Between 2021-23, I often said that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s biggest issue was their communications. While I am well aware that their defenders believe that everything the Sussexes do is golden and perfect, I will continue to beat this drum: they should have been more responsive about the wave of negativity being thrown at them, especially when it comes to their business. Nowadays, Meghan is being represented by WME, and Meghan & Harry have moved from archewell.com to sussex.com (and they’re posting more updates and information too). Meghan is also launching American Riviera Orchard and she’s signed on to Lemonada Media for podcasting. Could a new comms strategy be in the cards too? Well, the Sussexes have just hired a new deputy press secretary and he comes from UTA.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Prince Harry and Meghan, have hired former United Talent Agency corporate communications manager Kyle Boulia in their press office.
Boulia will serve as deputy press secretary and director of comms for the couple and their Archewell endeavor. He reports to Ashley Hansen, head of communications for the Sussexes. Over nearly six years at UTA, Boulia worked with a vast networks within media to garner impactful press for the agency and its clients. In addition to media relations and publicity, he managed all executive and client communications for close to 20 departments and business verticals, like talent, literary, music, podcasts, creators, the Foundation, DEI, fine arts and more.
Boulia also worked extensively on shaping corporate culture, with an emphasis on diversity, equity, and inclusion and the LBGTQIA+ community. He helped establish and co-chaired UTA Proud, an internal group supporting queer artists and allies, as well as overseeing all of its global initiatives and mentoring LGBTQIA+ colleagues. Under his guidance, UTA achieved a perfect score on the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Inde — a first for a major Hollywood talent agency.
This feels like a major hire for the Sussexes’ new phase. I hope Boulia convinces them to shake up their antiquated, faux-royal “never complain, never explain” bullsh-t. I want a responsive, proactive Sussex communications which puts out fires at the first sign of smoke. Speaking of, there’s been little news of Meghan’s new Lemonada-platformed podcasts in more than a month. Now Richard Eden at the Mail claims that Lemonada has pushed back Meghan’s new podcast because she’s too busy filming her Netflix show.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex were damningly described as ‘f*****g grifters’ by a Spotify executive hours after the parting of the ways was announced between them and the audio giant last year. So I’m sorry to hear that Meghan’s new deal with a much smaller podcast company is struggling to get off the starting blocks.
Prince Harry’s wife announced amid great fanfare in February that she had signed a deal with Lemonada Media, a female-founded company that wants to ‘make life suck less’. The Duchess, who produced only one series of her podcast Archetypes for Spotify before parting ways with the company, had signed with Lemonada to develop and host a new series.
However, a source tells me that there is not expected to be any work broadcast this year. ‘The relaunch of Meghan’s Archetypes podcast got pushed back to 2025,’ the California-based source says. It is understood that Lemonada did not want the podcast’s launch to be overshadowed by the former actress’s television series, which she began filming at a rented house in Montecito last week. Netflix said the show would ‘celebrate the joys of cooking and gardening, entertaining and friendship’.
Lemonada is said to be concerned that there would also be ‘scheduling conflicts’ between the launch of its podcasts and that of Meghan’s lifestyle brand, American Riviera Orchard.
A spokesman for Meghan declined to comment, but sources claim she had a list of ‘very high-profile guests’ scheduled to participate in her new podcasts.
Maybe Eden is trying to bait the Sussexes’ team into correcting him and giving him some information, because clearly he’s desperate to talk about anything involving Harry and Meghan. But again, why not just… deny this? On the record. The spokesperson could say “this is false” and leave it at that. Meanwhile, Eden also claims that Meghan is seeking global rights to “American Riviera Orchard” from the World Intellectual Property Organization. A global brand? I hope so.
Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Cover Images.