Ah-Niyah Gold, your favorite PR girl
In this article, I won’t be fangirling too much, but all my flowers go to one of the most brilliant Public Relations professionals: Ah-Niyah Gold.
I don’t remember when I first heard of her, but I know that I virtually came across her on Twitter. It is mostly on Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn that I curate and keep track of the network of people I want to be surrounded by. She seemed to check all the boxes: outspoken, professional, community-driven, an approachable ‘it-girl”, and simply a nice aura of positivity (which I never take for granted in the fashion and media industries). It was around the time people on my timeline started creating a buzz on Black Fashion Fair that I decided to take a leap: I wanted to interview the people behind the scenes of this great project and interview them. Who, though?
Black Fashion Fair is a digital retail and editorial space focused on elevating the creations and the stories of Black designers. Their inclusive objectives, meaningful approaches, and strong storytelling made an impact on my vision for building my media company and other products. While these things are in the making and I hope one day to be part of a collective so inspiring and impactful as Black Fashion Fair, I stumbled on Ah-Niyah’s work, and wow, full-circle moment: I found out that she had worked for Antoine, Ashley, and was in contact with a lot of my friends in the industry. I was like: “ I need to know her, I need to introduce myself”. I repressed my shy side and introduced myself to Ah-Niyah. I genuinely have an eye for meeting up with the right people, the most innovative creatives as much as the most insightful professionals. I was not wrong. She’s dope!
Today I am elated to share the words of one of the greatest publicists I ever met so far and a businesswoman herself: Ah-Niyah Gold.
Who's Ah-Niyah Gold and what's her favorite aspect of PR?
My name is Ah-Niyah Gold. I’m the founder and CEO of A Gold Consulting and the Director of Communications at Black Fashion Fair. At this stage of my career, my favorite aspects of PR is definitely being able to give brands that deserved space (in the industry) and to have their stories told on a platform, while being able to introduce them to people in the industry, who will help sustains those brands and tell their stories, like editors, influencers, investors, buyers. It’s really all about strategizing with them and figuring out how to move these brands last and to help them grown through press and media.
How did you come across fashion (as a form of art) and its industry?
I’ve always been tapped into fashion. My mother was very fluid about brands and introduced me to brands like DKNY or Calvin Klein, along with similar brands at a very young age. It’s always been something pretty holistic for me, just in the sense that she was dressed down in the latest trends and styles. I was blessed enough to be able to experience the same through her. I obviously would see fashion on television and being portrayed as a full lifestyle, but never knowing that it could be an actual career. What really introduced me to it was watching Rachel Zoe, her tv show. Her styling, PR, and seeing all the different roles inspired me. That was really the first time you could see it on tv. It was full madness, full crazy. It was a full career form outside the fantasy that (fashion) is sold in other ways. It wasn’t something that necessarily made me go like: “Oh my God, that’s something that I want to do.” But it is something that made me turn my head a little bit and say: “Wow, like, this is a thing. That is really cool!” Rachel was kind of like my first entry and just seeing what that was like, as well as with Kelly Cutrone on The Hills. Kelly is a PR force and I want to say the first real fashion publicist that kind of took everything by storm and made this profession a thing. It was through these two (Rachel and Kelly) that happened my entry into PR and the world of it through fashion.
How did you discover the world of Public Relations?
I actually had no idea that PR existed in the fashion space. I always knew that publicists existed for tv and similar industries, but I never knew it was a thing for fashion. I had always loved fashion. I started at Factory PR as an intern as soon as I graduated high school in 2014. I started actually in production and event producing. I did that for about four years and that’s how I got introduced to PR, by working with clients and their publicists in the fashion sector. Because of this experience, I realized that this was my career path.
Diversity in race and gender is a pillar to reaching holistic inclusivity and overall respect. What do you think needs to be done in the media (from your role's perspective) in order to achieve better goals for a good and real representation?
I think that just in general people and media need to understand the value of people of color in telling stories, especially in the way that they’re translated, even specifically as it pertains to Black talent and Black designers. I can personally feel the difference when I’m reading a story in a media placement or on social media that it’s been crafted by someone who’s a person of color. Even narrowing it down all the way to who’s telling the story. A press placement is incredible regardless, but even our approach (and specifically my approach), is tailored to highlight a specific audience. Let’s say for Black Fashion Fair: I want to work with a Black editor who I know is going to tell the story and translate it, not just as a press release, but also by adding their own side and piece into it and really help bring it to life as it pertains to them. Because it’s something that is also relatable for them. And, you know, they get to see themselves through that work. When that's being put out into the media I want them to be able to, feel that in their worlds, just through the way that it's written, the thought and the care and the conversation. Just those little things, I think make such a difference overall, when the message is being translated from the brand to the consumer.
Black Fashion Fair was just launched in 2020 and its first issue in February 2022. How do you feel about this project?
It was definitely a project for us by us. We just wanted people to feel seen as that was the title. Being able to work with Donté and ABDM Studio, who I believe are the most talented photographers of our time, was great. And just the overall team (at Black Fashion Fair), really pounding the pavement to get it done. It was probably one of the most rewarding projects of my career so far. And yeah, just more of that to come, hopefully. We wanted to document history and fashion history, as we saw it, and as we knew it, as it made sense to us, in a beautiful way, in an editorial way, on a high level, and give it the love that it deserves.
A Gold Consulting is your gem. What are the rewards, but also the challenges, that a woman like you encounters in this industry, as a business owner and as a Black woman in media?
We'll be going two years strong, soon. When I started this, it really was just a means to an end because I just felt like there was no place for me, agency-wise, or with another company that I felt would allow me to do the work that we do, in a very conscious and intentional way. Aligning with the specific clients that we do is always done authentically in a way that makes sense. I don't ever want to work with anyone whose message I feel doesn't propel us forward or that it's just not something that may align personally for us. So even all the way down to the people that we work with, I'm very strategic about it. It just has to make sense, it has to align, and just feel good. As I grow this, I want to make sure that everyone feels excited to work together, because that's the only way that you're going to do your best and make your best. Yeah, just do your best work.
As a business owner, I do not have a business background, I am not, I was not a business moment, I did not go to business school. That is a whole different beast. I had to really sit down and learn, and I definitely ran into some walls. There are so many things outside of just doing what you do, which I think a lot of people don't understand when they say: “Oh, I'm gonna start a business!”
You can be amazing at the work that you do and your craft and do your job incredibly well, but having to be at a business aspect into that is like a whole another career. It is literally like a whole other career path. Because you're truly building something off the ground, you're working with accountants, you're working with legal documents, administrative things of that nature. And luckily, like, having worked for smaller companies and smaller startups, I've seen some of the things that my older bosses have had to go through while they were figuring it out. But just do it for yourself. Everybody's trials and tribulations are totally different. Yeah, being a business person is just like its own beast, it is definitely something that I encourage people to really sit down and study before they even decide that this is the path that they want to take and that they are looking to grow something for themselves, not because of the fact that they necessarily wouldn't be able to do it, but because it's important to know certain things. As it relates to Black success and what that looks like, I feel like a lot of people hit their major bump in the road, or they just, I wouldn't say fail, but a lot of their hiccups come from not knowing a lot of stuff on the business side of things. It's an honor to get to this point, for me at A Gold Consulting. But I would have been able to get there sooner had I known a lot of these things. So I highly encourage if you want to be a business person, learn how to run a business.
What’s the legacy of A Gold Consulting?
The first Black-owned major PR agency, globally. That is where I see the trajectory for us. And mainly housing brands by people of color. So that in itself, those are definitely gonna be like my two pinpoints. Yeah, I love that.
