The Head of Public Affairs at the Ghana Education Service, Cassandra Twum Ampofo has been named among the top 10 PR Women in Ghana.

According to the 2019 Global Women in PR Annual Index, although she had a challenging and difficult year, she was able to stay on top of her game and actively perform her role as the head of PR.

“Her organisation, the Ghana Education Service (GES) has been in the news more frequently in 2019 from the rolling out of the Free SHS and matters arising to the Double Track System and the Computerized School Selection and Placement System (CSSPS), Teachers Strikes, New School Uniforms and Syllabus and a host other issues.

“She has been at the forefront of many of these issues including issuing media statements, granting interviews, holding press conferences, organizing sensitization workshops and many more,” the Index indicated.

Cassandra was appointed as the Head of Public Relation for the GES in 2018. Prior to her appointment, she was the Ashanti Regional PRO for the GES and was a professional teacher until her new appointment.

Below are the other top PR women who were also named:

Adiki Ofeibea Ayitevie (Vice President, Sustainability & External Relations, Newmont Goldcorp Africa) Adiki Ofeibea Ayitevie oversees the Sustainability and External Relations function of Newmont Goldcorp’s Africa operations and is responsible for delivering on the company’s commitment to serving as a catalyst for local economic development and ensuring transparent and respectful engagement with stakeholders. She previously served as Senior Director, Communications and External Relations of the company; effecting communications strategies that supported the business’ objectives. With more than 22 years combined experience in the sustainability, public relations and journalism fields, Adiki is an accomplished and well-respected professional with in depth knowledge and expertise in the varied aspects of communications and external relations practice including internal and external communications, media relations, crisis communications, issues management brand positioning and reputation management. In 2019, she was adjudged the PR Personality of Year at the 7^th IPR National Excellence Awards in February and also awarded the winner of Women Inspiring Women at the IE’s University’s EPIC Awards in June 2019. Adiki has spoken and trained on a number of platforms and events including being the headline speaker at the 2019 Women in PR Ghana Summit, a speaker at the Executive Women’s Network and continues to mentor and impart to many young professionals. Esther Cobbah, (CEO, Stratcomm Africa) Esther Cobbah is the lead Communication Strategist at Stratcomm Africa. She has worked as a Communications Specialist for many award-winning campaigns for her company and clients. Earlier in 2019, she was appointed as the first member of the IPRA Board from Africa South of the Sahara where she will add her African communication perspective to the global stage. In May 2019, she hosted over 50 young female PR practitioners and students in an “Evening with Esther Cobbah” organized in partnership with Women in PR Ghana where she inspired attendees on starting and sustaining a career in PR. Though a well-known personality in the PR industry, Ms Cobbah continues to impart and stay relevant as she has featured on many shows and events speaking about communications and leadership throughout the year. Sophia Lissah (Group Head, Communications, Jospong Group of Companies) Sophia leads a 22-member communication team to develop and execute a communications strategy in line with the Group’s strategic objectives to foster key relations with government, media and other relevant stakeholders both local and international. With over two decades of experience in journalism and public relations, Sophia has extensive and diverse experience in all disciplines of the communication business, ranging from reputational management, media & public relations, stakeholder engagements to corporate social investments among others. She was the 2019 PR Professional of the Year and one of West Africa’s Top 20 Marketing & Communications Professional at the recently held Marketing World Awards 2019. She was a Speaker at the 2019 Women in PR Ghana Summit in July. Shirley Tony Kum (Corporate Communications Manager, Vivo Energy) Shirley is an award-winning Communications Specialist who is able to combine the science and art of communication to leverage deliverables in terms of media relations, communication strategy and plans development, public participation, communication research, internal communications, events management and traditional communication. Throughout 2019, we’ve seen her lead and drive several projects and campaigns for her organization including Junior Road Care, International Literacy Day Mentorship, Optima amongst others. Their flagship CSR Programme “Employee CSR Challenge” won Excellence in Corporate Social Responsibility and also Marketing Campaign for their Shell Club Loyalty Programme at the recently held Ghana Oil and Gas Awards. They also won Brand of the Year at the 2019 Ghana Energy Awards. Shirley has been elected as the Honorary Secretary at the Institute of Public Relations, Ghana and also recognized for being one of the communications specialists who has used social media to communicate her company’s activities. Cynthia Eyram Ofori-Dwumfuo (Group Head, Marketing