Natalie has spent the last 25 years working in PR and communications, in agency and in-house roles. Like many of her Empica colleagues, Natalie began her career as a reporter and worked for a regional newspaper group based in Slough. Her most memorable experience was a five day assignment with a Windsor-based regiment in Bosnia in 1996, shortly after the end of the war.
She moved to Bristol in the late 1990s and embarked on a career in PR and marketing communications. Natalie has worked for clients in a wide range of sectors, including law, accountancy, recruitment, property, charities and care. She has also worked for consumer brands in the UK and internationally, including homewares, food and travel.
Born and educated in South Africa, she spent 18 months in Switzerland before settling in the UK, and now lives with her family in a draughty former gatehouse in Somerset.
Natalie Birrell
Managing Director; Client Services Director; Business Development lead
Kayleigh joined Empica as a PR Manager in 2010 and has worked with clients across all sectors, including professional services firms, residential developments, charities, schools and nurseries, tourism and hospitality, and end-of-life. She is also a social media specialist and has been involved in crisis communications, media training and strategic planning.
After graduating in English with a first class honours degree, and completing a placement in the press office of a national charity, she knew a career in PR was for her, enabling her to indulge her life-long passion for writing and storytelling. She began as a PR Executive at an agency specialising in food and beverage clients before joining Empica where her ‘can-do’ attitude is appreciated by clients and media alike.
When not at work, she enjoys quality family time with her husband and three young children, is an avid reader, TV buff and enjoys good food.
Kayleigh Penny
PR Manager and Social Influencers lead
Darren is a multi-award-winning communications professional who has worked for numerous clients in a wide variety of sectors, as well as being part of Empica’s crisis communications and media training teams. He holds professional qualifications from the National Council for the Training of Journalists and Chartered Institute of Public Relations.
His career began as a journalist on weekly and daily newspapers before moving into public relations and corporate communications for Avon and Somerset Police, where he led several award-winning campaigns and was involved in many high-profile incidents, Avon Fire & Rescue Service and Weston College, before joining Empica in April 2017 where he has greatly enjoyed the diversity of work and variety of clients.
Away from work, he is a self-published author, field hockey player, hobbyist magician, father to a profoundly autistic son and pitiful punslinger.
Darren Bane
PR Manager, Media Trainer, Reputation Management specialist, Author
Martin founded Empica in 1989 and has been advising on public relations and devising publicity campaigns for many national and regional businesses and organisations ever since. Previously, he was a journalist, covering major regional and national events, including interviewing the Prime Minister of the day, reporting on the Falklands War from Ascension Island, NATO exercises with the Army in Denmark, covering the House of Lords and trials at the Old Bailey.
He has dealt with the media on four continents, travelling with Louise Brown, the world’s first IVF baby, managing worldwide media enquiries for her family. He is a specialist in crisis media relations, advising businesses at boardroom level and training media spokespeople within many major high-profile organisations.
He is the author of many factual books, a fictionalised account of the fascinating story of ‘The Maid In The Haystack’ and a staunch supporter of Bristol City Football Club.
Martin Powell
Founder and Executive Chair; Reputation Management lead; Media Trainer; Author
Will joined Empica in 2010 and is lead in digital marketing, ensuring content is presented well online, both from a visual and a technical perspective.
He is also director in charge of Empica’s billing and purchasing , ensuring smooth relationships with clients and with suppliers. Prior to joining Empica he worked for a regional utility in its billing department.
Born and educated in Bristol he has a wide knowledge of the West Country region and its media. Outside of work he is a Bristol City Football Club supporter and keeps chickens!
He is a keen traveller, having visited many countries and enjoys spending time each year in Istanbul, visiting his wife’s family.
Will Powell
Operations Director; Digital Marketing and Social Media lead
Eleanor joined Empica as an intern in January 2025 to further explore her interests in media, public relations and communications.
