Taking home the PRmoment Young Professional of the Year (South) award is no easy feat.

And, looking at the list of achievements on Jessica Riley, media account director at Teamspirit’s award entry, it’s understandable why the awards judges described her as “immensely talented”.

Riley started at the agency in 2017 as an account executive, and by 2023 she had been promoted five times — the most recent being her current role of media account director.

This is a new role, and arm to the agency, that Riley created for herself from nothing; and the reason she won.

With the help of her senior leadership, and a few years of discussions with Teamspirit’s board of directors, Riley was granted the freedom to spearhead the new proposition for the agency.

“Since the end of Covid [2022] to now, I've worked with the business to create my own blueprint for this specialised media relations role,” Riley explains. “While I wanted to be a good all-rounder, have good client servicing and people management skills under my belt, I knew 99% of my interest was in media relations.”

“There were a few ongoing conversations over the years, and then the decision was made by our board that I can specialise in my role.”

Riley took the idea to her line manager and director at Teamspirit, Ursula Delaney, who suggested her tenacious direct report could pool experience from Teamspirit's parent company — VCCP — which gave Riley access to B2B tech marketing and PR agency, Harvard.

“There was already a media specialist division set up at Harvard, so [Delaney] put me in touch with that team to get a feel for how they run it on that side. Then, I could cherrypick [elements from Harvard's operation] that our clients would be interested in.”

This saw Riley create a role for herself, which she says involved a “lot of rewriting the job description and setting up my own objectives”.

With the help of her colleague, Sam Munton, Riley created a bespoke broadcast and podcast team that sat within media relations. And, if that wasn't enough, she had to upskill junior members of the team via various methods including sharing insights and arranging meet and greets with newsrooms.

Running parallel to that, Riley is also actively involved in the day-to-day life at Teamspirit, and runs a regular 'media relations 101' workshop with junior colleagues. She even hosts 'a day in the life' sessions with junior journalists seeking to grasp the PR experience. 

Riley is also part of the agency's 'communications and connections' workflow, which helps team members feel supported and engaged, while bringing the agency closer. 

Externally, Riley is keenly involved in charity and pro bono projects. In 2019, she solely organised and hosted a charity auction for the advertising and media industry charity, NABS, and she often helps with soup kitchens for Westminster-based homeless charity The Passage.

Overall, Riley has been involved with 25 award-winning pieces of work at the agency, and has received countless client requests for her to be directly involved in their projects.

And, this is all before her 30th birthday.

Riley says she had her sights set on entering The PRmoment Awards’ Young Professional of the Year category for some time, but realised time was running out.

“I will turn 30 in June of this year, and it was my last chance to enter. I said to [Delaney] ‘right, I have to enter this now’. I had to do it before I turned 30, so this was my last shot.”

And was she pleased when she won? Riley says she was “absolutely floored” by the win.

“On the night, they announced the shortlist and then I got a massive hot spotlight on my table, like ‘boom’ and then I knew I had won.”

She jokes: “I didn’t really know how to react and [all I was thinking was] please don’t fall over,” but humbly adds that it was a “shared victory” as she wouldn’t have been in a position to enter without the support of her team, and the ability to work on the campaigns she did.

At the end of the interview, the ever-tenacious Riley admits she has her eye on entering herself into other categories in 2026. But, at least for now, she is satisfied with being “proud as punch” with her win.