and Corporate Affairs, Hollard Ghana) Cynthia has had a colourful and experience-laden marketing communications career. Prior to joining Hollard later in 2019, Cynthia led public relations in Ghana and West Africa for Ogilvy, a global ad-agency network. She is credited with significantly increasing the company’s PR revenues in less than three years. She led award-winning assignments at Ogilvy and worked across a range of communications functions, including strategic & corporate communications, media & government relations, public affairs, CSR, marketing & brand development, healthcare communications, events, advocacy, social and digital media. Under her leadership, Ogilvy Ghana was a finalist for the Africa SABRE Awards Platinum award in May 2019 and won awards for best work in Integrated Marketing, and Mining & Extractive Industries, as well as Certificates of Excellence. She also led Ogilvy to be the most awarded agency at the Institute of Public Relations Ghana PR Excellence Awards in 2019 having scored six nominations and ultimately winning three awards in Social Media Communications, Community Relations and PR Campaign of the Year. She was a Panelist at the 2019 Women in PR Ghana Summit and also shortlisted for PR Discovery of the Year at the IPR National Communications Awards held in 2019. Baaba Cofie (Senior PR Consultant, Mahogany Consult) Baaba is a founding partner and a Senior PR Consultant at Mahogany Consult. She has expertise in Communications research, Creative Writing, Development and Health communications, Event management and Print Journalism. Aside her PR role, we have also seen her champion social issues around women fertility and maternity as the founder of ‘Love, Move and Have your Being’. Her organization also organized PR workshop for SME’s & Startups and was also a panelist at the Women in PR Ghana Summit 2019. Baaba was also shortlisted for PR Discovery of the Year at the IPR National Communications Awards held in 2019. Praise Nutakor (Communications Analyst, UNDP) Praise is a Communication Specialist with good experience in managing the communication needs for the United Nations Development Programme. She has a passion for development communication which has been evident in all her communications on the Sustainable Development Goals (SGD’s) Praise uses various multimedia platforms to communicate her organizations activities and achievements and have also mentored many young PR professionals who call on her for career advice, guidance and opportunities. She was a speaker at the Women in PR Ghana Campus Series at Webster University Ghana Campus and has spoken at a number of UNDP sessions throughout the year. Joyce Ahiadorme (Country Public Affairs and Communications Manager, Voltic GH Limited Joyce is a versatile communication, stakeholder relations and corporate affairs professional with over nine-years hands-on experience in corporate communications, public relations and marketing, events management, customer relationship management. Joyce successfully institutionalized Voltic’s CSR Frameworks, the 3 W’s and co-created the Ghana Recycling Initiative by Private Enterprises (GRIPE), an industry body with a goal to sustainably managing a post-consumer plastics. In 2019, we also saw her actively involved in running their monthly “Buyback” campaign which seeks to commit to enabling the collection of post-consumer plastics and also appreciating all those directly involved in the value chain. Joyce has in the year worked with several stakeholders to create an ecosystem that drives collective sustainable action towards managing post-consumer plastics. Joyce was shortlisted for PR Discovery of the Year at the IPR National Communications Awards held in 2019. Josephine Appiah Nyamekye (Afrobarometer Communications Coordinator for Anglophone West Africa CDD-Ghana) Josephine has been in charge of supervising, mentoring and building the capacity of communications/dissemination officers of Afrobarometer National Partners in Nigeria, Liberia, Cape Verde, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Sao Tome and Principe and has also acted as Francophone Communications Coordinator for 9 months. In 2019, she has been proactively identifying opportunities and partnerships to promote Afrobarometer’s visibility, notable among which are partnerships (in various forms) with IOM, EU, Mo Ibrahim Foundation, Center for International Media Assistance. She has exhibited a deep understanding of their institutions’ core business through which she has authored several research papers on themes such as migration, media freedom, violent extremism and public service delivery, which have been widely circulated and gained traction in international media, including BBC, VOA and DW. She has also presented these papers on several international platforms including the World Press Freedom Day Conference in Addis Ababa. She has been credited for strategies and audiovisual content that have helped improve Afrobarometer’s visibility on social and traditional media, and among relevant stakeholders. In conclusion, we want to discover more female role models and mentors and we believe sharing the spotlight on these PR women who are doing amazing work in their role for their organizations, for their client, for the profession and their own personal goals and development will go a long way to encourage many more female participation in leadership roles.