A tribute to Bieneosa Ebite, written by PRmoment founder Ben Smith. Bieneosa passed away in November 2025 after a short battle with cancer.

One thing I really struggle with is bluffers. People whose loud opinions are driven by insecurity, probably a lack of knowledge and maybe a lack of intelligence. The type of people jump on the band wagon du jour and write a relentless number of Linkedin posts/blogs without really, properly understanding what they are talking about.

I adored Bieneosa Ebite because she was the antithesis of this. She was wonderfully intelligent. Incredibly driven. Motivated beyond anything you’d believe. Whatever she did - she properly gave shit.

She made you think. She made me a better person. 

Bieneosa had a serious outlook on life but she was also great fun.

It was very difficult to argue with her because she was almost always right. You were much better off just listening to her. You’d learn loads.

Organisations like The Taylor Bennett Foundation, People Like Us, The PROS Collective and The Black Comms Network are doing great work to improve the diversity of UK public relations.

But it was Bieneosa Ebite who had a very very important role at the start of that movement. I first met her in about 2008 when she was chair at Ignite and it was immediately clear to anyone who met her, what a powerful advocate, campaigner and leader she was.

Bieneosa was at the centre of improving PR’s diversity problem for almost 20 years, always pushing for change. 

If you want to understand PR’s diversity problem, including its history, context and potential solutions, I suggest you listen to my last interview with Bieneosa, from 2024. It was recorded before she became ill.

Bieneosa was co-founder of Ignite in 2007, which was the original organisation that promoted diversity in UK PR.

But make no mistake, she had some big commercial comms roles working at the likes of Centrica and GSK. She also founded her own PR firm Bright Star. She was properly good at public relations.

She was at the absolute top of the PR game.

She was confident but never arrogant. She never tried to show off her intelligence. She didn't need to.

If she disagreed with you, you knew about it. But she’d evidence her argument so calmly, so definitively, so politely. It never became an argument.

And I can’t believe she’s gone. UK PR has lost one of its most important people.

We must celebrate the extraordinary role model that she was. Bieneosa Ebite’s legacy could not be more important. As a community we must ensure that we create an environment for us to see the likes of Bieneosa again. That positivity. That force for food. That extra ordinary motivation.

She was the start of the renewal of UK public relations. Never forget Bieneosa Ebite.

She was amazing.

Bieneosa Ebite sadly passed away on 21st November 2025, aged just 48 after a short battle with cancer.

If you’d like to be reminded of her brilliance, here are a couple of interviews I did with her:

My career in hindsight: Bieneosa Ebite on the PRmoment Podcast, this was first published in Jan 2024. This interview was recorded before Bieneosa became ill.

Bieneosa Ebite, Head of Corporate Communications at Centrica on The PR Pepper Challenge. The PR Pepper Challenge was a light hearted content theme that PRmoment came up with during Covid and Bieneosa was kind enough to go along with it. This interview was first published in September 2021. (Watch from 10 mins to 13 mins if you want to see Bieneosa laughing at my expense.)

And here is a video I found on Youtube from 2010 of a very young Bieneosa Ebite talking about the importance of diversity in public relations. Everything she says remains true today. Needless to say, as a young adult at the start of her career, she nailed the interview. Not one hesitation, not one word stumble. Why? Because she was super bright, talented, confident and knew what she was talking about.