Podcast Summary: Who's in the Room? A Guide to Public Relations from the Black Professional Perspective

Podcast: New Books Network
Host: Regan Gillum
Guests: Dr. Jameela Cupid and Maisha Joel
Original Air Date: December 20, 2025

Episode Overview

This episode features an engaging discussion with Dr. Jameela Cupid and Maisha Joel, co-authors of Who's in the Room? A Guide to Public Relations from the Black Professional Perspective (Kendall Hunt, 2025). The authors share the impetus behind the book, unpack the history and role of Black professionals in public relations (PR), examine the specific challenges they face, and outline actionable frameworks for more inclusive and equitable PR practices. The episode is both a deep dive into the book's research and a candid conversation about lived experience, mentorship, and building pathways to success for underrepresented voices in PR.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Origins and Purpose of the Book

• Personal Motivation
  • Dr. Cupid recounts her experiences in grad school seeking information on Black PR professionals' contributions and being frustrated by a lack of resources.

    “At some point I decided, you know, I would want to write and document, research and document what actually has transpired over the years, what impact these practitioners have made…” (02:29 – 03:47, Jameela Cupid)

  • Maisha Joel shares her lived experience with micro and macro aggressions in the industry, leading her to join the project to give voice to those stories.

    “…I experienced a lot of the topics that we covered in the book in real time in my day to day, from the microaggressions, the macroaggressions, being tokenized, etc.” (03:47 – 04:43, Maisha Joel)

2. Understanding Public Relations—Distinct from Marketing

• PR defined as the strategic management of how organizations are perceived, focusing on trust, credibility, and long-term relationships, versus marketing’s sales-driven approach.

  “PR is about shaping the sentiment. …it’s building trust, credibility, long-term relationships. It’s not about selling the product as much as it is selling the idea…” (05:16 – 07:21, Maisha Joel)

• Comprehensive rundown of PR roles: reputation management, media relations, messaging, crisis communications, internal communications, stakeholder engagement, and storytelling.
• Dr. Cupid emphasizes honesty and transparency as the foundation for trust-building in PR.

  “We try to build relationships with all of our audiences and partners that are going to be as transparent as possible… more importantly truthful, honest, so that we can build trust.” (07:24 – 08:42, Jameela Cupid)

3. PR in Black History

• The field’s roots traced back to ancient times but specifically reframed to include Black historical figures (e.g., Ida B. Wells), whose advocacy and strategic communications constitute foundational PR practices.

  “When she started to do the anti-lynching campaign work, that is where we see her really shift into a more persuasive, strategic manner of covering what’s going on… And that is inherently PR work.” (09:07 – 12:21, Jameela Cupid)

• Highlighted how Black PR professionals contributed across business, civil rights, and public affairs—often overlooked or excluded from mainstream histories.

4. Expanding DEI: Introducing the IDEA Framework

• The authors advocate supplementing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) with “Access”, creating IDEA.

  “…it’s really a structure. If you are like, I don’t know where to start… then this is something, a framework that can help us to get started and set things up, lay a foundation.” (13:04 – 15:43, Jameela Cupid)

• Emphasize the importance of recruiting, training, and promoting professionals from varied backgrounds and ensuring access to opportunities—not just including diverse hires on paper.

5. Barriers Faced by Black PR Professionals

• Implicit Bias
  • Stereotypes, assumptions, and biases impact hiring and workplace culture.
• Resource Allocation
  • Diversity fatigue leads to deprioritizing DEI efforts, which undermines genuine inclusion.
• Lack of Accommodations & Support
  • Without active structural changes, Black professionals face stunted growth and hostile work environments.

  “No one wants to enter these careers or these jobs and find that they immediately come to a standstill and just have impeded growth across the board.” (17:07 – 21:31, Jameela Cupid)

• Memorable Mention
  • Nayri Wright’s practice of keeping a “microaggressions journal” for 25 years, highlighting the daily toll of subtle discrimination. (16:29)

6. Mental Health Impacts

• Burnout, Emotional Exhaustion, and Perfectionism
  • Microaggressions, being overlooked or undervalued, and pressure to over-perform lead to significant psychological and sometimes physical effects.

  “…when you’re constantly battling microaggressions or having your expertise second guessed, your nervous system takes a real hit.” (23:55 – 27:06, Maisha Joel)

  • Black-owned PR firms face structural barriers, limiting their growth and contributing to chronic stress.

