the business bit.
Building a business was absolutely NOT on my bingo card as a writer. But when I became a contributor at Forbes, I started getting approached by entrepreneurs and PRs who wanted to know how you actually land a feature in a massive media brand and, as someone sitting on the inside, the steps to take were incredibly clear.
I started out doing a workshop here and a consultation there, but the more I looked, the more glaring the gap became. Small businesses either had to choose between paying an agency thousands a month in retainer fees or trying to figure it out alone, with no idea what goes on at the other side of the inbox. That’s when I decided to start a paid newsletter called The Scoop (way before Substack). That newsletter then turned into a full learning platform in 2021 and in 2026, we merged with another business called Pressflow.
The bit I didn’t see coming is how much I’d love it (a LOT, it turns out). It sits right alongside my writing rather than replacing it, which kind of feels like getting to have my cake and eat it.
the short version...
Founded The Scoop in 2021
Merged into Pressflow in 2026
Taught media strategy at Columbia Business School and Sotheby’s
the scoop (where it started)
I started The Scoop in 2021 to teach founders and small business owners what I’d learnt from the other side of the inbox. What journalists actually want, how to get coverage without hiring a PR team and what to do with the coverage once you land it. (That second bit is the one everyone forgets.)
Members got live Q&As with editors from Vogue, the BBC and The Sunday Times, a list of 400+ journalists and me picking their pitches apart. Hundreds of founders went through it, PR firms came to learn the system too, and I ended up teaching media strategy at Columbia Business School and Sotheby’s. Our members have landed the BBC, Forbes, The Times and the i Paper. One of them heard back from a journalist in four minutes.
pressflow (the grown-up version)
In August 2026, The Scoop merged with Pressflow, which Jelena Skene had started after watching her agency clients overpay for PR that couldn’t deliver. Graham Skene turned our method into a proper platform. So now it’s a journalist, a marketer and a web developer. (Yes, it does sound like the start of a joke.)
Pressflow brings PR in-house, with a working journalist in your corner. You do the pitching. We make sure you know exactly what you’re doing.
why we bother
Press you’ve earned does something an advert can’t. Somebody else has vouched for you, and it keeps working long after the piece goes live. One Forbes feature turned into two years of inbound work for one of our members, and she’s still finding out what it did for her.
And right now everyone’s pitching with the same AI tools, so pitches are starting to sound identical. Annoying for journalists, but brilliant news for you, because sounding like yourself has never been worth more.
teams and events…
want this in the room?
I run all of this as talks and hands-on workshops too, for founders, creators and teams who’d rather learn it together.