Huma Gruaz
Integrating Sales, Marketing & PR
trictly Marketing Magazine sat down with Huma Gruaz the Founder, President, and CEO of Alpaytac
S
Public Relations, which was recently acquired by O’Malley Hansen Communications. Huma, now a partner
at O’Malley Hansen, has been recognized as 2010 Brand Marketer of the Year by PR News, she was awarded
the 2012 Lifetime Achievement Award by PR Daily and also was named one of PR News’ Top Women in
PR for 2014 and 2015. We discussed social media, public relations and sales and Huma shared some great
insight on why these departments need to be integrated in your business.
SMM: Our readers would love to know more about you and how you got started in your Business.
HG:
I was born in Istanbul, but my passion for learning took me to the United States for college and
eventually to France for a year-long study abroad program. I got my start in this industry through
an internship at one of the big advertising agencies, Ogilvy & Mather in Istanbul. At the time, I was
looking for a summer internship before I returned to my studies in the States. One day, Ogilvy’s
worldwide branding experts were at the agency to train the team that was doing a major new business
pitch for Shell Petroleum Turkey, and I happened to be at the right place at the right time. Long story
short, I was given the opportunity to work on the pitch, ended up coming up with the core creative
idea for the campaign, then presented to the executives of Shell, and we won the account. My fluency
in English, research abilities, creative background and understanding of certain concepts helped;
but what really helped more was the fact that I was a full academic scholarship student in college,
working 20 hours a week on campus while maintaining a GPA of 3.75 with a double major. This
required tremendous discipline and dedication to a military-style, round-the-clock work-study
schedule. When I became an intern, I applied the same work ethics to my job. I always tell this
experience to our interns and college students: never underestimate what you learn in school – both
in and out of your classes and when you are given an opportunity, seize it.
Several years later, I moved to Holland where I learned Dutch and
really understood the European culture. There, I started working
for a marketing innovations company that taught me about
launching new products. At this point, I made a decision that really
taught me that regardless of your age and where you are in your
life, it’s okay to go back to your humble beginnings. Once I decided
to go back to the workforce in the U.S., especially after having taken
off four years for my children, I realized that I was at a bit of a
disadvantage as all of my work experience was in Europe. I thought
the fastest track to success was to show a company what I could
really achieve, but my resume couldn’t really speak to it at that time.
Strictly Marketing Magazine September/October 2016
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