Cher Lee (Citizen Relations)

Mar. 25

On this episode of Marketing News Canada, Darian Kovacs interviews Cher Lee, Vice President of Citizen Relations in Vancouver.

Citizen Relations is a multinational agency with agencies across North America. The company works with consumer, corporate and lifestyle brands. This multi- dimensional company has many sister agencies as well. The creative agency being Cosette, they also have many other partners that specialize in everything from digital to web.

Cher Lee studied at Western University in Ontario. This is where she completed her undergraduate before she decided to study abroad to complete her master’s in communications. She completed her degree in Australia.

Cher considers herself a feminist through and through, however she does acknowledge the differences between males and females. Diversity and inclusion are somethings that are significant in her life. Cher stated that the public relations industry is a very female dominated field of work. At her current agency Cher currently has a male general manager and she applauds him for working with so many females.

Since the current global pandemic there has been a significant increase in political movements such as “Black Lives Matter.” These movements are important to Cher as she is a very firm believer in positive change. A change she has seen more recently is before COVID, marketing panels were mostly males. She does not know what to attribute this change to, however she believes it to be a step in the right direction for more female representation.

Cher stated in the interview that “80 percent of the public relations community is white.” This fact upsets her as she is a woman of colour herself. When she was a child, she often shopped at the Hudson’s Bay, as it is a very classic Canadian store. Recently the Hudson’s Bay released a controversial holiday commercial that had the media talking. People were upset that it contained two white males and that is not an accurate representation of Canadian population. Diversity is a process, but she is hopeful that as a society we will get there.

Public relations is the telling of a great story, says Cher. People want authenticity and content that speaks to them. Readers can tell when writers have a genuine curiosity, and this makes their work more engaging. Telling a great brand story is what marketing is all about.

To stay motivated and engaged in her writing Cher enjoys hearing and reading other writer’s work. She actively listens to podcasts and other forms of audio. Whether she is cleaning the kitchen or preparing for bed, she is often listening to “Audible.” As much as she loves social media and staying up to date with what her friends are doing, she knows social media is addicting and finds reading more beneficial.

Cher is a well-spoken and educated activist. She understands where the world needs change, but she acknowledges it will take time to get there. Citizen Relations is very fortunate to have someone as informative as Cher.

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