Ishah (left) and Sharissa Launched Uberchic PR Bar in 2010
When recent college graduates Ishah Bass and Sharissa Fedeé, with Communications degrees from Delaware State and Rutgers, respectively, looked around at the job market, they didn’t find much to inspire a traditional climb up the corporate ladder. Their frustration was compounded was the lack of diversity among agency owners, a topic that has recently popped back up in the news. PR WEEK recently caught flack for not including any African-Americans in their Power List, and in March the trade pub published an article stating that “Women still make up less than half of the executive committee roles at most large PR firms and only four women lead agencies with more than $100 million in global revenue.”
In response, the two friends took a risk and launched a virtual PR agency, Uberchic PR Bar, as a means to both build the kind of agency they wanted while addressing the lack of diversity among PR CEOs. The small NY firm recently celebrated it’s one-year anniversary.
Both owners managed to pack in a substantial amount of industry experience while in college. Ishah interned at a local newspaper and was entertainment editor for the school newspaper at DSU (which comes in handy penning interviews for the agency blog) and Sharissa completed internships at Passion Style PR, Nessa Lee Baby, and Aros Communication. Early on in the process of creating their company, the two business partners worked with a financial adviser who helped them set up the basics of the business. Despite this, both women are keenly aware of the learning process that continues to occur, sharing that “experience has been the best teacher.”
While current clientele remains small, this allows Uberchic to work closely with artists, like fashion designer Marshall Anthony and R&B singer Jared Jones that are a cultural fit for the agency.
Follow along with Ishah and Sharissa as they continue to grow on Twitter and Tumblr.
