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My name is Emma Collins and I have worked in PR since graduating from University in 2004. I was lucky enough to head up the PR in-house for a UK leading craft distributor and was able to build the PR from scratch. I thrive off the buzz you get in PR when you bag that media coverage, that double page spread in a national publication, attending meetings with editorial, putting on a show at the ICHF in Birmingham or at the SECC in Glasgow and the satisfaction you get from managing a very popular chat forum and its thousands of members. 
 
I had always dreamt of carrying on my travel in business. I worked as a Brand Manager for the same company for a year and I was very lucky in having the opportunity to travel to America, Germany and China. I was a workaholic and was always out of the house for 7am and never returned until it was dark. My husband was the same.
 
After getting married in 2007, I began to feel broody. I did try to shake this off but the feeling of wanting a baby was too much and eventually my husband agreed. In 2009 I gave birth to our beautiful daughter Nevie-Rose and in 2010 I gave birth to our second adorable daughter Myla. Our dream was to have two girls, and our dream came true!
 
Now, this story may sound all very nice but after having a very easy pregnancy with both girls, the labour was very traumatic and both ended up as emergency C-Sections, loss of a lot of blood, 6 weeks of no driving and a very busy family resulted in me being very lonely for a long time. Both births resulted in post-natal depression (PND) and I chose to hide this from family and most friends. As a result, I found myself getting stuck back into PR at every opportunity and chose to support mumpreneurs and parent bloggers after seeing just how hard it is to juggle a young family and work. I think that us mums have THE toughest job in the world. Joanne Dewberry from Charliemoos and Networking Mummies Dorset recently said to me "why can't we have our cake and eat it?" and I can't help but agree.
 
My website is called The PR Mummy (www.emmacollinspr.com) and offers an opportunity for mumpreneurs and parent bloggers to PR their business for FREE.
 
I work when my daughters go to bed, or if i'm lucky enough, when they nap at the same time in the day! My iphone is glued to my hand. I make endless notes at every opportunity. In the bath, at soft play, doing the night feed (which makes it harder to get back to sleep after), eating dinner, even watching a romantic film with my husband at home. Thankfully he understands and supports what I am doing. Working has made my weight loss 2011 challenge a little easier as I choose to work rather than snack on junk food and in 9 weeks I have lost a stone. I have never felt so passionate and dedicated to a subject before. Motherhood is a whole new world and I love it!
 
Emma Collins - The PR Mummy

At the start of February, Networking Mummies (Warwickshire) held their first 'Your Image is our Business' Workshop at Park Street Lifestyle with Sally Evans Photography.

On arrival, we had some refreshements along with some pastries and lovely cupcakes from Daisy Cupcakes. Sally kick started the morrning off with a 'Your Image is our Business' Presentation and by giving us all some key facts to think about:

'Did you know it takes 7 seconds for the person you meet to make up their mind about you and 15 years to change the opinion formed. Which is why a making a great first impression every time you meet someone is so important, whether its face to face, over the telephone, in your marketing literature, or on the internet'

Afterwards everyone was getting ready to have their photo session slot and we had the brilliant Stacey Calder and Amy Murray on hand to touch up any make-up people wanted.

We had a lovely time networking, meeting some new people and lastly posing of course for our final group picture!