Today we’d like to introduce you to Suzan McDowell.
Suzan, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I am a born Jamerican – Jamaican father, American mother. I have a Bachelor of Science in Advertising from the University of Texas at Austin. When I graduated I wanted to work for an ad agency, but it was not to be; I couldn’t find a job. So I started working on the sales side, and it turned out I’m really good at it. I worked in Austin, then Dallas, then Los Angeles, and currently in Miami, since the 90’s. Full disclosure: I have always been “extra”, since childhood.
After a couple of print advertising sales jobs, I moved to the limelight and glory (lol) of radio – I started at WHQT/HOT 105 and sold radio as the top Account Executive for 12 super fun years. In 200I, my client Sadie McBean, then owner of Ginger Bay Cafe in Downtown Hollywood, urged me to do some marketing to build her dinner business and promote a huge reggae block party in front of the restaurant.
I had no idea I knew anything about marketing, I thought all I knew was media sales. So I told her I couldn’t do it, but she wasn’t having it and told me “yes you can and yes you will. Come back with a proposal. End of conversation”. Sadie is not someone you say no to, so terrified and cornered, I presented a plan, she accepted and wrote me a check for $10,000 on the spot. It was surreal and not consciously in my realm of possibility or life plan just 48 hours before. I never wanted to be an entrepreneur, owning a business wasn’t some lifelong dream. I spent the next two days choosing a name rooted in God, Circle of One Marketing, registering my company, getting an EIN number and opening a business bank account. That was December 2001. Then I was off and running, making it up as I went along, building Sadie’s dinner business and promoting a block party, which to my surprise was a huge success! Then Sadie recommended me to another client and he kept me busy marketing one idea to the next idea, to the next. He had a lot of ideas and the money and confidence in me to hire The Circle over and over again
I actually ran my small, secret agency for 1 1/2 years while still roaming the halls at HOT. It was easy and fun until one day I dropped a big ball and realized it was time to make a choice.
When I finally resigned in August 2003, my boss said I couldn’t do it, and it was silly to even think I could. Then he said “go back and sit at your desk” (which is the title of my future book). In that moment, for about 3 long agonizing minutes, I had to fight my fear and self doubt. I had so much respect for him that I almost believed him. Despite the fact that I was already running my agency, hiding in plain sight, I still almost went back to sit at my desk. But, The Circle calling was stronger than his opinion, so I left and stepped into my destiny. I really have to thank Cox Radio for the on the job education and training I received, it was priceless and it unearthed my skills to juggle many moving parts at once, which is necessary to build a business from scratch. So, I walked out of HOT 105 and jumped to build Circle of One Marketing full time.
Ironically enough, he was the 3rd boss in my career to tell me I couldn’t do the next thing that I did and inevitably conquered. My boss at New Miami Magazine, who lost me to HOT 105, told me I’d never make it in radio and never earn more than $30,000 a year. So, 2 years later when I was making $95,000, I called her to say hi and let my income slip. Sorry not sorry! Even my first job in college, as a sales intern at The Daily Texan newspaper, when my boss fired me, she told me I’d never make it in advertising. I wonder where she is now?
When I jumped to run The Circle full time in 2003, it was a hedged bet as I had already signed an account willing to pay me $4K a month retainer. One month later, he cancelled the contract. Panic! What have I done? But slowly and steadily work started coming in from the strangest of places. A radio colleague referred a client to me, it was the newly formed Department of Homeland Security, the federal agency formed to protect America after the 9/11 terrorist attack. For 6 months, I placed hundreds of thousands of dollars in recruitment newspaper ads for airports all over the country. It was the beginning of the Transportation Security Admini
From there I picked up client after client who wanted what we were selling – a new, hip, fresh, fun, bold, modern, progressive, multi-cultural marketing agency, with a quirky, perky, energetic and effective corporate culture. We were a creative, beautiful, smart, nice, savvy and resourceful boutique ad agency — and we worked LIKE ANTS! In 2004 I moved my agency to an absolutely stunning building in a budding art laden Wynwood, now the hippest neighborhood in Miami. The Circle lived there for 11 1/2 years; my wonderful landlords and all the businesses in the building became a tight knit family, and it’s there I built The Circle brand that people applaud today. In 2011 The Circle produced a historic event at our offices called “One Year Out”, a simultaneous event happening all over America for President Barack Obama’s 2012 reelection campaign. I was so proud that day, what an honor my team will never forget.
