Interview with Design Publicist & Founder of Hello Human, Jenny Nguyen.

Design publicist & founder of Hello Human, Jenny Nguyen, is a definition of a go-getter. Passionate about creativity, design and the people behind it, she is a seasoned communicator who’s lived and worked in New York City, Amsterdam, London, Melbourne and Sydney.

Jenny founded Hello Human at the onset of the pandemic after realising there was a disconnect in the PR industry’s pricing and service model, ultimately excluding independent designers from accessing crucial publicity services, and getting the share of voice they deserved.

She saw an opportunity to tailor a new PR agency business model to work more efficiently for small businesses—making PR more affordable, transparent and approachable while offering high-end publicity services accessible to independent creators. Unsurprisingly, demand for Hello Human services has been huge.

“In only a year, we’ve provided access to publicity services to hundreds of those who need it most and we’ve done it successfully, with grit, humanity and plenty of learning along the way,” says Jenny, adding that 83% of their clients are BIPOC, female-owned or design studios committed to social good.

Hello Human is now seeking to raise US$50K with a goal to expand the team and bring their PR services to a broader creative community, via a rewards-based crowdfunding campaign that you can get behind until Nov 19th.

Read on for our chat below where Jenny drops her PR intel and shares practical tips, tactics and resources you can implement in your independent creative businesses today.

A collection Her Ribbons from Her Place. (Left to right) Modeled by Janelle Anne, Dominique Guillory, and Anna Gray. Styled by Dominick Barcelona with assistance from Avery McQueen, hair by Takuya Yamaguchi, movement direction by Sigrid Lauren, Wardrobe by Yeon, makeup by Yui Ishibashi, nails by Mamie Onishi, creative production by Adrian Diaz, creative direction by Joyce Lee, and photo by Courtney Yates. Photo by Courtney Yates.

Her Place navy ribbon. Photos: Courtney Yates.

A portrait of Joyce Lee donning Her Ribbon. Photo by Courtney Yates.

Top: Nick Ozemba and Felicia Hung, co-founders of In Common With, a Brooklyn-based lighting design studio. Above: In Common With’s Pyramid Table Lamp in Green Clay. Photos: Clément Pascal.

Business partners Urte Tylaite and Sharon Radisch of SHW Jewelry. Photo: Lauren Damaskinos.

Bracelets by SHW Jewelry. Photo: Sharon Radisch.

Manza Studios’ debut product MANZA: DIY Fine Art Edition.

Christophe Roberts founder of Manza Studios. Photo: Harvey Jackson.

Tell us a bit about your career prior to Hello Human.

I’ve worked in the marketing space for over 15 years now coming from the brand side to the agency side and also working as a writer/editor on the editorial side. Previously I had founded a creative communications agency Melting Butter Studios where I dove into the design and culture space working most notably with clients like The Philip Johnson Glass House, Ryuichi Sakamoto’s More Trees and Airbnb. So I’ve been able to see the communications and publicity space from all the different angles. I really think being able to see it from those points of view really primed me to build Hello Human and understand how to build out a service that could be more mutually beneficial for everyone involved.

Why did you launch Hello Human?

I started the business in the depths of the pandemic. At that time, I came across an interview with Li Edelkoort that came out in Dezeen about how Coronavirus was going to offer us a blank page for a new beginning. As I dove into more of her interviews, something she once described “the age of the amateur” really resonated too. I felt inspired to reflect on my own work and to see what I could do within my own remit to support emerging creatives with what was indeed a blank page ahead of me. I knew I wanted to see a change in the world, where we could uplift those who create based on quality, not quantity. And where our work would be based on intrinsic values, not just aesthetic values. So for me, that meant refocusing my time and resources away from big companies and putting it into creative people and small business.

Above: Kitchen & bath rug collection by Tantuvi. Photo courtesy of Tantuvi. Below: Arati Rao, Founder of Tantuvi. Photo courtesy of Tantuvi.

Simone Bodmer-Turner, the Brooklyn-based ceramicist. Photo: Neige Thebault.

