Meet Mariela Azcuy | Content Strategist @ Carve Communications

We had the good fortune of connecting with Mariela Azcuy and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Mariela, what matters most to you?
I’ve done many values-focused exercises throughout both my personal and professional life. It’s a good way to check in with myself — make sure I’m being true to who I am and what matters. The most important values to me have pretty steadily been: curiosity, creativity, honesty, loyalty, and fun. If I had to pick one, I’d say curiosity. I think curiosity is the driver of so much of what’s important in living a meaningful life. Without curiosity, you can’t have empathy and deep relationships. You also can’t have strategic thinking, learning, or experimentation. My curiosity has also led to a lot of fun, like mozzarella making and trapeze classes, Shakespeare book clubs, tango classes in Argentina, and collaborative blogs with friends.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I’m proud that I can look back and pull a very clear thread throughout my career: thoughtful and persuasive communication with the end consumer at heart. I’m also proud that it hasn’t been a totally straight line. It’s been more about circling the communications ecosystem and applying and learning as I go. So I started my career at one of the biggest PR agencies (Edelman) in the Corporate division, and then jumped to a tiny one (Four Corners) focused on mostly consumer PR. Then I took an in house Corporate Communications role at one of the biggest magazine publishers (Meredith) where I was able to really immerse myself in a brand. After that, I jumped to a B2B Marketing role at Univision. That was tough. I was the first hire on a new, in-demand team when I was just learning about the world of marketing. That is, until a great friend and confidant told me: “focus on what you know, not on what you don’t.” I swear, that changed everything. It boosted my confidence and gave me direction. It helped me realize that my new role was really about strategic messaging and positioning. That’s at the heart of PR, however, my end consumer was no longer press. It was clients, prospects, and industries at large. At Univision, I really learned, grew, and saw all the different avenues to storytelling and providing value. I think what sets me apart is I’ve served so many end customers — press, employees, industries, clients, B2B, consumers. It’s given me a really holistic view of that communications ecosystem.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I grew up in Miami and moved away when I was 17 to go to college in Baton Rouge. Then I lived in NYC for over 20 years, came back as a family of four during COVID, and I’m now working from home. So, my exploration of places has been severely limited so far. We are really good at parks, playgrounds, and beaches. I’ve been trying to convince my 3-year-old that she should start a video series where she reviews them. We love Kennedy park, Douglas Park Playground, and Matheson Hammock and North Miami Beach (where the abuelos live). We also like to eat outdoors at places like the Coral Gables farmers market, Giralda Avenue, the Citadel, and Doral Yard. I’m populating my social media feeds with Miami sources of information like the New Tropic and Miami Freedom Project. I’d love to learn more about local artists and musicians! And I really want to get to a drive in!

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
You mean besides my parents for creating me?! Right now, I’d have to say my godmother and her husband who opened their doors to my family of four as we made our Brooklyn to Miami move. They were recent empty nesters and thought the house was too quiet, but I’m not sure they were prepared for the chaos that a three-year-old and a one-year-old bring every.single.day.during.COVID. Especially at bedtime. Their generosity helped us during a difficult transition and I’m grateful and recognize the privilege. We’ll miss them when we move to El Portal. I’d also like to shoutout David Barkoe, my new boss and old friend. We worked together 15+ years ago at a boutique PR firm in NYC focused on magazine clients. We stayed in touch via social and he was one of the first people I reached out to when we started considering a Miami move. He had made the move with his family 8 years ago and started Carve Communications so he was the perfect person to level set with. One thing led to another and now I’m working for him. There wasn’t a job description. There was just a vision and a belief in opportunity, growth, and collaboration.

Website: https://www.carvecomms.com/

Instagram: @marielaazcuy

Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/marielaazcuy

Twitter: @marielaazcuy