SPOTLIGHT: AUDREY PASS
Treasurer of New York Women in Communications and Chief Marketing Officer at Empire State Realty Trust, Inc.
Audrey has enjoyed a thriving career as a media executive, marketing strategist, corporate communications expert, and Emmy-Award nominated broadcast television producer. Previously, Audrey was Executive Producer/ Senior Director of Communications & Public Affairs for Fox TV. Other positions held by Audrey include Director of Communications & Public Affairs for WCBS-TV; Senior Publicist for Oprah Winfrey’s Harpo, Inc.; SVP Entertainment Marketing for Edelman; Director of Marketing and Public Relations for The Second City, Inc.; and Assistant Director of Marketing and Press Relations for the Museum of Broadcast Communications.
Audrey serves on the board of directors of Alliance for Young Urban Design in the Arts and the Publicity Club of New York, as well as on the advisory boards of Love Our Children USA, Inc., and Stomp Out Bullying. She is the recipient of the Corporate Community Leadership Award from the Puerto Rican Family Institute; the Serving New York Award from the New York State Broadcasters Association; Corporate Community Partnership Awards from the Lighthouse International, the National Kidney Foundation, and the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of New York, and was honored with a “Guiding Star” award from AYUDA for Arts and by the Partnership for a Drug-Free America for Excellence in Public Service. She also received a Member Empowerment Grant recipient from New York Women in Communications to pursue digital marketing and social media. Audrey graduated cum laude with a BA from Washington University in St. Louis.
Why Audrey does what she does… “Because there is nothing else in the world I can imagine myself doing. And I was a horrible waitress.”
Drawn to NYWICI… “I learned of NYWICI while working in Chicago and accompanying Oprah Winfrey to the Matrix Awards. (She was a presenter, I was the handler.) Several years later I relocated to New York, and Joan Caer approached me about serving on the organization’s board. I never looked back…thank you Joan! NYWICI has supported me through all stages of my career, recently awarding me with a Membership Empowerment grant to go to back to school and learn digital marketing. Thank you NYWICI!”
My favorite social media platform… “Snapchat. I have not yet mastered it…but I do know how to stalk my daughter’s every move.”
The communications industry’s biggest challenge… “Pay-to-play social media and the influencer business model. Inauthentic sponsored content is not going to resonate with social’s largest consumer group if curated by the highest bidder.”
At the top of my trend-watching list is… “Best majors for job opportunities in college students. I have a college student who will need a job.”
Off the clock, really… “Theater! I go whenever I can.”
Audrey’s nirvana… “The tippy top of the Empire State Building taking in the world around me.”
Did you know… “I went on tour with Alice Cooper.”
Day to relive… “Meeting Nelson Mandela and feeling the power of greatness. Oh, and welcoming my daughter into the world.”
Words to live by… “When people show you who they are, believe them.”
