Pink, Auld & Brown was co-founded by Jacks Thomas and Sheerin Aswat who have worked together in publishing for over ten years and enjoyed their respective careers in the book industry for several more years before that. Alongside other individual projects, they had always intended to work together on initiatives of mutual interest. With a combination of their communications and branding expertise, experience in both the UK and international markets, and their passion for innovative campaigns to get books into everyone’s hands – oh! – and enjoying their work along the way, Pink, Auld & Brown makes things happen. Sheerin and Jacks were delighted to rekindle previous working relationships with Katie Morris and Orna O’Brien to create a comprehensive events team and complete the picture.
Sheerin Aswat, Founder
Sheerin Aswat has been working in the publishing industry for over 14 years starting out first in PR working on projects such as World Book Day, the Man Booker Prize, National Poetry Day and The Desmond Elliott Prize. She moved from PR projects to managing digital campaigns for a number of years before moving into event management running events such as large scale dinners, international professional programme delegations and book launches.
For seven years she ran the relationship management team at The London Book Fair working with publishers and authors from all over the globe. Since leaving she has gone on to support the development of BolognaBookPlus, the brand extension of acclaimed Bologna Children’s Book Fair.
Jacks Thomas, Founder
Jacks Thomas, an international books and culture specialist, is currently Guest Director at BolognaBookPlus, a brand extension of the acclaimed Bologna Children’s Book Fair.
Thomas was Director, The London Book Fair from 2013 to 2020. She began her career at the BBC before moving into publishing during which time she held roles at Simon & Schuster, Michael Joseph (Penguin) and HarperCollins. She was a partner and CEO at Midas Public Relations following a 6 year tenure as European Director of Communications, Reader’s Digest.
Thomas co-founded the Chiswick Book Festival and serves on several committees. She is a regular speaker about publishing at leading universities in the UK and abroad.
Orna O’Brien
Orna has worked in publishing training and events and for over 20 years, since leaving teaching. Now freelance, she works on a variety of book related projects.
She most recently worked, for over a decade, at The London Book Fair, the world’s pre-eminent book trade event taking place annually in London. She headed up conferences, awards, seminars and other events throughout the year, both in the UK and internationally.
Adept at delivering projects professionally and on time, Orna’s skills and experience involve event creation and delivery, speaker management, awards management, marketing and networking. Having started life as a teacher, she worked at The Booksellers Association, followed by The Publishing Training Centre, creating and organizing ongoing professional development short courses for those working in publishing.
pinkauldandbrown.co.uk 