Claudia Ruiz Levy is President of CRL Media Multicultural Advertising & Public Relations
“I think all Hispanic women must defy stereotypes and re-write their story if necessary.”
Claudia Ruiz Levy is always juggling numerous projects for her CRL advertising and public relations firm clients and the numerous non-profits that her efforts help support.
A graduate of Manizales Catholic University with a B.A. in advertising and a B.A. in journalism from the the Autonoma University of Occidente, this Colombian-born dynamo continued her studies at the School of Visual Arts in New York.
Claudia’s career began in Colombia working for a South American branch of McCann-Erickson, one of the world’s largest ad agencies. Her clients included companies such as Bayer, Goodyear and Gillete. She moved to Publiplan Advertising working as a copywriter and creative director for clients such as Ford Motors, Bayer, B.D.F. Healthcare, Piaggio and other major accounts before moving to the greater New York metro area in 1998. There she wrote for publications such as “El Globo” newspaper where she was the entertainment editor and had the opportunity to rub elbows with Latin stars such as Enrique Iglesias, Shakira, Ricky Martin just to name a few.
Relocating to Palm Beach County, Claudia was the Executive Director for “Mas Magazine” where she quadrupled the publication issues from 5,000 a month to 10,000 every other week.
This role led her to open her own ad agency which focuses on the growing Hispanic market. And area non-profits are all the richer for Claudia’s philanthropic efforts since moving there.
Using her marketing and media background, Claudia had volunteered her expertise for groups such as the American Red Cross, Una Mano Amiga Foundation, Hispanic Children’s Fund, ASPIRA of Florida, El Alma Hispana, the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and others helping with free media placement, planning special events, sponsorships, being a Spanish-language spokesperson and more. Her efforts have greatly benefitted these organizations who could not otherwise afford those services.
She formerly served as the Chairman of Volunteers for the Greater Palm Beach Area Chapter of the American Red Cross, where she overseed the organization 3000 volunteers and launched the Spanish initiative program that helped the Hispanic community obtain information during hurricane season and other emergencies, she also served as an instructor of emergency services and was their regional spokesperson for several years.
For this efforts, she had received numerous awards, including the American Red Cross Public relations and human resources award and was named “Latina Entrepreneur of the Year” by the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Palm Beach County in 2012.
In 2015, Claudia started the Empresarias Hispanas (Hispanic Women Entrepreneur Network) on Facebook to empower non-English-speaking businesswomen. This growing organization allows its members to share networking opportunities and business advice.
In her daily management of CRL Media, Claudia combines her passion for the community with her knowledge of the market. She is hands-on with the public relations aspect of the business and is in constant contact with CRL clients. She has counseled some of the largest companies (and the smallest) on market strategy and brand architecture – with an emphasis on marketing to niche audiences. She is a confessed social media addict and specially loves twitter
As “pet parents,” Claudia and her husband, Seth Levy, enjoy spending free time with their dogs.
