Money20/20 Europe: In Conversation with Chantal Swainston, PR Consultant+Founder
Financial Narrative spent June 3-5 in Amsterdam at Money20/20 Europe for a series of panel discussions and a marcomms networking meetup at the world's biggest, most influential gathering of the global money ecosystem.
We also got a chance to connect with some of the changemaking attendees. In this chat, Chantal Swainston, fintech PR consultant and founder of The Heard, opens up about media headwinds, platforming diverse voices, and the rising value of personal storytelling in fintech communications.
Tell us about your speaker's platform
The Heard is a public index of women who work in fintech and financial services who want to do more public speaking. We have a short list of their key talking points and their availability. Journalists, content producers, and events organizers can go on there and find brilliant women to use in their content.
What excites you most about Money20/20?
The best thing I’ve seen since I got here was the session with Cecilie from The Tinder Swindler stage—which was amazing. I don’t think I fully appreciated how emotionally complicated that must have been for her to go through. I’d seen the Netflix documentary, but what she’s done as a result of that experience is so positive and powerful. I was really impressed. It was a great panel.
What's the biggest challenge for leaders in your role today?
As a PR person, it would be remiss not to mention some of the really sad news we’ve seen recently in the industry—especially around media publications. TechCrunch has just lost its European team. Business Insider has announced layoffs.
I think it’s going to get even harder for the PR industry to pitch editorial content. It’s all of our responsibility to make sure those publications can still thrive. So this is a call-out: if you can afford to subscribe to your favorite publication, you absolutely should—both as an individual and at the company level.
This shrinking media landscape is raising the bar for what makes it into the news, and I think that’s one of the most immediate comms challenges we’re facing in fintech right now.
What aspect of your job are you excited for AI to take over?
Anything to do with my accounting, my business admin, my taxes—it’s the bane of my life. I work for myself, and it’s a necessary evil. The more of that I can outsource and get someone else—or something else—to do, the better. If it’s a robot, that’s fine with me. Anything in that space is good.
What industry trends are capturing your attention lately?
One thing I’m really enjoying is that companies are doing a much better job of profiling the individuals within their workforces. For a long time, we’ve only heard the “business voice.” Now, we’re increasingly seeing the actual people behind the brand.
It’s great to see people raising their own personal brand. It’s valuable not just for where they work, but for them as individuals. You get to learn more about their personal experiences and what led them to the work they do—which I think is a really cool and human way of talking about what a company stands for.