When people in the South hear New York, they will automatically assume that you live in Manhattan: I wish! Rochester is very suburban and is actually closer to Canada than NYC. I grew up the middle child of three sisters; we did everything together. My older sister Carla is two and a half years older than me, and a textbook “big sister”. She was always looking out for my younger sister Krista and I, making sure we were on the right track. That included taking us to our first college parties! Carla and I have a really special, very close bond and she is my best friend in the world. Krista is my 'Italian twin,' meaning we are less than 18 months apart.

Krista and I were attached at the hip as kids. Even though she’s younger, she’s an old soul and sometimes feels more like a big sister. She’s my “voice of reason” in life and is very good at bringing me down to reality when I need it. Carla and Krista are the two people closest to me. When I moved away, the hardest part was leaving them behind in Rochester.

My dad was a regional director for State Farm Insurance Company and my mom stayed home with us. She was always playing awesome music, taking us shopping, and making a very fun, very girly household. My sisters and I loved playing dress-up or with our Barbie dolls, but we also lived next door to 3 brothers with whom we would have water gun wars and play football in the backyard. We grew up very feminine but tough; yet rowdy at the same time. It wasn’t uncommon for us to be singing musicals one minute and climbing a tree the next minute. My extended family is a typical big Italian family; so lots of aunts, uncles and cousins. Most of our time was spent around a table listening to the adults talk loudly, laugh even louder, and drink lots of wine. I got practice becoming outspoken at these tables, I was the kid that was trying to keep up with the adults.

When I was 14, I started my first job at my aunt’s coffee shop called Ti Amo. I worked alongside my cousin (and best friend) Marisa, who is now the Director of Campaign Management at my company.

Even back then, I loved working because it gave me a sense of independence and freedom. All week I looked forward to going to the coffee shop, spending time with the customers, and making sure they had a great visit.

Marisa and I always experimented with different things we could do to make more tips. Playing fun music, making everyone laugh, giving them a little something extra; we were always trying to go above and beyond for our customers because we knew it paid off.

Name one quality your parents/families instilled in you at a young age?

I’m going to give one to my dad and one to my mom on this one. My mom and dad are polar opposites, but both amazing in their own ways. My dad taught me my work ethic and high standards. Every single Saturday, without fail, we had to complete a whole list of chores. I couldn’t even think about doing something with my friends until my chores were done. We had a list to complete and he would even inspect to make sure they were done right! It took me many afternoons spent cleaning the bathroom for a second time to understand the importance of doing something the right way the first time. This is a huge thing for me now. I have extremely high standards for myself and my team when it comes to accuracy and efficiency. If you’re going to do something, especially if it’s for someone else, make sure you do it to the best of your ability. If someone is trusting me with their business, they deserve my all.

There’s no better feeling than knowing you’ve done a good job for a client and made them happy. It’s not enough to do it once, it has to be done this way every single time.

I’ve said this to my team for years. Client retention is built on consistency and reliability. This lesson also taught me that you must work for what you want. My dad never gave us a penny for anything!! I’m not exaggerating, I can’t think of one time he handed me money unless it was a birthday or holiday. If I wanted money for the mall or the movies I had to try and convince my mom. He wanted us to learn that nothing in life is handed to you, every dollar must be earned.

He didn’t even pay us for the endless chores! This is what made me so excited to work, because I wanted to have my own money. I remember lying about my age at Dunkin Donuts to try to get a job and they told me to try again in a year. Luckily, family businesses are the exception to those rules, and I was able to start working for my aunt at a really young age. My success only comes half from my dad though, I’d be nothing without what I’ve learned from my mother.

mother knows best

My mom taught me how to have a “sparkly” personality – to be someone that people love to be around. She is extremely social; she makes friends everywhere she goes and people are drawn to her. She’s very charming and funny, and never afraid to say exactly what she is thinking. She talks to complete strangers with a level of warmth that makes them feel like they’ve known her their entire life. I always tried to emulate her captivating personality, and even now I teach my team the importance of building strong relationships and making clients feel special.

Having strong relationships is what business is all about. People choose to work with people they like and trust.

