Gina Sharp has always been ahead of the public relations curve. Not that she planned it like that. At 20 she talked her way into a job at one of Europe’s first high tech public relations firms, BIPR in London, where she became the agency’s youngest ever account director. She helped to create brands such as Epson, NCR, IBM, Neve Electronics, Bose, Sony UK, Sun Alliance, Shiva, Pace, Fujitsu and Sage. When the agency was acquired by the Shandwick Group two years later, it gave her the opportunity to gain wider experience, devising pan-European campaigns for multinationals. However, because Gina wouldn’t conform, she came up against agency hierarchy that she regularly sidestepped in her clients’ best interests. This approach did exasperate her management team and her in-house nickname of ‘the little revolutionary’ stuck. However, the clients appreciated the difference.