Simone Bodmer-Turner’s Brooklyn studio and her debut “Chair I” with Matter. Photo: Pippa Drummond.

Who are some of Hello Human’s current clients? How do you choose who to work with? And can you share some examples of how you’ve helped some of your clients?

We have quite a lot of clients because of the nature of the way we work so I’ll just name a few of our founding clients so as to not play favourites! Ladies & Gentlemen Studio, Tantuvi, Rosie Li Studio and In Common With have been with us from the start as well as the Interior Designer Melissa Bowers. We were so excited to place Melissa in a profile story in Forbes — a publication fewer interior designers are featured in which allowed her work to cut through and more directly to an audience that might seek her services. I was personally very excited to place Ladies & Gentlemen Studio into a feature in their dream publication — Design Anthology. The studio approaches their work with a deep level of research and thought and this was able to be conveyed so meaningfully in a two-page spread of the magazine.

Why should designers work with a publicist?

The value of working with a publicist comes from skills, relationships and inside knowledge that they have cultivated over years of experience. I do believe that with time investment and the right education, all businesses should have the ability to do their own PR well. However, you can get from point A to point B a lot faster working with someone who has the experience and know-how from the get-go.

Dylan Davis and Jean Lee, Co-Founders of Ladies & Gentlemen Studio. Photo: Jonathan Hokklo.

Lightscape candlelight sculpture by Ladies & Gentlemen Studio. Photo: Charlie Schuck.

Wilkinson & Rivera’s Windsor as shown in the Fels Exhibition. Photo courtesy of Wilkinson & Rivera.

A portrait of Teresa Rivera (left) and Grant Wilkinson (right). Photo Courtesy of Wilkinson & Rivera.

What are your top tips for choosing the right PR partner?

The most important consideration should be emotional in my opinion — does the person or firm you work with share your overarching values? If this is the case, you have a good foundation to work from. The secondary considerations are things like experience with brands similar to yours and the geographical reach of their relationships.

What makes a brand “PR-ready”? What are the key steps brands/ individuals can make to get there?

To be ready for PR you need to have strong and compelling “assets” that tell the story you want to push out there. These assets include a written narrative about whatever it is you are publicizing, an interior design project or a new collection launch. These can be talking points about the brand and what it is you’re launching and the narrative should ideally inspire an editorial angle that can be pitched to a publication — for example, a new chair launch may not be interesting for an editor until an interesting narrative is applied to it, like a novel use of a repurposed material.

Imagery to support the narrative is an equally if not more important asset. The images should be shot professionally keeping in mind the publications that you want them to land in. And they should support the story you’re trying to tell.

A portrait of Sam Klemick, founder of Otherside Objects. Photo by Ye Rin Mok.

Bell Chair with a Maison-Margiela inspired cushion by Otherside Objects. Photo by Ye Rin Mok.

Kira Corbin, founder/owner of Pillar Home Goods, the Portland-based home goods shop.

How does one authentically tell their story?

Ask yourself hard questions like why you do what you do. Then keep asking why? why? why? for every answer you give yourself. In my opinion, the distilled version of why you do what you do, is your authentic story and all of the storytelling that happens around this is just a flourish.

What’s one piece of advice you would give a small business looking to start their PR journey?

The two biggest investments you can make as a creative are in your imagery and your relationships. Imagery that stands out and that gives people the feeling you’re trying to communicate from your work resonates better with the people you show. And relationships are the essence of life, not just business! We should all aim to help each other and keep in touch as much as possible.

Tell us about your latest fundraising initiative — how did it come about, what’s the objective of this campaign and what are you hoping to achieve with the money you’re raising?

Yes, the crowdfunding campaign came about when we reached a point in the last year where the demand for our services skyrocketed and we simply couldn’t meet it. It became clear that we needed the funding that would allow us to grow intentionally and serve a larger pool of businesses well. We also wanted to develop new services and products that would make what we do even more accessible and it became clear that crowdfunding was a clever way to test out the demand for these ideas. Ultimately we’ll use the funds to help us keep up with demand, expand our services and start to service creative industries outside of the home and design space.