You could be the most knowledgeable person in your industry, maybe the most experienced, but if you don’t earn trust and likeability, you won’t get very far. In my opinion, this is what separates me from a lot of my competition. I built my entire business on putting people first and forming quality relationships with the clients who choose to work with me. Thanks for all this personality, Mom!

When you were a little girl, what did you want to be when you 'grew up'? And why?

Growing up, I always knew my aspirations were a little different from most girls around me. While my sisters Barbie's had mini-vans or jeeps and lots of kids, my Barbie was a doctor and drove a red convertible. I definitely didn’t want to be a doctor, but I valued having a great career and independence. I never felt a strong desire to have kids or get married in the way that I had the desire to be successful in a professional environment.

For most of my childhood, I wanted to be an attorney when I grew up. I was very good at being persuasive and had super strong communication skills early on. I just had this vision of attorneys being so tough, smart, and respected; which is what I wanted for myself. Plus, my father always said how much I liked to argue! The closer I got to actually applying for law school, the more I realized that it wasn’t my calling. I have so much respect for anyone that can complete law school or med school, because I simply don’t have the patience for it. I wish I did, because I still think I would love being an Attorney. My junior year of high school I started in a cosmetology program, thinking I wanted to go into the beauty industry.

I would score the highest in the class on all the written tests, but I couldn’t even put my mannequin’s hair in a ponytail without making a mess of it and ending up in tears. My teacher pulled me aside one day and got me to agree that I was not cut out for the program. So yes – I am a beauty school dropout! Back then it felt like the biggest failure in the world, but now it’s a reminder that every failure gets you closer to where you need to be.

The first day of senior year was when I really fell in love with marketing.

Full disclosure – it was probably started because I had a massive crush on my teacher. I totally became a teacher’s pet to get his attention. But then, pretending to be interested in marketing turned into actually becoming interested. Which then turned into a slight obsession as I learned more and more. I started to add on more business and marketing classes, and by the time graduation came, I knew that I had found my passion.

My favorite marketing project was a combination gym and beauty salon for both men and women – you could go work out, go get your hair/nails done, or all of the above. I called it “Beauty & The Beast” (no this is not trademarked, it’s public domain!) and I still think it’s some of my best work. I’m pretty lucky that I found what I love to do so early on, because it takes a lot of people much longer to discover what they truly enjoy. One thing I really love about marketing is that it applies to every single industry. Everything is all about marketing; more than most people ever realize.

Tell us fond memory from your childhood!

My best childhood memories are hands-down, sleepovers! My sisters and I would host massive sleepovers almost every single weekend. Our cousin Marisa was always there along with other friends. Our dad built an addition on our house which was a huge living room; all of us girls would take up the entire floor with blankets and pillows.

We would run around collecting money from our mom’s purses and our dad’s change jars and then go get bags of gummy worms and chocolate covered pretzels.

These sleepovers were exactly like you see in the movies: bright colored pillows and blankets everywhere and a bunch of girls in cute pajamas. This was obviously before cell phones so no one was staring at a screen all night. We’d spend endless hours talking and laughing.

One of our favorite things to do was get out the video camera and film ourselves doing dances or skits; we loved any kind of performance!

My older sister Carla would direct everyone on what to do, and I would usually help with wardrobe. My Grammie gave us a huge bin of clothes that her and her sisters wore when they were younger, so we had all of these amazing vintage dresses from the 1950’s to choose from.

As we got older and outgrew all the dancing around, the sleepovers shifted to classic “girl talk” – we would talk about what boys we liked, what we wanted to be when we grew up, what kind of lives we wanted, etc. This is where we all learned to appreciate each other’s differences. I always valued having such close female relationships.

on female friendships

I’ve never understood when women say: 'I don’t have a lot of female friends' or 'I don’t get along with other women.' That’s so sad to me! The laughter, love, and support we shared with each other every weekend helped to shape us all into really strong women. The bond that this group of girls shares to this day is so special and irreplaceable. This summer was really special for us because the first two weddings in the group are happening! We’ve gotten to spend time together at the bridal showers and take fun girls trips for the Bachelorette parties. Partying in New Orleans is a little bit different than our living room floor, but the fun we have together has not changed a bit. I consider myself extremely lucky to have the same best friends I had when I was a little girl. Over the years we’ve built such close friendships and added some girls along the way. I could not imagine my life without any of them. We still love having pajama parties at each other’s houses, except of course now they involve wine!

tell us more about your passion for marketing!