We have helped build the brands of many high profile organizations in South Florida and beyond like Jazz in the Gardens, Miami Dade Chamber of Commerce, Adrienne Arts Center, The Children’s Trust, Urban League of Greater Miami, Clear Channel Airports, Opa-locka Community Development Corporation, Frangipani, Oggetti, The Related Group, CareerSource, Kids for Obama, Planned Parenthood, Mourning Family Foundation, University of Miami, Florida International University, Nova University, City of Miami Gardens, City of North Miami, City of Riviera Beach, City of Hallandale, candidates like Miami Mayor Manny Diaz and Miami-Dade Commissioner Audrey Edmonson, regional entities like the State of Florida and ACHA, and national brands like OneUnited Bank, Burger King, National Bar Association, Harry Belafonte’s Many Rivers to Cross Festival, and many more awesome brands.
We’ve won tons of awards, too many to mention. I am very proud of the company we’ve built. It’s powered by God, love and pride. Our tag line sums it up – Creative_Resourceful_Diverse
And to all those people who swore we couldn’t do it, all I can say is “The one who says it cannot be done should not interrupt the One doing it” #TheCircle18YearsSTRONG
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
A smooth road? in business? Hahaha! Success is NEVER a straight line. I’ll tell you a few stories:
1. One day I made payroll by three hours. To this point, I have survived 468 payrolls.
2. University of Miami hired us to produce a huge, very important event and our caterer sold our food over the weekend. We had to find food for 300 people in two hours. We did it and nobody was the wiser. The show must go on.
3. In 2010 we were producing a very high profile Super Bowl event in Miami we had been working on it for about six months. One month before, the venue backed out. The guest list included a former President, its honoree was a sitting U.S. Congressman, not to mention a ton of celebrities like The Estefan’s already confirmed. Flora Sweet, my event director and all around miracle worker, had to pick me up off the floor, give me a stiff drink and force me to move on. Within three hours we had another fabulous venue confirmed, a much better venue than the one that backed out. The event went over budget and our client happily paid it because the event was so successful.
4. The next year the same client hired us to do the same Super Bowl event in Dallas, which was hosting the 2011 Superbowl. When we got there the city was on lockdown because of a historic snowstorm – the entire city was frozen. Transportation came to a near standstill. We pulled it off anyway and in fine Circle style, it was fabulous.
5. A very tightly wound yet very valuable employee took two buses across town to the doctor, only to find out our insurance was cancelled because we couldn’t afford the monthly premium. He was beyond livid and started making plans to leave, which he did a few months later. Sometimes in business, the money just isn’t there and cash flow isn’t flowing. If you own a small business, you know exactly what I’m talking about.
6. We were doing a very glamorous event in a 40,000 square foot hanger with private jets as the backdrop, a performing arts show with a national act and a celebrity host. The electricity went off citywide 20 minutes before the event. We found generators and lit the venue as best as we could. It was a huge success.
7. I went to Jamaica on vacation and right as I was enjoying the sun and ocean from my beach chair, my assistant, who I thought was amazing, called and said she had stolen $3000 from me though the company credit card. I told her to get out, fired her as soon as I got back, then found out she had a criminal record for multiple cases of fraud, mug shots and all. She came referred by someone I trusted, so I had never checked her background. Since then, she worked for a state representative and committed fraud again, brazenly swindling constituents out of thousands of dollars. That State Representative is no longer a State Representative.
Circle of One Marketing – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
We are a full-service boutique marketing agency – our expertise includes marketing consultation, public relations, brand development, event management, event marketing, graphic design, media buying, social media and thought leadership. We are respected for producing polished events, local and national public relations, social marketing and brand development.
We are most known for building the Jazz in the Gardens brand for the last 15 years; from the first panicked call from the City of Miami Gardens, with just 8 tickets sold for the inaugural 2006 festival just 6 weeks before show date. Fast forward to being the fastest growing jazz & R&B festival in the country, with more than 70,000 tickets sold over the weekend. Jazz in the Gardens is now a highly acclaimed internationally
We’re also also known for the work we do for OneUnited Bank, the largest black owned bank in America, and its mission to close the racial wealth gap and power the unprecedented #BankBlack Movement.
What sets us apart? We work like ants, our standards are high, our success has 18 years of proof and we deliver results. With a smile.🙂
Contact Info:
- Address: Circle of One Marketing
937 N.W. 3rd Avenue
Miami/Overtown, Florida 33150 - Website: www.
circleofonemarketing.com - Phone: 305-576-3790
- Email: suzan@
circleofonemarketing.com - Instagram: @circleofonemktg
- Facebook: @
circleofonemarketing - Twitter: @circleofonemktg
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