by Alisa Gumbs
June 15, 2026
Dreena Whitfield-Brown shares why she launched How I Received Right here and why it’s important for us to inform our tales
Dreena Whitfield-Brown, the founder and CEO of PR company WhitPR, which offers public relations, experiential advertising, social media administration, and expertise administration, at all times aimed to amplify tales that assist the development of marginalized communities.
However she by no means anticipated she could be telling these tales because the host of her personal podcast, How I Received Right here, which “goes past the spotlight reel with Black ladies founders, executives, and leaders” to get to the “actual conversations in regards to the pivots, the setbacks, and the aim behind the work.” Or that the podcast would spawn a stay occasion connecting Black businesswomen in her house state of New Jersey.
“I actually love telling folks’s tales who typically get ignored, particularly us,” Whitfield-Brown says. “In order that’s how the How I Received Right here podcast began, and that’s why the How I Received Right here Summit is right here.”
On the latest How I Received Right here Summit, Whitfield-Brown walked BLACK ENTERPRISE by way of the evolution of her PR company and shared her perception on how all of us profit when Black ladies entrepreneurs open up about their journey:
If you launched your PR company, did you would like you had entry to the type of tales you’re serving to to inform now?
Once I began WhitPR—this September, it’ll be 16 years— I didn’t know what the hell I used to be doing. I didn’t have any enterprise mentors. I didn’t know how one can write a marketing strategy. I didn’t even know how one can actually launch an company. So Google was actually my lawyer, my accountant, my assistant, all the pieces.
I’ve discovered, as I’ve grown in enterprise, that we don’t inform our tales—inform just like the ups and downs of entrepreneurship. We like to indicate the top consequence, the place it’s like, ‘Oh, I acquired all these awards, I acquired these accolades, I acquired all these wonderful purchasers.’ However no, inform me about when your account is unfavorable $3,000. Or when any person simply ends your contract with out telling you. Otherwise you lose a extremely good assistant or staff member that you just’ve poured it into. Inform me about that. How did you bounce again from that? As a result of I’m nonetheless making an attempt to determine it out.
There’s lots of ladies that I do know that wish to begin companies, which are beginning companies, which have been profitable, they usually’re going by way of the identical factor. So I need to inform these tales, as a result of it’s relatable.
When do you know that you just wished to do a podcast centered on founder tales and the tales behind the manufacturers?
I used to be type of pushed into it by my producer. She’s labored with me for, I need to say, 5 years, first as a shopper, then we turned associates. She was working in a digital advertising area, so she helped us with social media for a few of our purchasers. WhitPR is actually all about amplifying Black tales. However usually, lots of our purchasers are Black feminine founders, CEOs, and executives. And so she was like, ‘You have to flip this to a podcast.’ And I used to be like, , I don’t like being forward-facing. I prefer to put on all black. I prefer to be behind the scenes. However as soon as I did it, I simply cherished it, as a result of I’m additionally fairly nosy, so I prefer to know the journey of those who I like.
What did it is advisable to add, business-wise, to increase from a PR company to a podcast, and now to orchestrate a summit?
It’s important to have a extremely good staff round you. I’ve had some actually wonderful ladies which have come into my life and have poured into me, prayed for me, prayed for my enterprise, prayed for this time, and have prayed for as we speak. I wouldn’t be right here with out them.
Like my shopper who turned my podcast producer—something that I need to do, she’s like, ‘let’s do it.’ And she or he’ll provide you with the branding; she’ll provide you with all these concepts. There’s one other former shopper who turned one in all my actually nice associates, who I do know is aware of how one can do issues like this. Then there’s an occasion designer right here in New Jersey who will get it performed. It’s important to usher in those who know how one can do issues that you just don’t know how one can do. I’ve these goals, I’ve these visions, however I would like folks to assist me execute them. I feel it’s simply having a extremely stable staff.
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