Communications and Partnerships Officer Millie Reynolds (BA Public Relations 2020) is forging a career in Marketing and Communications. Following early roles with SevenWest Media, RAC Arena and Murdoch University, Millie took the bold step to head over to Europe and has secured a job working for The Royal Foundation of The Prince and Princess of Wales.  This role sits within the Foundation’s Homewards programme; spearheaded by Prince William in 2023 to prove that homelessness can be ended in the UK. We sent a Q&A across to London to find out more…

What did you enjoy about studying Public Relations, Gender Studies, and International Aid and Development at Murdoch?

As shown in the titles of my coursework, I studied quite a diverse array of topics at Murdoch, and this is something I am very grateful for to this day. I loved centering my major in Public Relations (now named Strategic Communications) to build my industry ready skills and understanding of the discipline. However, broadening this with minors that expanded my understanding of global, social, and cultural constructs not only bolstered my ability to think differently in my communications approach, but taught me to think critically beyond technical skills.

You’ve worked across marketing, communications, and partnerships. Which is your favourite and why?

Perhaps a cliché answer, however I think being able to work cross-disciplinarily using the transferable skills from all of these areas is the true highlight. Working in communications allowed me to build meaningful connections with partners as I learnt the best way to speak to different people at varying levels, and my work in marketing has allowed me to think outside the box while balancing the technical side of any project.

What’s a moment in your career that made you stop and think, “Wow, this is really happening”?

A ‘pinch me’ moment since starting my current role as Communications and Partnerships Officer at The Royal Foundation has been working with Prince William and his team from Kensington Palace. While I had met and spoken with His Royal Highness at our offices in London, I recently travelled to Newport to support a fact-finding visit for Prince William. Here, I worked to support one of our programme spokespeople, Dr Sabrina Cohen-Hatton, as she accompanied the Prince to speak with women with lived experience of homelessness in the area. It was a small team of us from communications as well as the women’s shelter, as we worked together to enable this visit. Working to support the Prince and our advocate as they endeavoured to learn more about what we can do to help women experiencing homelessness felt surreal, and a real privilege.

Can you tell us more about The Royal Foundation’s mission?

The mission of The Royal Foundation is to use the unique platform of Their Royal Highnesses to unite and positively impact the lives of people across the UK, and around the globe. By tackling some of the world’s greatest issues, we hope to create a healthier planet and society. Some of the key programmes we run to achieve this include focuses on homelessness, wildlife poaching and supporting early development, and mental health, among others.  

Homewards is a key initiative of the Foundation. How does it approach tackling homelessness?

By centering the importance of collaboration across the homelessness and private sectors, the Homewards programme aims to demonstrate that it’s possible to end homelessness in all forms – making it rare, brief, and unrepeated. We do this by working in six locations across the UK, responding directly to their unique local needs and circumstances. We do this with the intention of creating real local impact with plans to share our successes and learnings wider to facilitate positive impact beyond these six locations.  

What’s a project or initiative at The Royal Foundation that you’re particularly proud to be part of?

In 2024, we collaborated with the Eleven Eleven Foundation, London’s Saatchi Gallery, and people with lived experience of homelessness to showcase an exhibition called ‘Homelessness: Reframed’. This exhibition brought together works from renowned artists such as Marc Quinn, Rankin, Philip Colbert, and Simone Brewster, alongside many others, as a platform for those directly affected by homelessness to share their stories through art. One of the key pillars of the Homewards programme, and my own role, is to work to change the narrative, and often negative perceptions, of homelessness in the UK and so this project utilised the power of art to help improve the nation’s understanding of the issue and inspire optimism that it can be ended. This was a key project in proving the power of communications in effecting greater change and so is something I am very proud to have been a part of.

What’s been the most unexpected skill you’ve had to use in your current role?

In my first year, with a spare unit up my sleeve and no minors locked in yet, I took a photography unit. While I couldn’t claim that I was the most gifted student in that class by any means, I learnt the foundations of taking good photos with proper equipment and then, how to edit. While it may not seem much, I have had to use this many times since, somehow always becoming a backup when a photographer has pulled out and there is a spare camera around or a second eye with our content capture team. A great back pocket skill!

How do you think Murdoch prepared you for working in global organisations like The Royal Foundation?

I believe the quote from Sir Walter Murdoch that I passed each day walking to my classes answers this question for me, “The only education of which good can come is the education to think for yourself instead of swallowing whatever the fashion of the moment may prescribe”. No matter what class I was in, Murdoch consistently taught me to question everything, keep well informed, be open, and seek to learn from the unique experiences of those around you. I believe this way of thinking is essential to my current role, as the Homewards programme at The Royal Foundation seeks to change the tide on how we approach homelessness as a sector. This means challenging the standard procedure and proceeding with empathy are essential to our work.

If you could go back and give advice to your student self, what would it be?

If I could go back and give advice to my student self, it would be to seek out different opportunities to broaden your skillset and get real world experience, even if it’s transferrable skills, this will stand you in great stead. It’s a privilege to go to university - so grip it tightly, try your best, make a fool of yourself if you must, but put yourself out there and be open to learning as much as you can.