In high school, I was not a fan of math, science, etc. but as I mentioned, I absolutely loved my marketing classes. I actually asked to take an extra marketing class instead of home economics! I started doing marketing professionally at age 18. My dad’s best friend was a State Farm Insurance agent, and I began working for him the summer after my freshman year of college. I ended up taking over all of his offices' marketing. This was ten years ago, so online marketing was at a totally different place. Much of what I do now was non-existent. There were very little ads running on Google, and Facebook was still extremely new so there were no ads at all. My boss knew nothing about social media since it was just getting big, so he gave me total control over our agency’s Facebook and Twitter presence.

I built the Facebook business page and learned everything I could about marketing a business on Facebook. Then I tailored it to the insurance industry and learned what influenced consumer purchase behavior when it came time to choosing an insurance company.

I quickly realized the value in strategically branding a business by creating a personality behind it. People might not know much about insurance products, but everyone knows the popular characters behind the brands like the Gecko, Jake, or Flo.

I applied this same concept to our own office, and it worked. After five years I started working for a marketing company where I was able to develop a lot of client relationships and build myself a book of business.

I worked with insurance agents specifically because I knew their industry, their specific company, how their offices worked, and so much more. I had an advantage over other marketing companies and reps because I understood my clients on a different level. I was doing exactly what I loved to do, except I wasn’t able to do it in the way I wanted to. But there was one piece of my dream still missing: starting my own business. So in 2019, started Uptown Marketing in order to provide marketing services for insurance agents.

I’m extremely passionate about it because I love marketing so much and I have a lot of knowledge of the insurance industry. When you apply what you love to what you know, that’s where you find your true passion. Passion also comes from confidence – I am very confident that I am one of the best at what I do. Everyone would agree it’s fun and fulfilling to do the things at which you excel. We all want to feel like we’re winning. I’m extremely competitive so it’s important to me that I’m putting everything I’ve got into my company and my clients. It’s not enough for me to feel like I’m the best, my clients need to feel that I’m the best.

It kills me when I hear people talking about being in a career, they aren’t passionate about. I believe everyone should wake up and do exactly what lights them up every single day. We spend way too much of our time working to settle for anything less than that.

What are some things that make your brand unique?

My brand is unique because it’s very niche in the fact that we only work with one vertical. If an attorney called me and asked for marketing, I would refer him to someone else. I don’t feel that we could provide the best value to him because we’re not experts in the legal world. My experience growing up with a father in the insurance industry and many years’ experience working for an agent allows me to understand their needs differently. When working with insurance agents, I’m confident we’re giving them the best value around.

We’re also pretty unique because we live by a “service first, sales second” model. The top priority of everyone on the team is current clients. Most companies run in the opposite model, but I see it a little differently because of my experience. The easiest sales are referrals, and referrals come from happy clients. Regular clients turn into happy clients when they are treated exceptionally and given outstanding service. In my experience, sales are not the hard part. Our product is really good and sells itself. Retention is much more important to me then selling a ton of new clients at a fast pace. Most companies run in the opposite model, but I see it a little differently because of my experience. The easiest sales are referrals, and referrals come from happy clients. Regular clients turn into happy clients when they are treated exceptionally and given outstanding service. In my experience, sales are not the hard part.

I’d rather have less clients and provide them with phenomenal service then sell fast and have tons of clients that we can’t keep up. I have seen other companies do this and fail, so I will not let it happen. The Uptown Marketing brand itself is very uniquely marketed. Everything I post is in black and white, which I started doing to stand out and then stuck with to maintain brand consistency. Now, it’s something I always get compliments on. I like to post very real content – rather than be overly formal and generic like most businesses do, I post in my own voice. This has helped us get a lot of attention on social media. It’s kind of risky to do it that way, but I believe in being authentic. Almost 100% of my marketing is done via social media.

