Emily M Austen is the founder and CEO of EMERGE, an award winning PR Agency, based in London, working with global brands, including Huel, Spanx, 1Rebel, rewardStyle, HURR, Lick, Fiit, PE Nation, and Missoma. The 25 strong female team was started by Emily in 2012, at the age of 22, after she graduated from Manchester University with a degree in Criminology and Criminal Law. After losing over £1.5 million in 48 hours as covid hit, Emily, as a solo founder, managed to make no redundancies, + never dipped below the profit line. She moved the office into a larger premises in September 2020, worked with the Government to support the PR efforts for the At Home Covid Test, + completed a course in Venture + Finance at Oxford University. Emily has guest lectured at Harvard University, and has been selected in the upcoming “300 Years of Leadership and Innovation.” Emily is also the Strategic PR Advisor to UN Women UK, tackling challenging conversations such as domestic violence and gender equality, and working with the General Assembly to affect change, running a campaign for safe spaces for women during the reports of the disappearance of Sarah Everard, and more recently, safe spaces at festivals, with Glastonbury + Ellie Goulding as key supporters. Emily launched ‘EMERGE’s Little Sister’ - Flex, a pay as you go PR proposition for brands who can’t afford Agency retainer fees, having seen the devastating effects of Covid-19 on small businesses, + launched The Busi-Ness Podcast, interviewing CEO’s and Founders to capture honest, realistic conversations about what it takes to run a business. The Podcast is currently globally number 1 in the marketing category, and the most successful marketing podcast of all time. Emily plans to launch E-Cap in 2021, a seed round funding brokerage, to connect early stage brands with Venture Finance. Over her career, she has been involved in the communications to raise over £100million for startups across the wellness, fitness, tech and feminine care sectors.