Recognizing the next generation of PR leaders and pacesetters
The Museum of Public Relations has chosen the five recipients of this year’s NextGen Awards, in partnership with PRWeek, recognizing young PR pros who personify the industry’s Hidden History trailblazers.
(L-R) Patreon’s Adiya Taylor, Highwire’s Martin Bradshaw, Target’s Luisa Tejada, Zeno’s Jocelyn Arellano, and Citi’s Sabrina Browne.
“The PRMuseum NextGen awards are named for trailblazers in our industry’s Hidden History because of their resolute character and accomplishments, not for their skin color, gender or sexual orientation,” the PRMuseum’s co-founder Shelley Spector said. “The recipients of this year’s awards demonstrated the same resolute character, with a record of achievement in the face of personal obstacles and challenges, just like these original trailblazers.”
As well as the recognition of winning and a trophy, the honorees receive a year of one-on-one mentoring by current industry leaders including Christina Chan, CCO at Regeneron; Jon Harris, EVP and chief communications and networking officer at Conagra Brands; Damon Jones, CCO at Procter & Gamble; Rosemary Mercedes, CCO at BBC Studios; and Nicole Nichols, EVP, communications and strategy at Harpo.
Christina Chan, Chief Communications Officer, Regeneron
Jon Harris, Executive Vice President and Chief Communications & Networking Officer, Conagra Brands
Damon Jones, Chief Communications Officer, P&G
Rosemary Mercedes, Chief Communications Officer, BBC Studios
Nicole Nichols, Executive Vice President, Communications and Strategy, Harpo Inc.
About the PRMuseum NextGen Awards
The PRMuseum discovered the industry’s “Hidden History” when its research into the modern practice’s earliest years revealed practitioners who had pioneered in the field but were overlooked because of their gender, the color of their skin, their sexual orientation, or other factors that caused them to be marginalized.
The awards are named after trailblazers in PR’s "Hidden History” who had those characteristics. Pioneers such as Inez Kaiser (1919–2016), who was the first African American woman to own and operate a PR agency; Wilma Mankiller (1945–2010), who was the first woman elected Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation and became a relentless advocate for improved education, healthcare, and housing services. Esther Renteria (1939–2007), a groundbreaking Latina journalist and civil rights advocate for social justice; and Bayard Rustin (1912–1987), a close advisor to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., best known as the chief organizer of the 1963 March on Washington, left a lasting legacy in both civil rights and LGBTQ+ history; and Lynne Choy Uyeda (b. 1938), the first PR firm in the U.S. owned by an Asian American woman and co-founder of the Asian Business Association.
Recognition event
The PRMuseum NextGen Awards will be presented this fall during PRWeek’s “40 Under 40” program in New York City.