81% of African PR professionals are using AI — but are they using it right? Mary Njoki breaks it down. In this episode of the Pure Digital Passion podcast, I sit down with Mary Njoki — Founder & CEO of Glass House PR — for a wide-ranging, hour-long conversation covering her founder journey, the story behind the 2026 State of PR in Africa Report, and what the findings really mean for the industry.

Mary founded Glass House PR in 2012 at 23 years old, starting with a modem, a laptop, and a free website template. She finished high school at 16, discovered PR through volunteer work at a Nairobi youth community, and spent the first two years doing pro bono work before landing Facebook as a client in year three.

Thirteen years later, Glass House PR is one of Africa's leading Pan-African communications agencies — and a couple of weeks ago released the 2026 State of PR in Africa Report, the most comprehensive and current examination of the African PR industry to date.

We cover:

The real story behind the 81.5% AI adoption figure (it's about depth, not just usage)
The shift from SEO to GEO and why organizations with content cultures win the AI era
The human premium and what it takes to direct AI rather than be directed by it
The Gen Z opportunity, algorithm volatility and the case for owned media
AI governance as self-governance, and why Africa's most urgent AI challenge is training LLMs on African data.

Time Stamps

00:15 Introduction and guest welcome

02:07 Why "Glass House PR"? The meaning behind the name

02:34 From computer science dreams to PR: the unconventional path

03:30 Finishing high school at 16 and starting a company at 23

04:25 K Crew and the volunteer moment when PR clicked

05:46 Building Glass House PR with a modem and a laptop

06:39 Two years of pro bono work and the early conviction

09:40 Building a Pan-African footprint

10:00 Facebook in year three: the validation moment

12:10 Before Facebook, there was Google — and a near miss

13:54 Introducing the 2026 State of PR in Africa Report

14:29 The Turkey summit that triggered the whole initiative

16:41 The methodology: 54 agencies, 16 countries, 80 students

17:09 Why 16 countries? Mary wanted 54.

18:15 How the AI and digital-first theme emerged from last year's findings

20:34 Producing Pan-African findings across radically different markets

21:34 The most surprising finding: 81% using AI — but at a basic level

24:47 From SEO to GEO: optimising for AI citations, not search clicks

27:11 Why the future belongs to content creators, not advertisers

27:58 PR budgets rising from 2027 — because of thought leadership content

28:18 74.1% say AI enhances vs 42.5% of Gen Z say it reduces authenticity

31:31 "How do you become the human agent?" 32:00 The 10,000 hours argument: AI amplifies mastery

33:52 Gen Z: microwave generation or untapped opportunity?

34:42 "They just need direction" — Mary on developing Gen Z talent

35:48 Legacy practitioners and the fear that Gen Z is "cheating"

36:13 Finding 7: the generational platform split

36:39 Algorithm volatility, TikTok's Africa problem, and rented land

38:40 Traditional PR agencies and the digital-first reckoning

39:38 The client who still wants to see a newspaper photo

40:55 Trust metrics vs vanity metrics and the Kenyan media landscape

44:42 AI governance: self-governance before external policy

46:35 AI sameness and the value of original human creativity

48:10 "The authenticity that comes with originality can never be replaced"

49:04 Training LLMs on African data: owning the narrative at algorithm level

51:12 Global South amplifying humans vs Global North replacing them

52:40 It's not about AI leadership — it's about use case studies

53:24 Advice for young Kenyans and Africans entering PR in the AI era

54:49 AI proficiency: the new "do you have computer packages?"

56:27 The question nobody asks — and why tech and PR have always been one