She graduated from the University of Leeds with a Bachelor of Laws degree, achieving upper second class honours, and it was while studying media law that she developed her interest in public relations. She has also worked in the hospitality industry and as a tutor for GCSE students.
Eleanor has discovered a passion for Formula 1 motor racing and set up the F1 blog ‘Thinking Formula’, which discusses recent news and opinions on the sport.
Eleanor Hooper
PR Assistant, Artworker, Blogger
Grace is an award-winning filmmaker who joined Empica in January 2020 as a videographer, editor and content creator, collaborating with her colleagues to bring stories to life in innovative and engaging ways across Empica’s entire client portfolio.
She manages a diverse range of projects from social media videos and short-form documentaries to TV advertisements and is continually honing her editing skills while expanding into motion graphics, sound design and photography, which will further enhance the content she creates for clients.
In her spare time, she is a freelance filmmaker, working alongside her husband – she directs and shoots while Rob handles the editing and colour grading. They enjoy writing and creating short fictional films in a variety of genre.
Grace also enjoys watching films, clay modelling, building Lego, reading and music, and loves holidaying with Rob, particularly in Cornwall and Scotland.
Grace Fox
Videographer, Film Production Manager and Artworker
Before working in PR, Judith’s journalism career saw her work for local newspapers then as a freelance reporter and newsreader for the BBC and commercial news stations and work on several ITV documentary series before relocating to London, where she worked on daytime TV shows for various channels. Her communications roles include serving as head of news at the Cabinet Office’s UK Online website, which involved daily briefings at 10 Downing Street.
Since joining Empica, she has applied her wealth of accumulated experience and skills in support of clients in numerous sectors, including professional service (law firms, chartered surveyors and accountancy practices), education, the care sector, property and others, crafting compelling campaigns, managing media relations and ensuring clients’ stories resonate with their target audiences.
Outside of work, Judith enjoys learning languages, gardening, yoga and quilt-making.
Judith May
PR manager
Nicki prefaced her PR career by winning national awards for her qualifying exam papers and has maintained a lifelong interest in education, which saw her spend a decade as senior marketing communications lecturer and award leader at UWE. During her three decades of marketing communications experience, Nicki has supported clients within a diverse range of sectors including care (from day nurseries to care/retirement homes), health (specialising latterly in assisted fertility), education (state and independent schools and universities), tourism, housebuilding, lawyers as well as various consumer accounts and events.
She provides high-level strategic planning, including preliminary marketing communications audits, and is equally comfortable working as an extension of an in-house team, identifying newsworthy opportunities and developing and implementing proactive PR campaigns.
In her spare time, Nicki enjoys all kinds of live music, cinema and theatre, sings with two choirs, reads, cooks, gardens, loves walking and travelling.
Nicki Sampson
PR manager
Neil is an experienced communications professional who has developed and implemented national and regional campaigns for a variety of organisations, primarily in the professional services, financial services and commercial property sectors. He holds qualifications from the National Council for the Training of Journalists and Chartered Institute of Public Relations.
He was a senior news reporter and news editor on two major evening newspapers before moving into PR, working for two Bristol agencies, the second of which he was a director, then running his own PR consultancy for eight years before joining Empica in 2018.
In his spare time, Neil enjoys playing padel, reading novels, history and current affairs, listening to a wide range of music – everything from Thomas Tallis to Tiesto - and is a long-suffering Reading FC supporter.
Neil Fraser
PR manager
Empica was founded in Bristol in 1989 by our Executive Chairman Martin Powell who still plays an active role in the day-to-day running of the business, closely supported by our Managing Director Natalie Birrell and Operations Director Will Powell.
Our agency has grown steadily over the years to become a trusted and well-respected name in PR and media relations, supported by excellent content creation capabilities.
With a large office in Bristol and a permanent base in London, we are not constrained by geography and work locally, nationally and internationally. Our knowledge of Bristol and the South West is second to none, but our reach is global.
