The Pitch Room
Emma Streets
Director · Streets PR
20 years in PR · Founded Streets PR January 2026
“A lot of things have changed — but a lot of basic principles have also remained the same.”
Key takeaways
Foundation
In-person relationships
Client edge
Deep industry knowledge
Research format
Podcasts, YouTube, trade press
Mindset
Stay open to new platforms
During her 20 years working in PR, Emma Streets has seen a lot change — but she's also watched certain principles remain constant. From early days in agencies to founding Streets PR in January 2026, Emma has worked with clients spanning fashion and beauty through to logistics, healthcare and shipping.
Here, she shares the three things she'd tell any PR professional regardless of where they are in their career.
“Building relationships in person wherever possible will only ever benefit you.”
As true now as it was in 2005, building relationships in person wherever possible will only ever benefit you. It's great for developing your network as well as your professional confidence and communication skills.
Making time to meet clients, journalists and industry influencers at events or just for coffee is always worthwhile. You also never know who you may meet in the future and where they may end up.
“Becoming the ultimate nerd on your client's market gets you closer to their business.”
Read up on your clients and their industries. Becoming the ultimate nerd on your client's market gets you closer to their business and ensures your relevance for recommendations is on point.
There are so many channels now to consume deep research and technical subjects in engaging ways. Listen to a podcast, watch a YouTube video — it doesn't have to just be religiously reading their industry trade press magazines anymore, although you should still do that too.
“Studying where and how people communicate is fundamentally what PR is all about.”
Always explore new channels. I've joined so many platforms that often ended up as a throwback frame of reference in the future — from MySpace to Clubhouse, Snapchat (I went all in on this for client geo-fenced filters in 2016/17) and Bluesky.
Studying where and how people communicate is fundamentally what PR is all about, so stay open minded and you'll always keep learning. That's one of the main reasons why I'm still working in PR 20 years later.
About the contributor
Emma Streets
Director · Streets PR
Emma Streets is the founder and director of Streets PR. Prior to launching her own consultancy in January 2026, she spent 20 years in PR across agencies and in-house roles, with clients spanning fashion, beauty and food to logistics, healthcare and shipping.
Put these tips into practice
Find and pitch the right journalists
Emma's tips start with knowing who to reach out to. PressReacher gives you a searchable database of 2M+ journalists with verified contact details.
Start finding journalists