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Preena Gadher on becoming the first person of colour to lead a division of Penguin Random House UK
Penguin General m.d. Preena Gadher has spoken about becoming the first person of colour to lead a division of Penguin Random House UK (PRH UK) at an event to mark the five-year anniversary of Colour[Full], the publisher’s network for Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) staff.
Gadher said she had been vocal about the lack of diversity within publishing and in particular on the PRH UK leadership team, but hadn’t expected to become the first herself. Recalling the moment when PRH UK c.e.o. Tom Weldon had invited her to apply for the role, she said: "I thought if I were to get this job, then maybe I could change something from within, and that would be quite powerful." It was the first time PRH UK had advertised for a role at that level, and the first time it had recruited from outside of publishing.
Gadher began her career in publishing in a publicity work experience placement at Penguin Press, before joining permanently. In 2008 she left to co-found culture and entertainment PR agency Riot Communications, with Anwen Hooson. Gadher joined Penguin General in September 2022, succeeding Joanna Prior. On the decision to take the role, Gadher quoted the comedian Margaret Cho, who said “the power of visibility can never be underestimated".
Charting her journey into publishing Gadher said: "I suspect a lot of people in this room are like me. We don’t have parents or family friends who [we] can casually tap up for career advice." She said she found aspects of her time at Penguin Press difficult. "I learnt my craft there. It was terrifying, but an amazing place to train. But if I’m honest, it wasn’t the easiest place to be as a brown woman from a working-class background. People were often talking in cultural codes, which I didn’t understand."
She recounted one experience of hearing how microwaves were looked down on by colleagues, compared to AGA range cookers. "My parents were the first people in our street to own a microwave. It was a real source of pride, and in that conversation that source of pride had been completely ridiculed. I remember thinking, hmmm, I don’t know if this place is for me." She said she’d had to leave to become an m.d., rather than waiting for it to happen – "judging by the record of other people of colour [within publishing], it might not have happened at all".
More widely she added: "There is a lot of unseen pressure when you are a person of colour, and also the first. A pressure to perform on behalf of an entire race, which is ridiculous as I don’t represent every brown person in publishing. But when you are sat at that table literally as the only person of colour, then it’s hard to shake that feeling."
But she said: "The truth is, many of us here, in order to get to the same place in our careers as our white counterparts, are going to have to be a bit braver. But here’s some good news, courage is really the hallmark of great leadership."
She also talked of managing her new role. "At the beginning I was transparent. I said, look Tom, coming from an intersectional background there are a whole bunch of challenges that I will face that you won’t understand, and you will have to believe me that those challenges are real, so I am going to need a bit more time and guidance than some of the other managing directors to succeed here. Tom made that commitment, and he has been true to his word."
Gadher praised the usefulness of networks, such as Colour[Full]: "Networks can be daunting and a bit transactional. When you come from a less privileged background, when you even get a hint of entitlement it sits awkwardly. But networking is about sharing information and ideas to help us learn and grow, and it is about giving not just receiving – and much more about the giving, actually. This network, Colour[Full], is a safe space to learn from each other, and we haven’t inherited those connections, so we have to work a bit harder."
Co-chairs of Colour[Full], Asia Choudhry, editorial assistant at Chatto & Windus, and Mia Oakley, campaigns officer at Ebury, also spoke at the event. Choudhry said: "Founded in 2018 by the incredible Gift Ajimokun, Colour[Full] is PRH’s first employee network. It was set up as a way to promote and celebrate PRH’s authors of colour, as well as crucially support and provide a safe space for BAME staff to thrive. These have remained our core principles ever since."
Oakley said that since 2020, its main priorities had shifted. "This was the moment we redrew the network boundaries, and for us at this time that meant taking a step back from the company in order to support the Black, Asian and marginalised communities at PRH and protect them from emotional and physical labour. A space fully for us, by us."
Oakley added: "Looking at the present, [our] focus has been fostering this sense of community further and looking to extend this beyond PRH. We now boast a whopping 130-odd members." Colour[Full] now collaborates with other BAME networks such as Thrive at Hachette, Elevate at HarperCollins and the Black Agents & Editors’ Group.
Choudhry and Oakley also praised the PRH initiative Lit in Colour – a campaign in partnership with the Runnymede Trust to support UK schools and teachers in making the English Literature curriculum more inclusive of writers of colour. "The impact of this programme cannot be overstated," Choudhry said.
