In today's Money Talks, Headlinemoney Awards nominee Jasmine Maria Cutajar reveals how she discovered the world of PR, talks about the challenge of driving positive news, and discusses her love of reading.

The main areas that I cover:

I work in a number of areas across the business, including supporting our pension experts, representatives from our Adviser Academy, building our technology story, and helping to deliver messaging about our investment management approach. I also work quite closely with our policy team in shaping our media approach.

What was your reaction to making the shortlist?

I was very pleased to be shortlisted for Rising Star, it was a sweet surprise from the team. It was a very nice thing of my manager Jill and the rest of the team to put me forward for such a prestigious award after only one full year of working with the team.
 
From your work so far, if you had to pick the campaign you are most proud of, what would it be, and why?

I joined the team at SJP in 2022 and since then I’ve witnessed a lot of change within the business and externally. There is a lot of things I’m proud to have worked on but I think the one thing I’m most proud of is producing our Digital Legacy Research and developing it as a campaign.

What made you become a financial PR?

I never knew that such a job existed growing up in Malta. Following my Master’s degree, I ended up working within content production in financial services and that is where my love for finance really grew. I learnt what a pension was and became obsessed with the idea. I didn’t really know what I wanted to do at 22 but I knew that content production wasn’t my forever dream job. After a lot of soul searching and meeting with PRs at my old job, I realised that a career in PR would be more suited. It married all the things I loved into one role. I’ve always loved meeting people and creating content, but I also like being a troubleshooter, representing a business and, most of all, being plugged into different teams across the business.

As a relatively new ‘rising star’ financial PR, what were the challenges you faced in 2023?

I think one of the challenges was learning how to continue to drive positive news stories in an extremely busy period for the business.

Finally, if you were up for an award for any hobbies/activities outside of work, what would you be likely to win, and why?

I think I would win an award for how many books I’ve started to read but never finish. I currently have seven books on my nightstand that I’ve started but not finished.

View the full PR shortlist.