Doyel

Maitra

Corporate Affairs Director, Head of Campaigns,

Content & Channels, NatWest

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the first person of colour to join the Board at Hachette UK

After 2.5 years leading corporate affairs for the Retail bank at NatWest, Doyel recently moved into a newly created role as Head of Campaigns, Content and Channels, leading the charge on discoverability in a landscape where earned and owned platforms are being radically reshaped by GEO.

Doyel has a unique blend of experience, working both at agency and in-house, with publicly listed blue-chip companies and start-ups, across several highly regulated sectors and international markets. She has told the story behind business transformation programmes at MasterCard, MoneySuperMarket and Hachette UK.

Doyel was the first person of colour to join the Board at Hachette UK, managing comms for high profile authors through the culture wars and spearheading the publisher’s ‘Changing the Story’ DE&I programme. As a long-standing mentor, she is passionate about making careers in comms more accessible to talent from under-represented communities.

q&a

Why did you sign up to be a judge for The Pros Awards 2026?

In a nutshell: pride and inspiration. I’ve been lucky enough to be involved with The Pros Awards from the beginning and I’m always blown away by the calibre of creativity and talent that enters. It’s great to see that momentum growing every year and I can’t wait to see 2026’s entries!

What Insta/LinkedIn/Tik Tok account should every comms pro follow and why?

I did a Squiggly Careers workshop a few years ago before it became a thing. I approached it like a true cynic, but the brilliant Helen Tupper and Sarah Ellis really do disrupt the (very linear) way most of us think about progression and they’re worth following on LinkedIn.

What was your favourite PR/comms campaign from 2025 and why?

Having spent most of my career in financial services, I’m always interesting in seeing how brands in the ‘boring but necessary’ category interrupt the cultural conversation to connect with people. I enjoyed Specsavers’ ‘resting squint face’ campaign, which highlighted a serious health issue in a funny and relatable way.

As always, we’ve got a great DJ booked for The Pros Awards award ceremony in September – what’s your dance floor filler request?

Some old school Motown.