Naomi Garrick – Helping brands in a noisy world

NAOMI Garrick’s career goals frequently changed as a child, but after a stint in sales and marketing and then corporate communications, she launched out honing her skills by helping individuals, brands and companies stand out in a noisy world.

Known as The PR Chick, a moniker she earned from her friend Sarah Jackson who would often greet her that way, Garrick told All Woman that growing up she was never quite sure what she wanted to be and considered being a flight attendant, because her mother was a stewardess with Air Jamaica in the 1980s. Garrick, however, noted that those dreams quickly changed after getting quite sick at take-off on a flight.

Her follow-up dream was to own a hotel, and that led Garrick to pursue a degree in hotel & tourism management, but, again, she realised very quickly that working in the hotel industry while living at the hotel was a 24-hour experience, and decided to move back to Kingston where she dabbled in sales and marketing plus public relations.

After having her son Ajani in 2006, Garrick wanted more structure for herself and child in terms of working hours and the time she had to spend with him. so, she ventured into corporate communications but only stayed for three months, before jumping head first into entrepreneurship by starting Garrick Communications, a boutique PR agency.

“I saw an opportunity to enter the market with a boutique agency that offered a more personalised, but strategic approach PR, focusing mainly on lifestyle and business brands,” she said.

“I am a dreamer and a doer. I have always had big dreams and I am constantly writing them down. They are also always visible to me in the form of vision boards, not just for my career but for my life – a constant reminder. The main driver for me is what can be referred to as ‘my one thin’ – what I want is time, along with the freedom and flexibility to design the life that I want.”

Also a personal branding coach and trainer; author and international speaker, Garrick’s passion is to impact and inspire others through her own personal journey, which she uses to help people see the greatness within, that sometimes is difficult to see for themselves.

She added: “Having the opportunity to work with multiple local and international brands has definitely helped with this role as a coach and trainer. Also attending conferences, workshops and being certified as a reputation champion by the the Public Relations Society of America definitely supported this transition.”

Now, four years since the launch of her first book P R Chick’s Guide 8 Steps To Building Your Personal Brand, Garrick will be launching her second workbook, PR Chick’s Guide To Building Your Online Brand, today in the form of a virtual launch and free webinar.

“For the last four years as a personal branding coach, I have been helping professionals to stand out in their areas of expertise by helping them to build better personal and professional brands, this new workbook is a step-by-step guide that will help individuals to position, package and promote their personal brand in a growing online world. It will look at things like why do you need to be online? What are the best platforms for you? Updating your online profiles, networking and creating online content.

“These are two of the four personal branding books that are currently available. The purpose of books are really to help individuals, entrepreneurs, corporate executives to understand the importance of their own personal brand and how they can leverage it to unlock life-changing opportunities,” she said, adding that most of her clients are professional women seeking clarity on their own brand and guidance on how they could be positioning themselves for the right opportunities.

Further, Garrick is very passionate about helping women to step from behind the shadows by discovering their value, owning it and not being afraid to share this with the world.

“I find that many women, especially professional women, including myself suffer from imposter syndrome, where we feel that even with our qualifications and credentials, we are still not good enough, not supposed to be in this position, not deserving of that job. I find that when women can take the time to look at their journey, and actually map out all the experiences, skills, life lessons, natural talent, education, knowledge and expertise, it makes it easier for them to believe and to see their own unique value, to be empowered, and confident,” she said.

Outside of personal branding, Garrick loves to read, dreams of owning a library that requires a sliding ladder and has recently started playing polo. She also lends support to multiple charities and organisations with either time, monetary support or tangible donations, and enjoys speaking at schools across the island to help young people discover their greatness and to remind them that the “magic is already inside them.”

Overall, Garrick’s biggest inspirations are her parents Neville and Colette Garrick and siblings Christopher and Nesta. She added that her son has always been a big driving force in her life, which also helped with her decision to become an entrepreneur and to create her own opportunities with the support of others.

Her daily mantra is, “ ‘The Journey Is The Reward’ ” — a Chinese proverb, which to me is a reminder that we should appreciate every step of our journey, the good things and the bad things, because each experience takes us closer to the person that we were meant to be.”