I have a very big network of clients and prospective clients, and they all spend lots of time on social media, specifically Facebook and Instagram. It’s important to me to brand each member of my team as individuals along with the company itself. After all, the clients are working with an individual account rep, not the company. I find a lot of value in marketing us as people in a way that makes clients and potential clients feel a connection to who they work with. It all goes back to the importance of people and relationships. I also think our brand is unique because of how tight knit our team is. Our Director of Operations, Marisa is my cousin. Na’eema is our Director of Business Development; she is Marisa and my best friend. She and I also worked together at our old company. Our first account manager, Anthony, is one of my best friends from college. He is also a good friend of Marisa, Na’eema, and Lindsay. Alana, our third account manager, also worked with us at the old company. She and I moved to Dallas together, so she’s my roommate too. I know my whole team very well, they all know each other well, and that makes for a really strong team. I can trust all of them, and I believe loyalty is extremely important in business.

Our product is unique because it’s really a combination of a product and a service. Advertising is our product, and marketing consulting is our service. We pride ourselves on being the go-to-girl/guy for each one of our clients. They turn to us for anything and everything – a lot of times it has nothing to do with marketing. We really are a partner in their business, and another person to bounce ideas off of. I’ve done everything from creating word tracks for their sales team to firing their billboard vendor to working with their realtor to making Snapchat ads.

It’s also unique in that it is so fluid. There is no limit to what we can do in the online space, so if something makes sense for a client and it meets their compliance guidelines, I’m willing to try it. If it works, I’m all about developing it into an additional product that other agents can also benefit from. I’ve created most of our campaigns this way. The Internet is endless and constantly changing, so there’s always more coming. It’s exciting to know that I can wake up on any given day to find Facebook rolled out a new feature that will help my clients. Don’t get me wrong – this can also be frustrating if it goes in the opposite direction.

If Google decides to remove a feature my clients previously liked, it’s on me to explain the change and then come up with another solution to replace it or make it better.  We also do a great job of customizing the product to each client, which is unique in our field. Our clients are all over the country, which means there are many different markets to understand. What works for someone in Las Vegas is not going to work for someone in Atlanta.

My experience has taught me a lot about tailoring marketing to meet different needs based on population, consumer behavior, geographic benefits or restrictions, and so much more. No two clients are the same.

Which brings me to another unique factor – we offer client exclusivity. Because so many insurance agents are competing in any given market, we only work with one per area. The “area” is based off of zip codes. So if one of my clients has a certain zip code, and another agent in that zip code is referred to us we will turn their business away. This practice helps gain client trust and helps the campaigns be more successful.

I’d say another factor that makes us unique is: we are extremely accessible.

Our clients know they can get a reasonably quick response from me or their account manager even if it’s late, if it’s the weekend, etc. I understand that our clients are business owners and they have to prioritize their team and their customers. Sometimes that means they don’t get to working on their “business chores” like marketing or payroll until the off-hours, and that’s okay.

What else should your ideal client know about your service/product/business?

I have 100% confidence in the fact that Uptown Marketing is the best resource for insurance agents. Every one of our team has a marketing degree, and three of us have experience working for insurance agents. We are very adamant about three things that are often lacking in the online marketing world – customer service, transparency, and industry knowledge.

We are also pretty fun to work with! I make it a point to train our team on letting their personalities shine with our clients instead of being 'just another boring vendor.' I want clients to understand: our role is to help your agency grow by maximizing the opportunities to write business that come in from online consumers.

Our role is not to sell policies for you!

I have run into certain clients that think their entire agency’s success should rest on their online marketing. Totally not the case! We can provide your sales team and you with opportunities, but we can’t also answer your phone and close the sale for you. You are still responsible for establishing good training and systems that will make your office successful.

We look at our role as being a partner and we are always willing to do whatever we can to help. Our clients should also have realistic expectations of how the Internet works. We are well-known for being pretty educational in our sales process; the more you are informed the better decision you can make.

My ideal client also knows I’m a small business owner too, just like they are. I find that most clients really relate to that and want to support our growth.

It means so much to me when clients I’ve known for years reach out to say how excited they are for me and give me advice that they wish they had gotten when they first opened their business. It’s funny because I’m always seeing clients celebrate life’s milestones…weddings, babies, houses, all of it. Now they are seeing me celebrate one of mine!

You mentioned the ideal client, Why is it important for entrepreneurs to find their niche market?