Our heritage
Empica was founded in Bristol in 1989 by our Executive Chairman Martin Powell who still plays an active role in the day-to-day running of the business, closely supported by our Managing Director Natalie Birrell and Operations Director Will Powell.
Our agency has grown steadily over the years to become a trusted and well-respected name in PR and media relations, supported by excellent content creation capabilities.
With a large office in Bristol and a permanent base in London, we are not constrained by geography and work locally, nationally and internationally. Our knowledge of Bristol and the South West is second to none, but our reach is global.
Our values
As much as we are all individuals and bring our own character and colour to our relationships with our clients and each other, we also embrace five shared values that underpin our approach.
We are:
Straight-talking: Our approach is refreshingly direct and straight-forward. You can rely on us for pragmatic advice and solutions that deliver the results you are looking for.
Savvy: We are masters of our trade. Our knowledge is born out of years of ‘real life’ experience.
Creative: We bring fresh thinking, insights and creativity to our clients’ communications, but in a commercially robust and sensible way.
Agile: We are highly responsive and quick to react, keeping on top of an ever-changing news agenda and any last minute or time sensitive requirements our clients may have.
Flexible: We understand that things change – regularly! We are flexible in our thinking and will always go the extra mile to accommodate our clients’ needs.
Natalie Birrell
Managing Director; Client Services Director; Business Development lead
Natalie has spent the last 25 years working in PR and communications, in agency roles as well as in-house. Like many others in the Empica team, Natalie began her career as a reporter, working for a regional newspaper group based in Slough. She moved to Bristol in the late 1990s where she landed her first public relations role at a boutique agency specialising in the professional services sector.
This led to roles at other PR agencies where Natalie broadened her client experience from the realms of lawyers and accountants to include a wide range of other sectors, such as recruitment, property, charities and care. She has also worked for consumer brands in the UK and internationally, including homewares, food and travel.
Natalie went on to work in-house as Head of Communications for a UK Top 100 law firm and ran a successful PR and communications company for many years.
She joined Empica in 2019, working closely with the agency’s founder and Executive Chairman Martin Powell on growth and client service. Natalie’s role at Empica has evolved and in 2024, she was appointed Managing Director. She continues to play a hands-on role in client strategy and service delivery.
Born and educated in South Africa, Natalie spent 18 months in Switzerland before settling in the UK where she has built her career. She now lives with her family in Somerset, in a drafty, grade II listed, former gatehouse.
Martin Powell
Founder and Executive Chair; Reputation Management lead; Media Trainer; Author
Martin founded Empica in 1989 and since then has been advising on public relations and carrying out publicity campaigns for a wide range of national and regional businesses and organisations.
He has dealt with the media on four continents, travelling with Louise Brown, the world’s first IVF baby and handling worldwide media enquiries for her family. He lectured for over 25 years in dealing with the media to MBA students at Ashridge Management College. He is a specialist in crisis media relations.
He has advised businesses at boardroom level and trained media spokespeople in major high-profile organisations.
Before founding Empica he was a journalist reporting on major regional and national events. His assignments included interviewing the Prime Minister, reporting on the Falklands War from Ascension Island and NATO exercises with the Army in Denmark, covering the House of Lords and trials at the Old Bailey.
He is the author of factual books, including Louise Brown’s biography “40 Years of IVF – My Life As The World’s First Test Tube Baby”, which has been translated into Mandarin Chinese; a biography of entrepreneur businessman and football club owner, Harry Dolman; Power From Dartmoor; Bristol The Growing City and Under The Microscope the story of Elizabeth Carr, the USA’s first IVF baby. His most recent book Maid of the Haystack is a fictionalised account of real events in the 18th Century.
Darren Bane
PR Manager, Media Trainer, Reputation Management specialist, Author
Darren is a multi-award-winning communications professional who joined Empica in April 2017. He has worked for a large number of clients in a wide variety of sectors, as well as being part of Empica’s crisis communications and media training teams.
