A Few Words From Nikki

Since I spend my workdays helping people tell their stories, it’s only fair that I should share a little of mine. My name is Nikki Smith-Morgan. I’m originally from England, now living in Boston and am privileged to be running Public Words alongside my husband and business partner Nick Morgan.

You can’t live and work in Boston for long without noticing that everyone is either in school or about to graduate. There are something like 37 colleges and universities here! So I was inspired to take a program in Graphic Design and Interactive Web Design at BU’s Center for Digital Imaging Arts. I‘m editor of the Public Words web site and also build sites for our clients. I advise people on how to craft a strong identity, create an online presence and use social media tools to connect with people and build communities. I’m most content in my office with my laptop trying to figure out new ways to exploit social media tools or drive new visitors to our web site.

Prior to becoming a happy Internet recluse, I was a marketing consultant at Computer Sciences Corporation. Our team helped recently acquired organizations acclimatize to the new order of things. I was assigned to Research Services — an elite group of thinkers who kept executives abreast of new business technologies. Together with a great team of graphic designers, we’d regularly put out a Research Journal that would hit the desks of CEOs and CIOs around the world.

Before CSC, I’d spent a few fun years working with Neural Technologies Ltd., — a small firm brimming with Ph.D. grads in neural computing. This was a radical technology at the time that could use data about past activity to make predictions for the future. From credit scoring to fraud detection, the technology was a hot topic. I got my public relations ‘sea legs’ handling requests for interviews from the broadsheets and arranging for our scientists to speak at events around the world.

My education is thanks to a five-year sponsorship with IBM. Whilst studying Business and Finance, I was taken under the wing of a remarkable woman who taught me the art and politics of internal communications in a large organization undergoing radical change. We produced the internal IBM Magazine Innovation and many copies now sit proudly in my portfolio.

I’ve learnt over the years that whether you are planning a roundtable meeting or a national event, writing an email or a front-page headline, communication isn’t about fancy prose or clever marketing strategies. It’s about people. Can you get people interested in what you have to say? Simple as that.

For fun I love to get out and about with my digital camera. I know it’s a hobby that still involves a computer, but it does get me out of the office. Visit the image library for a selection of pictures that you are welcome to use.

Nick will tell you that I’m most excited when I’m on a plane to the UK for a visit with our daughter and grandchildren. For that I’ll happily turn off the Mac for a while!