  “Black owned PR firms are often pushed to the fray, right. They’re often forced to stay small.” (23:55 – 27:06, Maisha Joel)

• Both authors personally identify with the burnout and difficult choices—sometimes driven out of practice into other fields.

7. Best Practices for Organizations

• Addressing DEI/IDEA in Practice
  • Awareness of DEI has increased, but organizational culture and accountability lag:

    “69% of US adults say it’s extremely or somewhat important for businesses to promote DEI… However, only 35% say businesses are doing an excellent or good job at it.” (29:23, Maisha Joel)

  • Actions needed: move beyond performativity, integrate true accountability, expand inclusion beyond surface diversity.
• Mental Safety as a Benchmark
  • Ensuring “mental safety” is crucial for genuine inclusion and retention:

    “Doing all of this to bring a full circle will ensure there’s mental safety that your employees are able to thrive in that space.” (34:29–34:38, Maisha Joel)

8. Research Process

• The research was wide-ranging: academic articles, organizational reports, fieldwork at museums and archives, and numerous interviews.
• Importance of uncovering neglected stories:

  “I had to go digging for her… so there was quite a lot of digging. There was extensive research, but I think it was worth it.” (35:04 – 39:02, Jameela Cupid)

9. Co-authorship Experience

• Collaborative and cathartic, though emotionally taxing; both authors held space for each other through challenges.

  “…it was great to have a partner in this… some of our writing sessions, honestly, were just the two of us holding space for each other so that we could show up to the next writing session and actually write.” (41:16 – 42:26, Maisha Joel)

10. Mentorship, Takeaways, and Impact

• The book is intended as a mentorship tool for new students, industry professionals, and academic faculty.

  “We really aimed for everyone across different levels and points in their careers … to be able to use the book.” (43:01 – 46:19, Jameela Cupid)

• Hope for the book: to “diversify the pipeline,” document overlooked voices for posterity, and offer honest, blame-free guidance.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On PR’s core mission:

  “PR is about shaping the sentiment… the world see us, believe us, talk about us?”
  (06:00 – Maisha Joel)

• On historical omission:

  “They have been doing the work… making huge impacts in society and culture. And sometimes it’s just been, oftentimes it’s been overlooked.”
  (12:10 – Jameela Cupid)

• On burnout:

  “When you’re constantly battling microaggressions… your nervous system takes a real hit.”
  (24:10 – Maisha Joel)

• On research:

  “I was like, who is she? ... everyone should know who this is. … I had to go digging for her.”
  (37:20 – Jameela Cupid)

• On co-authorship:

  “…writing the book, we were experiencing still some of these things we were writing about in real time... cathartic in a way.”
  (41:16 – 42:26, Maisha Joel)

• On book’s purpose:

  “…we were intentional about writing this book in a way that was honest but wasn’t about blame.”
  (46:19 – 47:29, Maisha Joel)

Timestamps for Major Segments

| Segment | Timestamps | |--------------------------------------------|--------------| | Host intro & author backgrounds | 01:32–05:16 | | What is PR? Roles & definitions | 05:16–08:42 | | PR in Black history, key figures | 08:42–12:21 | | IDEA framework (Inclusion, Diversity, etc) | 12:21–16:29 | | Barriers and challenges for Black pros | 16:29–21:31 | | Mental health impacts | 23:00–27:06 | | Organizational best practices | 29:23–34:38 | | Research process & archival discoveries | 35:04–39:02 | | Co-authorship & process | 39:02–42:26 | | Mentoring, takeaways, legacy | 43:01–47:29 | | Future projects of authors | 47:29–49:39 |

Tone and Language

The conversation is informative, candid, and empathetic—mirroring the tone of the book itself. The authors are forthright about the challenges Black professionals face, yet optimistic about the field’s capacity for change. Their storytelling is both scholarly and personal, blending data with lived experience.

Takeaways for Listeners

• Who's in the Room? fills a critical gap in PR literature, centering Black experiences and offering both practical frameworks and personal mentorship.
• True inclusion requires more than policy; it demands structural changes, mental safety, and an expansive, ongoing approach.
• The field of PR, and organizations more broadly, can benefit from honest self-reflection, intentional mentorship, and proactive change—work that this book is designed to support.