JJ is a UK-trained journalist and counts with over a decade of experience in Public Relations and communications, and has worked both in-house and agency-side internationally.

Julija’s professional journey began working for some of the world’s most renowned brands, including TomTom, ASUS and VISA until shifting her focus towards the world of startups in 2015. From then on, Julija headed PR for one of the most successful London tech startups and worked with independent PR agencies for a wide range of technology clients.

In early 2018, JJ founded Black Unicorn PR to bring something new to the market – a PR agency that would put itself in the shoes of startup founders and support them as a true extension of their team. In her spare time, JJ enjoys reading murder mysteries (you will always find Kindle in her bag), travel and she is a self-proclaimed food gourmand. JJ cannot imagine her life without coffee ☕️

Back in November 2018 Mauro Alexis Battellini ditched his suit for a hoodie and joined Black Unicorn PR as a Co-Founder and the company’s official ‘voice of reason’.

Mauro is a citizen of the world, having lived in Argentina, Germany, the Netherlands and the UK, and still dreams of dumping the tube to move to one of the Mediterranean islands. He loves to break things down to their most granular level, and will often take ownership of any nearby whiteboard to facilitate that.

He brings a wide breadth of international experience having worked in market research, B2B sales and marketing roles. Complementing work is his love for asado and the beautiful game – football. As the workaholic he is, Mauro enjoys listening to the latest audio books and tech podcasts (Acquired is his current favourite) while running along the river Thames.

His mission at Black Unicorn PR is ensuring we support clients in a truly collaborative and consultative way, not only with results, but also providing education and a mindset within those organisations that will help them fuel long-term growth with marketing and communications.

Joe is bringing a creative spark to BUPR, having a master’s degree in fine arts. He has extensive experience as a content writer, working as a wordsmith-for-hire for years.

His mission at Black Unicorn is to help clients navigate their PR journey, crafting narratives and coordinating outreaches to help them tell their best stories.

He enjoys making music, running in the black forest, and hanging out with his family when he’s not busy controlling the media. He’s definitely the guy to ask if you need a breakfast recommendation in Minneapolis.

Jenna is Black Unicorn PR’s ‘people person’ who lives and works in beautiful Cape Town, South Africa. With a great passion and understanding of human behaviour and psychology, she decided to merge her academic background with the world of marketing and communications in 2017.

After completing her post-graduate degree in marketing, Jenna leapt into the corporate world and began her career in PR. Since then, she has worked with clients across the globe, ranging from local beauty salons to global fintech leaders. She aims to use this experience to help socially and environmentally conscious companies grow their presence in this world. When she’s not working, Jenna’s passion lies in turning ordinary moments into extraordinary memories by capturing them on camera or telling them through words – we’re all jealous of her beautiful pictures of Cape Town! Just like the rest of the team, Jenna also can’t imagine a life without coffee – especially when served with anything chocolate. The only thing we’re not sure about is her lack of love for potatoes… Unless they’re in liquid form.

Alice has worked in PR and comms for over 15 years and has a mix of corporate, consumer and B2B experience gained both in agency and in-house working for the likes of Sky, Sky Sports, Virgin Media and ITN.

Based in London, Alice’s sector experience spans tech, fintech, media broadcasting, entertainment, travel and retail. For the last six years she has worked almost exclusively on PR for tech startups and loves being part of their journey.

As Senior PR Consultant, Nataliia works on both a strategic and tactical level on several accounts from the Black Unicorn PR roster, particularly in the realm of fintech. Her responsibilities span from project management to thought leadership content generation and pitching.

Nataliia‘s passion is to systematise the information puzzles into a single communication picture. Working for more than 15 years in Ukraine, she has launched successful PR and digital marketing campaigns for businesses, government, NGOs and media outlets. All this Nataliia has combined with her academic work and research. Getting a PhD degree in Political Science in 2009, now she is working on her doctoral thesis inspired by the goal of making political processes more predictable and resilient. Aspiring to share her experience and knowledge, she is a part-time associate professor of journalism and social communication at a Ukrainian university.

Since April 2022, Nataliia has immersed herself in the world of startups and fintech to help clients reach new heights in communications. As for her own peaks, they include summiting Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, climbing Mount Fuji in Japan, and nearly conquering Aconcagua in Argentina. However, most of all, Nataliia admires her native Carpathian Mountains and dreams of returning to them with her children when the war is over.

Louise has been writing and telling stories for as long as she’s been breaking into song as if her plotline depends on it, which is forever.

Based in sunny South Africa, Louise started theatre training from around 5.

And, for context of her A-type personality, she sang ‘My Heart Will Go On’ by Celine Dion at the nursery school nativity play; before Mary had a Little Lamb, after Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.
Having graduated with a BA in Live Performance (Cum Laude) in 2016, she discovered her love for songwriting and scriptwriting. The following year she wrote her first original musical comedy script, ‘The Good, The Bad and The Fugly,’ and began performing multiple sold-out seasons. She quickly discovered her knack for advertising and, funnily enough, PR as she marketed her show. So, she began studying Digital Copywriting and Content Creation through Red and Yellow – Creative School of Business – between performances and rehearsals. Fast forward a few years, she danced her way (literally) into the advertising industry, where she’s been word-weaving ever since.

She then joined Black Unicorn PR as a freelance unicorn/writer, adding words like “insurtech” and “seed extension” into her lexicon and working on all things social media and the occasional blog post or two!