We were lucky to catch up with Portia Shaw recently and have shared our conversation below.

Portia, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s start with a story that highlights an important way in which your brand diverges from the industry standard.

When we launched our PR agency “The POP Group” 12 years ago, we were in a large pool of similar businesses all fighting for a piece of the pie. The pandemic really made us stop and think about what we’re doing and how we can serve brands and stylists more efficiently.

We asked all our current, past, and potential clients what they loved most about our company and where they really felt we added the most value. Their answer was unanimous, it was being in our showrooms in LA and London and having their products Infront of Editors, Stylists and Influencers. Straight away we got creating a digital version of our bricks and mortar, and homed in on our community of media and industry experts. We knew we needed to make a digitalized version of what we were offering, where fashion brands could be connected to trusted fashion stylists and editors that we work with without the need for us. By June of 2022, IN-HOUSE was live.

For sure we had a moment in the process where we thought we were about to make ourselves entirely redundant, I mean who would need a PR if you have this software? Thankfully that’s simply not the case. After year 1 we represent over 100 fashion brands and have sent out more than 12,000 items of clothing and accessories to industry experts to use in the media and on celebrities. Every day we grow and become stronger, ultimately this software was made by our industry for the industry.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I got into this industry when I was 18, that’s nearly 20 years ago, to be honest I fell into it. A friend of a friend said they worked in Fashion PR and I thought that sounded fun and within 4 weeks of interning I had a full time position working as an assistant within LVMH. I gradually moved to different agencies over the years, each role a step up.

Starting this business 12 years ago was also something I fell into. I was head hunted by my previous employer to be their Head of Fashion, I joined and tripled their revenue in 6 months. My Mum asked why I didn’t set my own agency up, the thought had never crossed my mind, with a tiny loan from her I opened my first shoe box office in London in 2011 and the rest is history.

We opened an office in Los Angeles in 2018, we have a team but the pressure was a lot, I was flying between London and LA every 2 weeks and I did this for 1 year. This was 2019 by then and I was literally being held together by lash extensions and botox. Lori Cutler was my most senior and long-standing employee at the time, she is me but with brunette hair. It felt like the most natural thing to make her my business partner, trying to run everything solo was a stretch without a board of advisors or investment and it was by far the best decision.

The biggest issue we have seen in our industry is for cool, independent brands to be seen by consumers on celebrities and in magazines without having masses of budget. The cost of running a fashion label is enormous, unless you have one it’s hard to understand the outgoings for production, marketing, PR and sales teams …. the list goes on and on. By creating IN-HOUSE we’ve provided an alternative to traditional PR which labels can run alongside either an outside agency or an internal PR team. Our clients have said the cost is 90% lower than having a PR and has an 85% success rate. We built the software ourselves because we wanted to fill an obvious hole in our industry and allow opportunities where designers could be in the spotlight based on professionals truly loving their designs.

Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?

We’ve had to be incredibly resourceful – neither Lori or I come from wealthy families, so from the get-go we’ve had to make money to pay our team and for the studios. The initial capital for POP was a loan from my Mum of $7000 which I paid back in 6 months. Outside of that we have never had a loan or investment. With our new software we are currently going through the process of understanding what it takes to be a good candidate for angel investors. The capital would be great to help our business expand, however beyond that we are excited to work alongside investors to educate us so that we can learn to serve our industry better. Finding the right investor who feels as passionately about your business and has more knowledge than you is important.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

Lori and I are brutally honest, we’d rather not sign on a client if we truly don’t think it aligns with us, we would probably have a lot more money if we said yes to everyone but we also know our shit. Many people want to be a designer but they don’t understand or have the eye in order to succeed. Off the back of this word of mouth has paid back tenfold, people love that we are totally open to them. We never tell a client anything other than the truth and they stick with us for longer because of it.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://in-house.group
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/portia_pop/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/portiashaw
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GutJ4FXT5FM&feature=youtu.be
• Other: https://www.instagram.com/in_house.group/