Image Innovator
Unlike the many entrepreneurs who learn the ropes by working full time in their field before striking out on their own, Miatta David, the 33-year-old founder of New York-based public relations and event planning firm MVD Inc. (www.mvdinc.us) honed her craft in a different way. Rather than becoming versed in how to convince reporters and editors to publish news stories about her clients, David relied on her skills as a financial journalist where she’d learned firsthand what media organizations were looking for. That knowledge helped to get her entertainment clients covered by media outlets that other public relations professionals wouldn’t have thought about. “I didn’t think like the typical publicist,†she says. The three-employee firm made $580,000 in 2008 and expects to make between $800,000 and $1 million in 2009.