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What Is RHONY's Jessel Taank's Job? Her Public Relations Background, Explained
Jessel Taank's family led her to a career in fashion, as well as a push from England to New York City for her career.
Fashion, beauty, and New York City all go hand and hand, and one of the newest housewives is making her mark in all of those fields through public relations. Jessel Taank of The Real Housewives of New York City is a working girl — founding and running a boutique agency called The Know.
What is Jessel Taank's job?
The Know “specializes in consulting newly formed brands,” according to Taank’s website. She’s been running the agency for a year, her LinkedIn profile said. Details on The Know are scarce, but the career move comes after Taank co-founded The Right Now, another public relations and communication services company, in 2020.
The Right Now helps clients navigate media, and social media, promising to help build influencer brands, according to its website. Its clients include Max (formerly HBO Max), Kendra Scott, Ugg, and Billabong.
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Has Jessel Taank always lived and worked in New York City?
Taank, the first Indian housewife on The Real Housewives Of New York City, was born to an immigrant family in London, England, and “raised in a tight knit but strict Indian household,” according to her website. She was influenced to go into fashion due to her grandfather’s tailoring business and her mother’s “passion for art and design.”
She attended King’s College London and received a Bachelor of Arts in English Language and Literature, according to her LinkedIn profile, also spending a year at the University of California Santa Barbara.
But it was actually her uncles who inspired her to go to New York City. On her website, she described how they each fled arranged marriages to become photographers in Manhattan.
One of her first jobs, according to LinkedIn, was in public relations for Karla Otto in New York. The company describes itself as a full-service brand-building agency, and it gave Taank some of her first experience in fashion, design and beauty. The company lists dozens of impressive clients, including Aston Martin, Bvlgari, Calvin Klein, Cartier, Givenchy, Nike, Sephora, and Valentino.
Taank also worked for more than two years in public relations for Michael Kors, giving her an even bigger leg up into fashion. That’s where she was working when she met her husband, Pavit Randhawa.
“We were long distance for a significant period of time, as Pavit was accepted into the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business while I was working in New York with Michael Kors,” Taank said to Vogue as it covered their wedding in March 2016. “The distance was brutal, but we managed to see each other every other week, either in New York or for fun, little weekend getaways.”
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Her career in fashion played a part in the extensive planning of her wedding.
“Working in the fashion industry, I live, eat, and breathe fashion,” Taank said to Vogue. “Many brides know they want a Vera Wang or Monique Lhuillier dress. I knew that I wanted to travel to Bombay and Delhi to have a special wardrobe for the six events we had planned custom-created. Traditional Indian bridewear is heavily embroidered and extremely extravagant. Since I would be on a beach and getting married in very warm temperatures, I asked Nikhil Mehra to create looks with a clear East-meets-West aesthetic.”
Where else has Jessel worked?
Jessel Taank’s had an impressive fashion and public relations career, working for Conde Nast International, Stella McCartney, Celine, and Victoria Beckham, according to her website. She also led the strategic direction and partnered with brands like KKW Beauty, Kylie Cosmetics, and Nordstrom.
Season 14 of The Real Housewives of New York City premieres July 16 at 9/8c on Bravo and the next day on Peacock.
