Wildfire’s Debby Penton on the PRmoment Podcast

On the show is Debby Penton, managing director of Wildfire. Wildfire is an independent tech PR firm with a fee income of £2.7m and 25 employees. Thanks so much to the PRmoment Podcast sponsors, The PRCA.Also, do please make a note that the PRmoment Awards 2022 have now opened for entries.Here’s a flavour of what Debby and I discuss:1.30 mins Debby describes how, in her first-ever job, she wasn’t allowed to wear trousers! 3 mins Debby explains why she loved working at Banner PR.5 mins Debby talks about why she would never want to work for a firm that is owned by a private equity firm—or one that is run by accountants.8 mins Debby discusses how her time at Wildfire seems to fit into 3 stages: Stage one was when Debby and Lorraine Jenkins formed a good partnership, grew the business and, (her words, not mine!) "took turns to have kids."9 mins Stage 2 of Wildfire: Debby talks about the growth of the business up to about £1m and the merger with EML to create EML Wildfire.12 mins Stage 3 saw Debby and Andrew Shepherd buy the business from Richard Parker. Debby talks us through the structure of the deal.16 mins The deal was completed in early 2020 just before COVID hit. Debby talks about the implications of that on the business.17 mins Debby gives her thoughts on what modern PR employees want.18 mins Debby explains why she has just started a masters degree in behavioural science.