so much experience, so much to offer so much talent.
And [00:17:00] so I think, you know, I just love that you, that you did that and that you kind of just like stood in your own
Adela: sense of self. Uh, yeah, yeah, a hundred percent. Thank you for acknowledging that friendship. I appreciate you noticing that. Um, and it also leans into a very entrepreneurial mindset, which is.
You know, if anyone's listening today going, I'm really struggling to sell in my current market, you know, um, please don't just jump on my story and think it might be a discrimination thing because my thing was, was, was a little bit of that, but actually think cleverly and get, there's a global world out there, right?
So if this market isn't buying, how can I reach a market that is buying? And don't forget I was running a fashion company where I had sold product to seven different countries. So even though I was marketing and in publicity in the UK, I'd get emails from random women reading those UK publications in places like Singapore saying, can you deliver to Singapore?
Right. [00:18:00] Uh, I never ended up delivering to Singapore. It's too complicated, but I did deliver to seven different European countries, uh, over a period of three months, uh, three years. Um, so that entrepreneurial mindset of, look, this market isn't working for me for whatever reason. Right. Let's switch. It's clever.
It's, it's a clever, if anyone's listening to this, you need to think, especially if your economy is, um, struggling a little bit, how can you diversify and bringing new geographical markets into your business? Totally.
Frenchie: Totally. I love that. I love that. Okay. And then last but definitely not least, I want to hear what your like top strategy snack business advice is for our listeners.
I'm super curious to
Adela: hear what you have to say. A very important message is stop waiting for permission from anyone. Right? Yeah. Don't wait for the tap on the shoulder. [00:19:00] So if we circle back to. my original story, my most meaningful win. I didn't wait for that journalist to tap me on the shoulder and say, hey, you're really good for this publication now.
I think you're so cool. I want to, you know, I just said, fuck it. I'm not waiting for permission from you. Actual fact, she was, I don't know. I don't think she was even clever enough to think that she was doing some reverse psychology. Right. There was no like, Right. But whatever she said, just hit me, hit, hit a nerve and I was like, come on.
Yeah. I didn't need it. I don't actually need permission from you. Right. I can just go and prove it. And I did. And it was remarkable and backup I got. Right. Um, so don't wait for permission because honestly, no one is actually going to tap you on the shoulder. People are so selfish these days. We, we, we live in a very, uh, a world where people are time pressed.
No one has time to tap you on the shoulder and say, Hey, I think you're really good for this. So don't wait for permission. You back [00:20:00] yourself. And when you do, you know, the world will architect around you and support you because you've held your hand up and say, Hey, I'm ready for this opportunity now. Uh, and it's, it's such simple advice, but it's.
It's so, so important. And once you do back yourself, then another sweet tip is just to lead with a story. If it's media that you're looking for, when you're wanting to position yourself as a thought leader for your space, a big tip for you, a bonus tip is to lead with the story and not your ego. And that's very specific.
And what that means is journalists, media professionals, TV producers, they're not interested in hearing about you and your business. They actually want to hear how you help the part, their readers and their audience. And that is always wrapped in a story.
Frenchie: Yeah. I mean, I would say the same is true in your marketing, right.
And when you're selling like. Ultimately you are selling the impact of what it is that [00:21:00] you offer and not just, you know, why they should work with you and that sort of thing. And I actually think that when you start to make it, when, when you're able to look at it that way, it makes it easier to keep moving forward because it takes some of the like self deprecation, anything that feels like it's deeply personal out of it.
And you're just neutrally and objectively looking at the message, the story, the impact, like all of that. Um, and it really helps.
Adela: A hundred percent. A hundred percent. It then becomes not about you and whatever mindset issues you may be going through that day. You just may be attached so much to, uh, helping people with obesity right now or helping people go through, you know, working through trauma right now.
And you're so wedded to that story that whatever, you know, arguments you've had that day doesn't matter. Right. It's, it's always about your audience and who you're helping on the other side of that.
Frenchie: I love it. Adela. I have loved our conversation. [00:22:00] Unsurprisingly. Um, I would love for anyone listening to know how they can connect with you, how they can work with you.
Um, all those good things that we don't
Adela: just end it here. Yes, of course. I'd love to. So, number one, I'd love to hear from people what their main takeaway was from this. Yeah. Uh, strategy snacks. So, uh, you can find me on, at, on Instagram at Adela, A-D-E-L-A, double Hussein, HU doubles a IN. And, and
Frenchie: we'll also link that in the show notes.
Adela: So, yeah, and just send me a message and just say. Tell me what you took away from this episode because I'd love to hear, you know, what landed for you. Um, and then the other thing you can do is if you are keen on getting your business featured in the media, then I have a little free gift for you, uh, which is 10 steps on how to get your business in the media at Pitch to press.
com. Uh, and it's, it's a proven guide. Uh, it shows you the steps on how I personally got into the media and all the, [00:23:00] all the strategies I, um, deployed when I was really sort of focused on getting my last business in the media. So you can go and grab that fee freebie at pitch to press. com.
Frenchie: Thank you so much, Adela.
Thank you so much for being here. It's been great having you to all of our listeners. Make sure you connect with Adela. Thank you for being here and we can't wait to hear your takeaways. We'll be back
Adela: soon with more. Thank you so much, Frenchie.