Alumni spotlight: Krystina Borrocci
Krystina Borrocci has been selected as the recipient for the 2016 Emerging Leader Award.
The Emerging Leader Award recognizes a recent graduate of the Mike Ilitch School of Business at Wayne State University (or its predecessor schools/programs) who has already distinguished themselves as a “rising star” in their industry or community and who shows even greater promise for the future. For the purposes of this award, recent graduate is defined as someone who has graduated within the last 10 years with either or both an undergraduate or graduate degree from the school.
Past award recipients have been: Kirk King, president of Continuity Programs, Inc., in 2013; Kevin Jappaya, president and owner of KJ Commercial Real Estate Advisors, LLC, in 2014; and Antonio Lück, managing director for Endeavor Detroit, in 2015.
Borrocci will receive her award in August at the Mike Ilitch School of Business’ Annual Recognition and Awards Program.
Borrocci, who is the director of marketing for UHY LLP, graduated from Wayne State in 2007 with a bachelor’s degree in business administration and 2010 with an M.B.A.
In addition to being the marketing director, Borrocci is also the leader of the firm’s national marketing team which includes 11 offices, as well as the liaison for international marketing initiatives.
As the marketing director, Borrocci said she learns something new every day.
“For my first solid two-to-three years, I was a sponge. I soaked up every bit of information I could – the people, the industry, the culture,” she said. “No job was too big or too small. I was a well-oiled machine that just kept on going.”
Approach to marketing
Borrocci considers herself a business person first and a marketer second.
“To market for a professional services firm, you must first learn the business from the inside out,” she said. To be successful in marketing, whether you market for goods or services, you have to learn to be flexible.”
“You have to sell yourself and your ideas internally before you even get a chance to showcase them to the outside world. You sometimes have to take outlandish risks and prepare yourself to fail a few times over before hitting the nail on the head.”
She had words of advice for people considering careers in marketing.
“Dig deeper into who you are as a person and find a place that fits your strengths,” she said. “You can’t fit a square peg into a round hole – no matter how hard you try.”
When Borocci first learned she was selected for the Emerging Leader Award, the first thing she thought to herself was “well, time to kick it up another notch.”
“It’s challenging, but challenging yourself brings change: positive change,” she said. “It keeps you engaged in what’s going on around you – professionally or personally.
Giving back to the community
In addition to her work at UHY, Borrocci serves as the chair of external relations for Turning Point, an organization that provides help to victims of domestic violence.
Turning Point is the only emergency shelter in Macomb County and offers a 24-hour crisis hotline, and specializes in programs and extended resources for victims and survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault.
“Being a part of the external relations committee, and now chair, I am able to help link the collaboration in the community,” she said. “I want people to know more, I want them to feel an urge to do more and I want to help Turning Point in any way I can to share their message and reach their goals.”
Borrocci is also a reserve officer for the Macomb County Sheriff’s Office.
“I work with the computer crimes division – child exploitation, human trafficking, organized crime, etc.,” she said. “Our group also assists with local schools’ prevention and education programs – both at the student level and for parents, teachers and other faculty.