Finding a niche market is the definition of 'work smarter, not harder.' It’s much more efficient to be a master of your craft than to be a jack of all trades. If you become immersed in one field or industry, you understand it at a different level than your competition. You can work for your clients better – you speak their language, relate to their pains, and truly understand their goals. This is how you become the expert, which is key since everyone prefers to do business with someone who they trust. Think about different practices of medicine – why would you go to anyone besides a cardiologist for your heart problems? You trust them because they specialize; they know more about the heart than any other doctor does. The longer you work within a niche market, the easier it is to become well-known to your target demographic. You’re way better off being a big fish in a small pond. Focus on that small niche audience and you’ll grow to have a big presence within it.

Once that happens, your referral network goes to the next level. Now instead of clients referring their friends directly to you, people are reaching out simply because they’ve heard of you. In my last role, I worked very hard for several years establishing a presence within my network of clientele.

If I hadn’t spent so much time building up relationships and a good reputation for my work within my niche market, it would have been much more difficult for me to go off on my own. Now, instead of prospecting all new clients and starting from scratch, I have people reach out to me. They prefer to work with me because they know me, regardless of whatever company I represent. We live in an age where we can stay personally connected to clients and potential clients via social media. This makes it that much easier to maintain personal relationships that lead to clients attaching value to the person they are working with vs. the company they are working with.

There is a big movement among female entrepreneurs toward collaboration vs competition. What are your thoughts?

I love the vibe that’s out there right now with women supporting each other, and I think it’s important to note that there’s also more men supporting women. Unfortunately, some men give the rest of the men a bad name when it comes to being supportive of women in business. Prior to my current role, I have been in positions where I was working with men who constantly put me down to make themselves feel more masculine and powerful. Now on the other hand, some of the most supportive people in my new venture have also been men. The person I consider to be my mentor is male- he’s someone I can really trust and I know he wants the best for me. I also have a huge support system of other women, including lots of other female business owners. Since I started Uptown Marketing, I’ve been amazed with the number of girls from all over the place that have reached out to show me love and support.

Girls I haven’t talked to in years have taken time to send me messages, which is such an awesome feeling. It’s all about the people you surround yourself with and let into your circle.

It doesn’t have to be male vs. female – it’s person vs. person. My team right now has five girls and one guy. And the dynamic works well not because of how many girls vs. how many guys, but because we are all team players and hard workers. As women in business I do feel that we are selling ourselves short by always pointing out our sex in the first place.

"For example, I’m not a fan of the term 'girl boss.' Girl, you’re just a boss! Men don’t constantly point out their gender, so why should we?"

Believe me, I’m not saying that there isn’t a divide in the workplace when it comes to men vs. women. My point is that there are certain men who don’t support women, just like there’s still certain women who don’t support each other. I know that gender discrimination still exists because I’ve lived it. But I know firsthand that we are free to get the hell out of any situation that isn’t serving us!

In similar ways. I’m in a little bit of a different situation than many female business owners because I don’t have to worry too much about work-life balance. I have no kids, no pets, and until recently I had been single for several years, which means I’m able to focus a majority of my time on work. I do think that when the time comes and I must balance a family along with running my company, I’ll find even more value in learning from other female business owners who have mastered that balance.

Describe a challenging time in your professional career and how did you deal?

I have definitely had moments in my professional career that I felt 'this would not be happening if I was a guy.' I will never forget after one of my first presentations [to a big group] when an older gentleman told me, ‘I can’t believe how smart you are for being so good-looking. I definitely judged a book by its cover!’ I am never one to feel speechless, but I totally did at that moment. I really don’t feel that he meant to be malicious, but it felt hurtful anyways. No one was making comments like that to my male counterpart who had presented with me. I think this stuck with me because I find myself making the joke of ‘I’m smarter than I look’ sometimes, and I hate that!

Looks have nothing to do with intelligence.

As my career progressed and I became more successful, there were certain co-workers that would make statements to insinuate that the only reason I had any clients was because of the way I looked. Looking back, I know this was a display of their own insecurity. They had to justify that I was successful for some other reason besides the fact that I was simply doing better and working harder. The best thing I ever did was separate myself from this situation.