Born in Bristol, from the age of three he wanted to be a journalist, working on family and school newspapers and magazines before getting the qualifications he needed to achieve his ambition.
He spent 12 years working on weekly and daily newspapers but then the ‘poacher turned gamekeeper’, and he went into public relations/corporate communications. In 12 years with Avon and Somerset Police, he worked on a number of award-winning campaigns and was involved in some very high-profile incidents and cases. He also worked for Avon Fire & Rescue Service where, as with the police, he conducted countless interviews with local, regional and national newspapers, TV and radio broadcasters, representing his organisation and equipping him with the experience he now shares with clients as part of Empica’s media training team.
He then worked for Weston College before moving to Empica, where he found he greatly enjoys working in a wide variety of different sectors and industries.
He holds professional qualifications from the National Council for the Training of Journalists and Chartered Institute of Public Relations.
Away from the day job, he is a self-published author who has sold books – in a number of different genres – all over the world; he is a hobbyist magician, an enthusiastic hockey player, is father to a severely autistic son and is a pitiful punslinger.
Kayleigh Penny
PR Manager and Social Influencers lead
Kayleigh joined Empica as a PR Manager in 2010 and since then has worked with clients across all sectors, including B2B and B2C campaigns.
With a passion for writing and storytelling from a young age, Kayleigh knew she wanted a career in journalism or public relations. After studying English at University, gaining a first class honours, and completing a placement within the press office of a national charity, it was clear that a role in PR was the goal.
Cutting her teeth as PR exec within an agency specialising in food and beverage clients, Kayleigh then found her home at Empica where she leads client accounts as well as assisting with crisis communication matters, media training and social media planning.
With a client list including professional services firms, charities, property developers and businesses in the funeral sector, Kayleigh’s approachable and ‘can-do’ attitude is appreciated by clients and the media we work with.
Outside of work Kayleigh spends her time with her husband and three young children, who keep her very busy. Born and bred in Bristol, she is an avid reader and TV buff and loves good food.
Neil Fraser
PR Manager
Neil is an experienced communications professional who has developed national and regional campaigns for a range of organisations, primarily in the professional services, financial services and commercial property sectors.
After graduating with a BA (Hons) in History he qualified as a journalist and went on to work at two large evening newspapers, initially as a trainee and then as a senior reporter, including roles as a political editor, business editor and news editor.
During this time he covered a range of major stories including the Lyme Bay canoe tragedy, the murder of Jill Dando, the launch of the replica of John Cabot’s ship The Matthew and the Southall train crash, and interviewed figures as diverse as comedian Les Dawson, footballer Ryan Giggs and politician and diarist Alan Clark MP.
He then moved into PR, working at two large B2B agencies in Bristol, the second of which he was a director. He then ran his own PR consultancy for eight years, advising clients in the legal, accountancy, education, care and recruitment sectors before joining Empica in 2018.
Neil holds professional qualifications from the National Council for the Training of Journalists and the Chartered Institute of Public Relations.
In his spare time he enjoys playing padel, reading novels, history and current affairs, and listening to a range of music – everything from Thomas Tallis to Tiesto. He is also a long-suffering Reading FC supporter.
Nicki Sampson
PR Manager
Nicki prefaced her career in PR by winning national awards for her qualifying exam papers and has maintained a life-long interest in education. This includes gaining an MBA with the Open University as a mature student, and a decade in the role of senior marketing communications lecturer and award leader at UWE, where she also spent three years as Bristol Business School’s marketing director.
Glowing testimonials are evidence of Nicki’s proven ability to contribute to the success of her clients’ operations by raising awareness among their target audiences. She is highly motivated to understand the operating context of a client organisation, its history and future ambitions, challenges, opportunities, and the attitudes and desires of its target audience.
During her three decades of marketing communications experience Nicki has worked with clients in a wide variety of sectors including: care (from day nurseries to care homes and retirement homes), health (specialising latterly in assisted fertility), education (including both state and independent schools, colleges and universities), tourist destinations, housebuilding, lawyers, various consumer accounts and events.
