Interview with a Celebrity PA: Petek Adem
Petek Adem is an Agent at ROAR Global. She was a celebrity PA from 2011 to 2014.
What does your current job at ROAR involve?
I provide hands on support to the Chairman and to our wonderful VIP clients, ensuring they are happy at all times. I deal with diaries, meetings, new talent from TV shows such as Britain’s Got Talent, with development focus on those offered management - I am always on the lookout for our next potential client!
How did you become a Celebrity PA?
I used to watch my favourite TV shows and then read the credits at the end of the show, so I knew who to write to for work experience. I would research like mad! I then bugged a certain lovely lady at ITV for work experience until she called me threatening (jokingly) to have the police arrest me for harassment! She offered me two weeks work experience but after a week she offered me a full time, year’s placement running across many difference shows I loved. I then went on to work for companies like the BBC, MTV and Tiger Aspect Productions before landing my first job as Private PA to a known figure in the industry.
What advice would you give someone who wants to become a Celebrity PA?
Work hard, research your resources, make contacts and build relationships with key people in the industry… and make yourself available wherever possible.
What is the greatest challenge you’ve found working as a Celebrity PA?
Discretion is a must! Everybody wants to know the goss and excitement a celebrity has, but a professional PA shields that news, protecting their employer at all times!
What are the key skills you need to be an efficient Celebrity PA?
Loyal, honest, discreet, professional, efficient and someone they can solely rely on, becoming a very good, close member of that employer’s team. A little black book of magic works wonders too!
