Durée & Company’s President and CEO Durée Ross was recently profiled by the University of Miami Alumni Association and shared the important lessons and experiences she had as a UM Hurricane! In honor of this feature, we sat down with Durée to kick off our new series “Firsts” and gained some additional insight into her career growth.
First Job: “I started working at 14 years old as a bag girl at the world-famous Epicure Gourmet Market in Miami Beach. Looking back, this was the first job where what I call the ‘gift of gab’ allowed me to connect with the range of customers shopping at the market. This gift continues to allow me to connect and find touch points with new people and markets.”
First Client Event: “One of my first events was the grand opening of Planet Hollywood. It was my first time working with celebrity guests, and it was nerve wracking. While at first I was star struck when meeting our VIP guests, I learned that they can be valuable assets for an event’s success.”
First National Hit: “One of my most memorable and first national hits was securing a cover story in the Chicago Sun-Times – of our client Jose Cuervo’s bottle shaped air balloon on the cover of the Chicago Sun-Times – while I was just an intern and still studying at the University of Miami! At the time, it was unheard of to have liquor on the front cover of any publication!”
First PR Gig: “I was pursuing a career in broadcast journalism at UM, and I worked multiple jobs during my college years. I stumbled upon a bulletin board and a job posting for a PR gig caught my eye. I knew nothing about the PR field at the time, but during my internship, I learned the impact of PR in driving stories in the media, and found a life-long passion!”
About Durée & Company
Durée & Company, Inc. is an award-winning full-service public relations, marketing and special events firm with offices in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and Aspen, Colorado. The firm serves the corporate, agency and non-profit arenas for local, national and international clients focusing on public relations for real estate, public relations for restaurants, public relations for law firms, public relations for charities, public relations for healthcare, and many more. Durée & Company services include Public Relations, Social Media, Marketing, Advertising, Special Events, and Radio Promotions and Outreach.
