‘We pride ourselves on doing things in our own way’

Tara Tomes is a PR expert who has worked both agency and client-side for independent retailers, internationally renowned fashion brands, acclaimed entertainment venues, large scale exhibitions, and everything in between.

She founded EAST VILLAGE. in 2013 out of a passion for collaboration and was keen to create the kind of agency she would be proud to be a part of, introducing flexible working, creating ongoing training and development programmes, and pushing young talent to the fore.

Passionate about PR, people and paying-it-forward, Tara sits on a number of boards and committees for local charities and organisations, including Midlands Retail & Hospitality Forum, Birmingham Sales & Events Forum, Let’s Feed Brum, and SIFA Fireside.


I love pretty much everything about what I do – working in PR, running my own business, helping business owners… Every day holds a different challenge and that is what makes me get up in the morning. However, if I had to nail the one thing that makes running a PR agency so great, it would be the ability to affect positive change. Often, we consider PR to be about consumption; making people buy things they don’t need over and over again, but there’s so much more to it. We get to influence people’s behaviour; making them buy from brands (be that products or services) who do good and have great values. That is what the power of PR can do… it can genuinely change the world, one consumer at a time.

There’s no doubting that 2020 has been a year full of challenges, but also tonnes of opportunities too. We’ve adapted our business to win new clients, boost our work in the health and wellbeing PR sector, and place a real focus on the importance of values. We’ve also dedicated time to our small business PR activity, with Pocket Sized PR, and this is something that we’re not just passionate about, but an area that will continue to grow. More people are setting up businesses and, as an agency with so much experience across a multitude of sectors, we want to focus on supporting these founders with awesome PR that doesn’t cost the earth. Alongside this, we have the chance to help the big organisations that we work with really drill down into what makes them unique and what value they offer customers. It’s an exciting time to be in PR!

When it comes to the PR industry, the biggest issue is lack of diversity. We’re not an inclusive industry; PR is still seen as elitist and only for those who can afford to do free internships and have parents with ‘connections’. That’s absolutely not the case, so we have to challenge some of those ‘Ab Fab’ PR stereotypes and get a much wider talent pool into our organisations and industries. Even as a boutique agency, this is a real focus for me; how can we create effective strategies for clients if our team isn’t truly representative of the customers we’re trying to get to?! Offering benefits like flexible working is just the start; I’m dedicating more time, energy and strategic thinking to how EAST VILLAGE. can lead the way for diversity in this industry.

Without a doubt, social media has had the biggest impact on PR and continues to be a grey area that agencies like us need to navigate. Traditional PR is by no means dead – there is still room for print media – but we need to be conscious of the wider variety of ways that people get their information, which makes PR a much bigger job. When we work with a client, our first job is to profile their ideal clients and I mean really profile them; not just what they read, but their daily routine, where they go, their favourite brands, and even the toothpaste they use. This intel helps us better understand them and their behaviours, and that’s how we then create a PR strategy that won’t just reach them, but will change their actions too. Social media plays a big part in this, but we often have to remind clients that not every person is on and influenced by Instagram… there’s a much bigger picture.

A client once said that we were “PR with personality” and that’s stuck with us for years. We pride ourselves on doing things in our own way, thinking outside the box, coming up with big and bold ideas, and delivering everything with complete passion. This is so crucial to the TeamEV way – we want clients to work with us because we’re dynamic, forward-thinking and care about their business as much as they do. Otherwise, we’re just faceless names behind phone calls and emails writing press releases that any-old-Joe could write. PR is so much more!

Don’t be like the rest of them. I’ve always been confident and outgoing, and I guess that’s stuck with me through to the culture that I create in EAST VILLAGE. In every role prior to setting up the business, there was a pressure to ‘fit in’ with the status quo; doing things how they’d “always been done” and that doesn’t make for a very exciting career. I do what I love because I want to make a difference, and part of that is constant learning. I encourage every member of the team to question, challenge and learn. I don’t want everyone to follow in each other’s footsteps… your career is yours to carve out, so understand what motivates you to get up in the morning and don’t be afraid to suggest a new way of working, even if you’re a junior in the team. Servant leadership is the way forward – sharing the power to benefit everyone. Believe in yourself and you’ll get there.

My mum and dad, without a doubt, are the biggest influence on me. They’re both extremely passionate about what they do, and they’ve always taught me that I can be anything and do anything. That kind of support gives you the bravery to just go for it… don’t worry about things going wrong because you have two people that always have your back. I’m extremely lucky! I guess, aside from them, I’m just inspired by anyone who’s passionate about creating change and encouraging others; someone like Mary Portas is the epitome of that for me. She’s an absolute expert and powerhouse, but she wants people to go back to a better way of living and to appreciate what’s around us… that, for me, is inspirational.

I’m not sure I’m ever really ‘away from work’, although I am getting much better. We restructured the business about 12 months ago, so my role is more strategic and the team delivers the day-to-day client activity, so I do get a little more time to myself than I did before. Olly (my fiancé) and I spend most of our time just enjoying things that make us happy; whether that’s taking Bambus (our fluffy Chow Chow) for fun walks, eating epic food at amazing restaurants, or even just binging something on Netflix, we love our ‘down time’ and cherish it so much as we both run our own businesses. This year also saw us both go on a big health kick; I’m really into yoga and HIIT workouts and Olly did ‘Couch to 5k’ early on in lockdown so is now regularly running 10k at 6am. It’s good to focus on your own health and self, especially at a time like this when home and work life is blending into one.


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