When Christina Rae was a child, her band/chorus teacher told her that if she applied herself to the flute the way she did to talking, she’d go on to the New York Philharmonic.
Later, a journalism teacher at Westlake High School in Thornwood suggested she pursue either the law or public relations. Let’s just say that the law’s and the philharmonic’s losses are public relations’ gain as Rae has carved out a 30-year career in the industry, 16 of them as founder and president of Buzz Creators Inc., which celebrated its anniversary with new Valhalla offices in June and an “open hive” Oct. 16.
The company – with clients in the food and beverage, health-care, hospitality and real estate industries, to name a few – got its start in August 2009, “another crazy time,” Rae said, referring to the Great Recession. But rather than shrink from the challenge, the warm, bubbly PR executive stepped up to the plate.
“I was really excited about it,” she remembered.
When she started Buzz Creators, she did not yet have a client list. But Rae — who had just left the corporate world, where she had an impressive résumé — did something she doesn’t hesitate to recommend to other entrepreneurs: She turned “no” into a different kind of “yes.”
Rae had been a finalist for a job at Heineken USA in White Plains, a position she didn’t get. That didn’t stop her, however, from calling the company and offering the services of her new business. She worked with the brand for about a dozen years.
“I always give that example to people. Always look for those open doors.”
Rae remains committed to opening doors for her clients. She has, she said, “a genuine curiosity about people and what their needs are. Who is their core audience? How can we educate people about their products and services? You always have to be in the circle of consideration. You have to always stay top of mind with people.”
The internet, for all its hurdles, makes that easier for clients, she added:
“The digital age has been fantastic, especially for small businesses. It has leveled the playing field. In the old days, you might have a small shop selling locally. Now you can sell anywhere.”
That goes for Buzz Creators as well. The team of six full-time employees and five consultants, which brings in partners as needed, has clients not only in Westchester and Fairfield counties but as far-flung as Ohio and Arizona.
Buzz Creators begins with a client meeting to understand the business model and see if the client is ready for prime time. Then the team gets to work on a cohesive campaign that may include everything from events to videos to social media. It’s all tied up with the company’s signature bumblebee colors to create a “buzz.”
Before Buzz Creators, Rae paid her dues in the corporate world as vice president, Executive Communications, at CIT Group, the world’s largest independent commercial finance company; vice president,Global Communications, at MasterCard Worldwide; and senior account executive at Brodeur Worldwide, a leading public relations agency. She also developed and managed communications programs for clients that included Symbol Technologies, Philips Consumer Electronics, ENTEX Information Services and IBM and served in communications roles at Prodigy Inc., Pepsi-Cola and White Plains Hospital.
MasterCard Worldwide was a particularly glamorous job that took her to London, Brussels and Singapore. Rae said she was pleased to share these experiences vicariously with her mother, who was always supportive of her career and talked to her about when women didn’t have such opportunities.
That career has also embraced professional and civic organizations, from chambers of commerce to the Business Council of Westchester (BCW) and the Westchester County Association (WCA). Rae is also vice president of the Public Relations Society of America’s Westchester/Fairfield chapter, which hosted a Nov. 10 “Meet the Media” event at Sam’s of Gedney Way in White Plains, for which she served as moderator. Rae praised the PRSA’s collegial atmosphere, in which public relations executives from a variety of companies can come together to exchange ideas.
She would draw on that professional community as well as husband James, a corporate sales executive at AT& T and “a true life partner; their three children; extended family; and friends in her recent battle with breast cancer, which she documented on social media. She has also spoken to some 50 breast cancer survivors, as her own fight reinforced, she said, the need to give back. Rae has volunteered for numerous community organizations, including the American Heart Association (AHA), the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (now Blood Cancer United), The Ty Louis Campbell Foundation, The Alliance for Safe Kids, her local Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) and Pace University’s alumni mentor program. (She graduated from Pace in Pleasantville with a Bachelor of Arts degree in communications.)
“After fighting cancer in the middle of a global pandemic/Covid (two horrible Cs),” she wrote in a follow-up email, “nothing else easily intimidates or scares me. You get a strong sense of power and know your true-life priorities after fighting a beast like cancer. It’s quite eye opening, to say the least.”
Rae has learned to carve out time for herself — in her case, Friday afternoons. (See sidebar.) And she’s learned that economic uncertainty in our own time is something to seize, not fear. After all, when the going gets tough, the tough get marketing.
“No matter what the economy, there is always opportunity.”
Christina Rae’s ‘five fun facts’
My dream vacation is Hawaii. “Hawaii will always have my heart. It’s where I honeymooned, and I simply love returning to this tropical paradise.”
Favorite quote – “Work hard, play hard” is my life’s motto.
My favorite thing about working at Buzz Creators is “Meeting new people every day and learning the ins and outs of their business. I’ve always been a curious person.”
If I had $1 million dollars to spend, “I’d pay off my mortgage and go on some exotic vacations overseas. I’m much more into ‘experiences’…than ‘things’ in general.”
My hobbies are “cooking, going to my kids’ sporting events, relaxing at a great spa, reading and vacationing.”
