Courage is a muscle

As someone who has jumped off a cliff for fun only to find out there were no stairs going back up when she was 16, moving to a PR agency with no PR background has to be one of the scariest things I've ever done.

Only because I knew this is where the difficult conversations are -- those that can actually change lives in more concrete ways. Boy, was I up for a nice surprise?!?

In 2023, my first big PR brief was for Roche Diagnostics. The goal was to get more people tested for hepatitis not only to sell Roche products but more importantly to prevent at-risk groups from ever progressing to liver cancer because for some cases, it can now be helped.

The plot twist: we were talking to people your Asian parents wished you'd never be friends with -- druggies, sex workers, gay men, ex-convicts-- because that's how the virus is transmitted (see: needles).

THE PROBLEM:
How might we get people to test for hepatitis early because better interventions are now available?

Not to mention, how might we get other stakeholders to pay attention to a disease that's mostly prevalent amongst people who are the last on their priority list?

OUR SOLUTION:
First, I had to find them.
Then, I spent a couple of nights talking to them. Hours were spent understanding their lives, their health, their experiences in testing centers across the region.

What I found was something scarier than liver cancer. It's 2024 and we're still judging people for their lifestyles. Yeah, I know we're all entitled to our own opinions but not to the detriment of people whose lives may be on the line.

It's 2024 and hospitals continue to turn their backs away from people who they think "deserve it". Communities continue to ostracize families and innocent children perceived to have "dirty blood". It's 2024 and people continue to "out" others just for being in testing centers.

Before it even becomes a healthcare issue, hepatitis is a sociocultural issue. It's a story that scared even the most seasoned healthcare storytellers in the business. We unveiled this story through the good ol' social experiment, putting a transwoman, a tattoo artist, and someone with a storied past across people who have led what most of us would call "a clean life". And the rest, they say, is history.


RESULTS:
Needless to say, it was an uphill battle. The idea actually left the pitch deck and is currently making rounds all over the region. Hailed as the most shared piece of work within the Roche network, the piece has been picked up by regional healthcare media and stigma is now being openly discussed in boardrooms that can actually affect change.

Blood, sweat, and tears all worth it. These are the days we live for. I couldn't be more grateful for my client's trust and the support of my team who let this failed cliff-diver lead the way.