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WSU grad
student
finds PR
success
following
dad's
footsteps
By
Darrell
Dawsey
West End
DETROIT
- If
you’d
peered
into the
backyard
of a
particular
home in
Detroit’s
Palmer
Woods
neighborhood
last
summer,
you’d
likely
have
caught
sight of
some 30
millennials
mingling
over
bottomless
mimosas
and
oversized
games,
debating
over the
game
Jenga
and
swaying
to the
music
blaring
from
giant
speakers.
But
this
wasn’t
just any
young
adult
get-together.
This was
“Brunch
at
Mario’s,”
a
summertime
gathering
of young
professionals
that is
equal
parts
party,
brainstorming
session
and
networking
conclave.
The
event is
the
brainchild
of
current
Wayne
State
University
graduate
student
Mario
Morrow
Jr., who
is
pursuing
his
master’s
degree
in
communications
and
expects
to
graduate
next
May. As
Morrow
sees it,
the
brunch
event,
which he
plans to
expand
this
summer,
disrupts
the
corporate
culture
by
providing
millennial
movers
and
shakers
the
opportunity
to
connect
over
their
favorite
activities.
Traditionally,
networking
events
are
centered
around
business
card
exchanges
and
business
casual
attire,
but
Morrow
wanted
to bring
his
personal
beliefs
about
networking
to his
backyard
—
literally.
“There’s
a stigma
to
networking,
as if
there’s
a
scientific
formula
to your
elevator
pitch,
and your
30
seconds,”
said
Morrow,
whose
father,
Mario
Morrow
Sr., is
himself
a
high-profile
communications
strategist
in
Detroit.
“To me,
it
doesn’t
have to
be that
way. To
our
generation,
networking
is
having
fun.”
The
concept
of
Brunch
at
Mario’s
was
developed
after
Morrow
and his
close
friends
Chris
Jefferson
and
Javion
Johnson
were
having a
conversation
about
how to
provide
innovative
networking
experiences
to
millennial
professionals.
From
their
conversation,
they
birthed
not only
the
invite-only
brunch,
but the
event
experience
brand,
CMJ
Connections
— the
name
deriving
from
each of
their
initials.
Morrow
said the
aim and
purpose
of CMJ
Connections
is to
connect
young
professionals
in the
metro
Detroit
area,
with
Brunch
at
Mario’s
being
their
staple
event.
Brunch
at
Mario’s
isn’t
only
about
having
fun. At
each
brunch,
CMJ
Connections
honors a
local
nonprofit
organization
and
presents
it with
a
monetary
donation.
Initially,
Morrow
and
friends
struggled
to draw
a crowd;
the
first
event
was only
30
people.
Soon
after,
Morrow
began to
use his
public
relations
skills
to
market
the
event
recap
video on
social
media,
and the
buzz
began to
spread.
At the
second
backyard
gathering
a month
later,
attendance
had
nearly
tripled.
“After
the
second
one,
people
just
kept
asking,
‘So
what’s
next? I
like the
fact
that
we’re
networking,
and it’s
fun,’”
said
Morrow.
“It’s
not a
party,
but
we’re
having
fun
while
networking.
Everyone
is
leaving
with
business
cards,
and
business
deals
have
been
made
from the
brunches
and our
(CMJ
Connections)
events.”
The
connections
didn’t
stop at
attendees.
Morrow
himself
also
connected
with
local
millennial
business
owners,
many of
whom
were
looking
to
secure
public
relations
services.
Organically,
Morrow
began to
branch
out and
establish
his own
public
relations
firm,
KasPR
Management
Group.
This
summer,
Morrow
is
anticipating
taking
Brunch
at
Mario’s
on tour.
Last
summer’s
buzz has
generated
interest
in
Chicago
and
Washington,
D.C.
This
brunch
season,
CMJ
Connections
is
playing
around
with new
elements
to keep
the
event
fresh.
What
won’t
change,
however,
is the
group’s
dedication
to
innovative
millennial
networking,
and
nonprofit
philanthropy.
However,
despite
his
recent
success
and his
family
roots in
public
relations,
Morrow
confesses
that
working
in the
family
business
was not
always a
part of
the
plan.
“It’s
weird
because
where I
am now,”
said
Morrow,
“and
where
I’m
starting
in my
career,
is kind
of where
people
finish.
I say
that
because
at the
end of
almost
everyone’s
road
professionally
— you go
into
consulting,
working
for
yourself.
But
that’s
where I
started.
It was
never my
goal, it
was
never my
plan,
but I’m
juicing
it,
making
the
connections
that I
need.”
In
2017,
while in
Chicago,
Morrow
earned a
degree
in
organizational
communications.
During
his time
in
Chicago
he held
a host
of
internships
focused
on
nonprofit
public
relations,
with
efforts
on the
city’s
West and
South
sides.
After
completing
his
degree,
Morrow
said he
had to
make one
of the
hardest
calls in
his
life,
choosing
to turn
down a
job at
an
investment
bank to
return
to
Detroit
and work
with his
parents.
Once
back in
his
hometown,
Morrow
decided
that
getting
his
master’s
degree
early in
his
career
would be
best. He
said he
chose
Wayne
State
because
he
believed
the
university’s
location
and
relevancy
to the
growth
in
Detroit
fit
perfectly
with his
career
trajectory.
That
said,
even
Morrow
seems a
little
surprised
at how
quickly
he’s
found
success,
especially
while
still
attending
college.
“I
didn’t
plan on
any of
this
when I
first
moved
home,”
he said.
“I
thought
I would
come
home and
work
with
Pops and
just be
straight.
I didn’t
expect
anything
like
this.”
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