She can provide high level strategic planning, including preliminary marketing communications audits, and is equally happy working as an extension of a client’s inhouse team, helping identify newsworthy opportunities, and developing and implementing proactive PR campaigns.
In her spare time Nicki enjoys live music of all kinds, cinema and theatre, sings with two choirs, loves a countryside ramble, is learning Spanish (to add to her reasonably fluent French and passable Italian), reads, cooks, gardens and plans her next holiday.
Judith May
PR Manager
Before moving into PR, Judith built a strong foundation in journalism, working for local newspapers and later as a freelance reporter and newsreader for the BBC and commercial news stations in the greater Bristol area. She also worked as an assistant producer and as a director on two documentary series commissioned by ITV in the West Country. After relocating to London, she broadened her expertise as an associate producer and producer, working on daytime TV shows for BBC Scotland, BBC1, ITV Factual, Carlton Television, and Pearson Television.
Her career then shifted to communications roles, including serving as head of news at the Cabinet Office’s UK Online website which involved daily briefings with the comms team at 10 Downing Street; and as news editor at JustPeople.com, an online platform specialising in banking and finance for the international executive search firm Armstrong International.
Since joining Empica, Judith has applied this wealth of experience to a wide range of clients, spanning professional services – including law firms, chartered surveyors, and accountancy practices, education, the care sector, property, and more. Her work involves crafting compelling campaigns, managing media relations, and ensuring clients’ stories resonate with their target audiences.
Outside of work, Judith enjoys learning languages, gardening, yoga, and quilt making.
Grace Fox
Videographer, Film Production Manager and Artworker
Grace is an award-winning filmmaker and has been working as a videographer, editor, and content creator for Empica since January 2020. She collaborates closely with the Empica PR and communications teams to bring clients' stories to life in innovative and engaging ways. She tackles a diverse range of projects, from social media videos to short-form documentaries.
Continuously honing her editing skills, she is now expanding into motion graphics, sound design and has recently developed an interest in photography, which she hopes will enhance her content creation work.
In her spare time, she is a freelance filmmaker, working alongside her husband, Rob. Together, they form a filmmaking power duo. She directs and shoots while Rob handles the editing and colour grading. They enjoy creating and writing short fictional films that explore a variety of different themes and genres.
Away from work, her hobbies and interests include watching films, clay modelling, building Lego, reading and music. She has an unhealthy love for Stephen King, horror and sci-fi books. She enjoys being creative where she can and has recently decided to further develop her guitar skills. Additionally, she also loves holidaying with her husband, with Cornwall and Scotland being their favourite destinations.
Eleanor Hooper
PR Assistant, Artworker, Blogger
Eleanor joined Empica as an intern in 2025. She has a passion and interest in media, public relations and communication and wanted to see how it works in the real world.
She graduated from the University of Leeds with a Bachelor of Laws degree achieving upper second-class honours and while studying media law developed her interest in public relations.
She has worked in the hospitality industry and as a tutor for GCSE students. Eleanor loves Formula 1 Motor Racing and set up the Formula 1 Blog “Thinking Formula”, which discusses recent news and opinions on the sport.
She is working across all sectors in Empica supporting the account managers.
Will Powell
Operations Director; Digital Marketing and Social Media lead
Will joined Empica in 2010 and is lead in digital marketing, ensuring content is presented well online, both from a visual and a technical perspective.
He is also director in charge of Empica’s billing and purchasing , ensuring smooth relationships with clients and with suppliers. Prior to joining Empica he worked for a regional utility in its billing department.
Born and educated in Bristol he has a wide knowledge of the West Country region and its media. Outside of work he is a Bristol City Football Club supporter and keeps chickens!
He is a keen traveller, having visited many countries and spends some time each year in Istanbul, visiting his wife’s family.
Our team
