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KIM BERGERON, APR

VICE PRESIDENT AND CREATIVE DIRECTOR

Kim Bergeron, Accredited in Public Relations, is an innovative storyteller who utilizes the power of persuasion to turn challenges into triumphs. She has more than 30 years of advertising, marketing and public relations experience, with ten of those years leading a department in a municipal government setting. Kim lives by the mantra, “There Is No Box,” and has utilized that philosophy toward unconventional approaches in her work. The strategy has led to numerous successful efforts.

In 2012, Kim co-founded the Train of Hope for Sandy Relief, orchestrating the delivery of an estimated  $250,000 in relief supplies to New York and New Jersey via an Amtrak train just nine days after the superstorm, followed one month later with the Train of Hope for the Holidays, bringing additional relief supplies and gifts for the children of the storm.

In 2014, with strategic use of social media and storytelling via the website that she created specifically for the mission, Kim was successful in persuading Sir Paul McCartney and Sir Ringo Starr to autograph a Beatles-themed piano for a small Habitat for Humanities affiliate. Resulting auction proceeds funded a Habitat home for a veteran and garnered extensive national and international media coverage.

When the New Orleans Saints fans were outraged by the now infamous playoff “no call” in 2019, Kim found a way to bring catharsis. Using the power of social media to inform and engage audiences-with only five days from permit receipt to Super Bowl Sunday-Kim promoted and produced the Blackout & Gold Second Line. More than 30,000 fans gathered together for the quintessentially New Orleans procession through the French Quarter, and the event was featured by virtually every major news outlet throughout the U.S. and beyond. 

A fierce arts advocate, Kim created a “Shop Local Artists Weekend” event in 2016 to generate awareness as to the importance of communities supporting local creatives. In 2017, she successfully lobbied to grow the effort to a statewide “Shop Local Artists Week” and in 2018, Kim worked with Americans for the Arts to broaden the initiative to a national level. The event is now celebrated annually during the first full week of December.   

Kim’s work has garnered a plethora of awards, including two PRSA-New Orleans’ Silver Anvils and numerous Fleurish Awards, Public Relations Association of Louisiana-New Orleans’ Flambeau Awards, and local and regional ADDY Awards, plus the Press Club of New Orleans’ First Place Award for Best Special Event, 2019. On a national level, she has been recognized with prestigious Telly Awards, Silver Microphone Awards and City-County Communications and Marketing Association’s Savvy Awards. Her community service has been recognized with the ATHENA International Leadership Award, American Red Cross Power of Women Award, Rotary Club’s Service Above Self Award and Paul Harris Fellow and three-time receipt of CityBusiness New Orleans’ 50 Women of the Year Awards. For her work promoting Louisiana culture, she was named an Honorary Louisiana Ambassador by Lt. Governor Billy Nungesser.

Many of Kim’s community service and fundraising efforts have been profiled on her blog, RightBrainDiaries.com.