Nicole Roberts has been promoted to director of public relations at United Wholesale Mortgage (UWM). Her previous title was senior public relations strategist, which she held for nearly three years.
It took not quite five years to reach this point as a PR leader at the nation’s largest overall mortgage lender, becoming a key liaison and conduit for reporters — Roberts joined UWM in August 2020 as a public relations strategist. Her announcement of the promotion on LinkedIn garnered a healthy number of reactions and comments.
Before her UWM days, Roberts worked at New York City-based public relations and communications firm, Weber Shandwick, advancing from a junior associate in media relations at the start of 2018 to senior associate late the following year, holding that position till she joined UWM.
The role at heavyweight PR/ communications agency Weber Shandwick provided broad exposure and variety of work for what was to come. “On a day-to-day basis, I work with reporters — whether that is someone from your local TV station or a national outlet like the New York Times,” she said in an interview during her time there.
“I love storytelling, and that’s what I do every single day. I get to find what’s interesting about a business and a company and get their story told nationwide, worldwide, and I think that’s a really rewarding thing to be a part of.” —Nicole Roberts, Director of Public Relations at UWM
Prior to Weber Chandwick, Roberts was a PR intern at Michigan-based advertising agency, Centigrade. She earlier interned at CKC Agency, a Detroit PR firm, in 2016, and for the city of Mount Pleasant, Mich. the year before.
Going from interning in PR and — over the course of a decade — becoming a director of public relations for a company that originated $139.4 billion in mortgages last year is significant. And it seems the answer to how she did that, exactly, stretches back a ways.
Roberts said that during her pre-college education, “there were a lot of great teachers and a lot of great staff who were always available to offer a helping hand.” She also noted she was a very shy kid growing up.
She called out a teacher: Adam Burns. Capping off high school, Roberts got involved with a local TV station, Athens TV. “During that time, I realized my passion for media,” she said. Burns was Roberts’ teacher for English, history, and the TV station work, “and he really helped instill a confidence in me that I didn’t know I had.”
Burns helped Roberts break out of her “shell,” she said. “And I think, without that, I wouldn’t be where I am today.”
“I love storytelling, and that’s what I do every single day,” Roberts said in the 2019 interview. “I get to find what’s interesting about a business and a company and get their story told nationwide, worldwide, and I think that’s a really rewarding thing to be a part of.”
