30th Anniversary of Multicultural Marketing Resources

It was 30 years ago this month, a Friday, May 20, 1994, that Lisa Skriloff said goodbye to her colleagues at The New York Times, where she was a Director of Marketing, gathered her briefcase and shoes from under her desk, and walked out that door in Times Square with a bounce to her step to begin a new chapter – opening her own company named Multicultural Marketing Resources, Inc. (MMR). Lisa had a crystal-clear idea, mission and business plan that her natural optimism, dedication and focus would propel into a lifelong passion and success story.

Today, MMR now both a consultancy and publisher, continues as a valuable resource to Multicultural marketers and champion of Multicultural agencies and companies. MMR has helped 1,700+ companies build their brands by giving them visibility and showcasing their expertise in multicultural marketing featured in our Sourcebook of Multicultural Experts, the Multicultural Speakers Showcase or Multicultural Marketing News newsletters, and their perspectives published in e-blasts.

The Source Book of Multicultural Experts was first published in 1998 as a printed guide for corporate marketers to help them effectively reach Hispanic, African American, LGBTQ+ and Asian American consumers and connect with Multicultural ad agencies, research firms, ethnic media and other resources. This now continues online at Experts Directory where visitors can View all Companies and use the Find An Expert search tool, ask MMR to make a match to a company or distribute their RFP at no charge, and as a tool for journalists to help them diversify their source list and pair them with contacts for interviews on deadline (at no charge). The company’s newsletter, Multicultural Marketing News, first published in 1996 as a 4-page newsletter mailer, continues today.

First criticized for the name Lisa chose for the company when Multicultural marketing was in its infancy, it has pointedly served its intended purpose of bringing inquiries and opportunities as the industry developed.

“I’m proud to have been a witness to the growth of the multicultural marketing industry, from my pre-New York Times days working for Caballero Spanish Radio, where I met the pioneers in the market at those earliest Hispanic agencies, clients and friends alike,” said Lisa Skriloff.

“Seeing Lisa Skriloff in action for so many years, I still marvel at her balanced combination as a multicultural marketing expert, savvy industry commentator, and a reliable bridge among key players — be it at the ad and media agencies or on the corporate side. Lisa and her team at Multicultural Marketing Resources are trusted sources for everything ethnic and cross-cultural that represents the rich and diverse ways in which the New América behaves, and its gigantic, still untapped potential for growth,” said Daisy Expósito-Ulla, Chairman/CEO d expósito & Partners, AAF’s Hall of Fame inductee.

“30 YEARS! WOW! Looking back at just part of the 27 years our own company has grown, I think I know what a “Guinness Book of World Records type” of feat Lisa Skriloff and MMR have accomplished! It’s fitting that one of MMR’s flagship, super successful products, is The SourceBook of Multicultural Experts (Experts Directory online) because that IS EXACTLY what Lisa Skriloff and MMR are for THOUSANDS of companies in a wide variety of industries. She/they are the undisputed experts on the cutting edge of Multicultural Marketing as a resource for all of us!,” said Zack Wilhoit, CEO of Ethnic Technologies.

“I consider MMR the premier online Multicultural marketing hub and marketplace – they create and foster meaningful Multicultural connections, careers, intelligence, partnerships, and growth – and that is Lisa’s doing, through her tenacious leadership and diverse network of relationships she’s nurtured as a trusted ally. We connected over our shared passion for effective Multicultural and female representation, being a marketing partner to clients …and cafecitos. Over the decades, MMR has enabled us to amplify our voice, provide strategic Multicultural leadership to drive business growth, and expand our agency. We are proud to be part of MMR’s best-in-class marketers. And 30 years later, what we do is front and center. Congratulations Lisa!,” said Liz Castells-Heard, CEO, Chief Strategy Officer, INFUSION by Castells.

“Our connection with MMR spans at least two decades, and remains one of the most important relationships that we value today. Over the years while “multicultural” has been viewed as a trendy and sometimes controversial concept, Lisa and her MMR team have been working diligently to provide not only insightful clarity on the topic, but extremely valuable and productive tools to make appropriate outreach. Congratulations to MMR, and cheers to another 30 or more years of leadership,” said Thomas Roth, President, LGBTQ, Inc. / Community Marketing & Insights.

“I have known Lisa since my early days at Horowitz Research, when I first joined the company to head up our Multicultural and Hispanic practice in 2001! A lot has changed since then, but one thing has remained constant, and that is the invaluable role Lisa and Multicultural Marketing Resources have played in our industry. As the multicultural marketing community has grown, so too has the importance of the work that Lisa and her team do to keep us all connected with the information, tools, services, and networking we need to drive our businesses and expand our reach. Lisa and team, thank you for all you have done over the past 30 years! Here’s to many more years of success!,” said Adriana Waterston, EVP and Insights & Strategy Lead, Horowitz Research.

“MMR is a dedicated champion of cultural diversity and inclusion and a respected voice in the multicultural marketing community. We at C+R Research and our CultureBeat team proudly partner with MMR and are grateful to have a platform to share our multicultural insights and research expertise, as well as to connect with clients and other industry experts through MMR. Congratulations, MMR, on your remarkable milestone!,” said Jorge Martínez-Bonilla, Senior Vice President & Partner, C+R Research, CultureBeat & LatinoEyes.

Lisa, a writer and teacher at heart, has continued her tandem careers as a travel writer, book author and adjunct instructor. Her Travel Bio lists her numerous contributions to travel trade publications such as Skift, Successful Meetings Magazine and Travel Agent Magazine, newspapers such as The Daily News and travel guides such as Fodor’s Guide to Cruises and Ports of Call and Fodor’s Great American Sports and Adventure Vacations (chapter on Scuba Diving).

Combining her love of travel and multicultural marketing, Lisa launched and writes the newsletter Multicultural Travel News covering destination multicultural attractions and their outreach to diverse travelers including multicultural, LGBTQ and people with disabilities, as well as travel industry diversity initiatives and staff appointments. She also launched and writes Dance Travel News.

As a trendspotter — and with her bucket list goal of being a published author – Lisa collaborated with co-author Jodie Gould to write the innovative 1997 how-to book Men Are from Cyberspace: The Single Woman’s Guide To Flirting, Dating and Finding Love Online from St. Martin’s Press. Leveraging her UW-Madison degree in Education and Spanish, she partnered with NYU School of Professional Studies to inaugurate and teach a course on multicultural marketing and then wrote the curriculum for and taught “Ethnic Marketing: How to Target the Multicultural Consumer” for 11 years to professionals.

Befitting a company with 30 years of history, MMR’s donations of documents and materials were accepted by the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C., including The Source Book of Multicultural Experts, Multicultural Marketing News, newsletters (Hispanic Age) and Lisa’s work at Caballero Spanish Radio. The Museum of Public Relations in NYC also has 15 binders of material from Lisa’s work with pioneering Asian ad agency Kang & Lee Advertising and the establishment of the Asian American Advertising Federation.

Lisa has been the recipient of many awards and honors including Working Woman Magazine’s Award for Innovation in Entrepreneurship, a PRSA Big Apple award for Best Newsletter, the Ad Club of NY’s President’s Award for Diversity Initiatives, and the Multicultural Marketing Achievement Award at The 18th Annual Multicultural Marketing Conference and Awards Luncheon—quite appropriate for Lisa, whose very first award was Little Red Train Camp’s “Most Friendly Girl in Her Group.”