A few weeks after I moved to Dallas, the toxic behavior from my former co-workers progressed and it finally came to a head. I will never forget the day I started Uptown Marketing. After a very unfair disagreement with a particularly difficult co-worker,

I got a text message from my boss that said:

You work for us, we will decide what you do and do not do.

The second I read it, I got up and walked across the street to CVS. I bought a blue notebook, went and sat down at Starbucks, and had my business plan done and LLC filed within an hour. My roommate thought I was going insane! It had gone so far that at that point, I knew I couldn’t let anything hold me back from doing what was right for me. I knew that I could never again let someone tell me that they would decide what I did. I took any fear or hesitation I had about leaving my very comfortable career and channeled the energy into building up something new. Sometimes when we are challenged in our careers, it’s not always positive. If the same environment is constantly putting you into difficult situations, you have to step back and realize it’s probably not the best environment in which to be.

It takes good intuition to understand and separate the challenges that serve you from the challenges that are toxic to you.

Thank you for sharing that! To you, what else does it mean to be self-employed?

To me, being self-employed is more about creative control than having a flexible schedule. This probably comes from being in a constant power struggle at my former company. Most people do it for the work-life balance, time off, etc. I’m sure eventually I will appreciate having the ability to spend more time with family, but at this point in my life, I am pretty much always working. Even when I am out of town or doing something with friends, my phone is always attached to me and I make myself available to clients and my team when they need me. It’s definitely nice that if I want to take a long weekend to go home and see my sisters or spend an afternoon by the pool--I can. It just isn’t the main selling point for me. The reason I love being self-employed may sound cocky, but it’s because I am more confident in my own ability than anyone else’s. That means I can have complete faith in my company, my team, my products, and my client’s success.

When I first started Uptown Marketing, one of my favorite client's said:

You’re never going to lose when you bet on yourself!

I totally loved that I felt that it summed my mindset up perfectly. Being self-employed brings me those feelings of independence and freedom that I’ve valued from such an early age. I’m naturally a rebellious person; so even when I had a boss, I would push the limits. But there was still a line I’d never cross. There are still times when I catch myself having the thought of 'I can’t do that because I’m not allowed.' Then I remember I can do anything I want now because I’m in charge. This can totally be a double-edged sword on the days where I feel completely overwhelmed and my team is looking to me for the answers. But this was the next step for me in order to grow.

"The only way we get better is by forcing ourselves into being uncomfortable. If you can get comfortable being uncomfortable, you can do anything. But no matter what stress comes with being self-employed, I wouldn’t trade it for anything."

I'm the type of person that puts the majority of my time and energy into work. It feels a hell of a lot better doing that now that I’m representing a brand that is all my own.

After all you have lived, what specific advice do you have for young women who want to be their own boss?

For any young women that want to be their own boss, my biggest advice is simple: Be so fearless that everyone questions your sanity. It’s important to remember that the only thing that can ever actually get in your way is yourself. Nobody can stop you unless you let them. There are always extenuating circumstances, but if you want something badly enough you will figure it out. You have to have crazy confidence –

If you don't believe in yourself, why would anyone else? Also, take advantage of networking in any way, shape, or form.

Regardless of where I ever was in my career, I always understood the value of meeting new people and learning about what they do. In fact, most of my jobs have been through personal connections rather than applying online. You never know who is looking for what you have to offer. Talk to everyone, ask strangers questions, make friends wherever you go. This is how you build a big network and you can’t start your own business without a solid network as a foundation.

Never be afraid to leave something that doesn’t feel right. There is always another opportunity around the corner, especially if you work hard and build connections.

I would also recommend having a clear direction before deciding what you want to do. I think a lot of girls get swayed easily by multi-level-marketing companies and the notion of 'being your own boss' and but are later let down when it doesn’t work out the way it was promised. I’m not saying they’re all bad, but don’t let someone else sell you on the idea of what you want to do. Just because it looks great on Instagram, doesn’t mean it’s what’s right for you.

any final thoughts?

Trust your instincts because you know yourself better than anyone. Know what you are good at, know what you love to do, and remember that combining those two is where you find your passion. This sounds so corny, and I know my 17-year-old self would die reading this but – stay true to yourself! The only person that’s guaranteed to be there for your entire career is you, so you better keep her happy and make her proud.