Screen Tests: Liam Sharma

"PR is inherently transactional, and I’ve struggled with that. I was born on this Earth to connect with people; I know this for sure."

For new readers, Screen Tests is a new pillar of the newsletter where I interview people I find interesting. They’re the kind of people whose names you see around — if you’re ‘in the business’ of fashion/retail/beauty/etc — you may recognise them, but they’re perhaps a bit more behind-the-scenes, which is really where the good stories are, in my opinion.

Past interviews have included:
Holly Garber, fashion publicist turned career coach (Google image search her for her epic street style images from like, Tommy Ton)
Lauren Sams, fashion editor of the Australian Financial Review and who so many told me they didn’t realise how hilarious she was (how offensive, I jest)
Rhiannon Joyce, marketing and partnerships director at Shameless and who I’ve never actually met but we have an internet friendship of sorts

This week I’m introduce Liam Sharma. Yes, Liam Sharma is everywhere. Yes, Liam, if you are reading this, this is true. I met Liam through Emma Lewisham, who is a longtime reader of the newsletter. And when I saw her name, I was like, “Um, is this like, the real Emma Lewisham of the Emma Lewisham skincare brand?” Reader, it was! We’ve developed a friendship and very early on she introduced me to Liam, her brand’s head of PR over breakfast. Out of his earshot, she whispered to me “He is VERY good at his job.” And it’s true — in between Emma Lewisham being a really excellent skincare AND it being so conscious of its environmental impact so you don’t need to compromise on either (disclosure: I am a Emma Lewisham partner BUT I wouldn’t do this lightly, and had used the products years before becoming one) and Liam being very good at his job, yes, it’s true, he and the Emma Lewisham brand are everywhere in the best way possible.

INTRODUCTION

1. Tell me about yourself.

Honestly, it’s a real mixed bag. I like to think I’m a lot of fun. I’m between the ages of 27-31 at any given time; it depends on who’s asking. I live alone in Surry Hills. I moved here from New Zealand a few years ago to work on Emma Lewisham. I’m trying to figure out who I am, and right now, I’m working that out in Sydney. It’s all very much a work in progress, Zara; sometimes, I shock myself. 

2. Now, tell me about yourself without mentioning your job.

I guess something I have never been able to kick all my life is this desire to see how much further I can push it. I’m perpetually unsatisfied. Comfortability both scares and inspires me. I want to learn more, fall over more, I want to pee in as many oceans as I can. I have many lives left inside of me to live, people I’m yet to meet that will mean as much to me as some of my oldest friends. I’m drinking life by the tap, and with each big gulp, I’m growing into the person I was inserted on this Earth to be. Beautifully flawed, down to every last freckle. 

3. What do you want people to say about you when you walk out of a room?

He was a lot, but I’m weirdly into it. 

4. What is the quote you live by?

It’s not so much a single-hit quote, but I’ve scribbled down Michaela Coel’s Emmy Award acceptance speech for I May Destory You. It’s blue-tacked directly above where I sleep. It’s the first thing I see when I wake up. 

“I just wrote a little something for writers, really. Write the tale that scares you, that makes you feel uncertain, that is uncomfortable. I dare you. In a world that entices us to browse through the lives of others to help us better determine how we feel about ourselves, and to, in turn, feel the need to be constantly visible, for visibility these days seems to somehow equate to success. Do not be afraid to disappear, from it, from us, for a while, and see what comes to you in the silence.” 

5. What phrase do you think you say most often?

Give a fuck.  

CAREER

6. How do people react when you tell them what you do?

It’s changed as the business has changed. For me, Emma Lewisham is two-folded. There’s obviously this business that has taken a life of its own, and in many ways, it’s afforded me a life on my own. And then there is Emma Lewisham, the person. I have been working with Emma on the brand since the early days. If I were to count the most defining moments in my life in the fingers of my hand, meeting Emma would be one of them. She took a risk on this complicated boy who was in the thick of figuring out what it meant to be a man to him. And that’s one of her strongest strengths; she has vision. 

I can’t work on anything that doesn’t have a greater sense of purpose to me. Anything that feels transactional and jaded makes me feel uncomfortable. If I don’t dream about it, if I can’t feel it in my bones, if it’s not the first thing I think about when I jolt myself awake or the last thing I’m pondering before I let my mind knock off, then I don’t want it. I can’t do it. I’m all in or nothing at all. PR is inherently transactional, and I’ve struggled with that. I was born on this Earth to connect with people; I know this for sure. I’m fortunate to be in a role that encourages me to do so. But the conventional approach to PR doesn’t raise the hairs on my arms, it doesn’t make my blood boil, it doesn’t make me feel anything at all. I think I have completely missed the point of this question, but maybe that’s the beauty of it. I don’t take too much notice these days of how people react when I tell them what I do; I don’t even clock it.