“What motivates me is the “new” – new location, new beat, new client, new tech, new subject,” she confides.

Toot was started in 2016 when Pantin was in between jobs in New York City, and it’s continued to offer me an outlet to provide PR, communications and content creation services that are different from her “day” job, even after she returned to a full time corporate or agency role.

“My job is to make some noise and maybe beautiful music from my client’s story. It also links to how much music has been ever-present in my life, from listening to classical, Broadway, jazz and pop records growing up in Malaysia, to being drum major (and playing the baritone horn) for the Secondary School marching band and being a singer and the conductor of the Catholic Church choir.

Pantin says that Toot has allowed her to provide strategic communications advice to two non-profits in New York City, conduct communications training for female corporate leaders, draft speeches to corporate chiefs and the U.N., write sponsored articles in the South China Morning Post for a Chinese telecommunications giant, and help a global hospitality company in Hong Kong to professionalise its PR and communications functions.

Her points of contact in a company can range from the CEO, to the marketing head, to the head of a location. I love tech, especially new tech, finance, media, and Web3, but am industry-agonistic, a holdover from the days of journalism when you had to be a fast learner to deliver the headlines of the moment.

In December 2023, Pantin joined six other communications pros to set up the Global Commtrepreneurs Network, a collective that pools resources, experiences, and business leads to serve various industries and markets. “We will work together as needed, or as individuals, and we’ve already fielded a number of requests for support and introductions,” she says.

How do communication needs of companies differ? “Communications needs are the same globally – promoting and protecting a business. And even dealing with media in these regions can be similar, as many target media outlets are part of a global network and adhere to consistent standards and protocols.”

However, she adds, “What is gratifying is that clients in Asia Pacific tend to be more open to training, coaching, and guidance, even if they’re quite senior or in established companies.”

Having used generative AI (never for drafting non-public information), she says it’s clear that this is “a marvel for first drafts and collating content quickly and neatly. But a robot doesn’t have the ‘nose for news’ or news judgement that tells you if a story is a story.”

She elaborates, “AI can’t take on the nuances, complexities and specifics of a situation and deliver bespoke solutions.”