Serena Syed PR: How multi-disciplinary mastery fostered a unique business approach
An abstract artist, a qualified yoga teacher of 15 years, a journalist, a content creator and now a postgraduate student; Serena Syed, PR and Communications specialist, has seemingly done it all. However, it is how she utilises each of these experiences, incorporating each into over 20 years’ experience in the field, which is truly unique. Serena is a prime example of how business owners can excel when they truly bring their whole selves, their own unique skills and experiences, into how they run their businesses.
Serena’s accidental introduction to PR
Serena Syed is a chartered public relations practitioner with over two decades of experience across multiple industries. She offers strategic communications consulting for businesses and creators, and is also an active content creator. Her YouTube channel, Serena’s Playbook, blends systems thinking with practical branding advice for entrepreneurs, particularly in the digital and AI age. She works with clients to solve complex brand and identity challenges, supporting them to communicate more clearly and confidently in an evolving digital space.
However, her journey into PR began accidentally while studying political science.
“Pearson, the company that owned the Financial Times and Penguin Publishing, was offering internships. I was thinking of going into journalism or public relations, so I applied, got myself two internships and I’ve been in the comms field ever since.”
That first step led Serena to a broad career that defies traditional definitions. Her professional journey includes work in journalism, consultancy, and media, shaped by her ability to adapt and learn quickly.
A unique approach
What sets Serena apart is the combination of her creative and strategic abilities. She draws on her vast experience to create tailored, innovative solutions for her clients.
“The creative in me not only helps me to get into the mindset of my clients, but also makes me more innovative with support solutions, whilst the journalist side of me has helped me to extract information from them. I’m quite investigative, which helps me to identify certain hooks or themes that perhaps they hadn’t recognized.”
Her postgraduate study in systems thinking further elevates her work: “It’s blown the roof off. It’s given me so many tools to level up the kind of solutions I offer clients.”
Serena’s content creation skills, combined with her systems-based thinking, allow her to offer insight beyond traditional communications. She uses YouTube to engage with broader themes around branding, identity and AI, helping her audience better understand the relationship between technology and human creativity. Her current academic work also complements her consulting, enabling her to explore “how AI might impact creators, especially women, and how identity is formed through digital culture.”
These overlapping threads make up a truly distinctive business model; one grounded in curiosity, innovation and the belief that communication should be as dynamic and multi-layered as the people behind it.
Utilising a virtual office
As a consultant working independently, Serena was looking for a professional address to register her business, but she also wanted a provider that offered a human connection. That’s when she found Capital Space’s virtual office service.
“I wanted to register my business without using my home address, and Capital Space provided the perfect solution.”
She now uses the virtual office for mail handling, professional address services and access to on-demand meeting rooms. “It was affordable, and I have the option for meeting space when I need it.”
What made Capital Space stand out? The personal touch.
“It felt less corporate and more human. The personable approach built trust for me, which is essential when signing up for services.”
For Serena, flexibility and trust were key, and Capital Space delivered on both.
Future plans
Whilst Serena’s business is still growing, she is currently eyes-focussed on the immediate future and completing her MSc. As she begins preparing her thesis which aims to explore AI’s impact on the creator economy using systems thinking in order to improve strategic problem solving, she is also looking at how these insights can shape her consultancy.
She’s also exploring the possibility of growing her team: “I’d be interested in hiring apprentices or multi-skilled staff who can work in a collaborative way.”
With expansion in mind, she’s even considering moving from a virtual office to a physical office space to enable more face-to-face interaction. But whatever shape the next phase takes, it will continue to be guided by Serena’s core values of adaptability, insight and integrity.
Tips
For aspiring PR consultants and entrepreneurs, Serena offers honest, hard-earned advice:
“Be as experimental as possible with the wider discipline, not just purely in just one niche area.”
As a professional who has witnessed the rise of AI technologies within the field of PR, Serena says she is excited by the possibilities but heads the sage advice that PR and communications specialists should not underestimate the value of human insight.
“You’ve got to evolve with new developments, and while AI can be a useful tool, you still need human curation, you still need somebody like us to monitor, to curate, to engineer. That’s where PR specialists can continue to shepherd our clients along.”
She also encourages business owners to invest in both learning and connection, from formal education to networking.
“Further study has completely changed my approach but you also need make time to connect with people. That’s how you grow.”
Serena Syed shows that there’s no one-size-fits-all route to business success, but bringing your whole self to your work can lead to powerful results.
