Meet Mariana Wehbe | Founder and Creative Director of Mariana Wehbe Public Relations

We had the good fortune of connecting with Mariana Wehbe and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Mariana, other than deciding to work for yourself, what else do you think played a pivotal role in your story?
Coming from a 16 year tenure in the corporate world for DHL, when I decided to leave the company I promised myself that I would step off that hamster wheel and that I would ultimately own my freedom. I didn’t want to just take on clients because I needed the revenue, which is true though, I did need the financial security, I was recently divorced, a single-mother, but I had this strong mindset. If I represent you I have to love you to death and I have to believe in your brand. I’m an extrovert, I am someone that works with my heart and intuition, and I decided to take clients that I really believed in. For this reason I also decided to take on very few clients at the same time because I wanted to be involved in every details, have regular calls, understand their business as if it were my own.

I think having this ethos set me apart, the clients I took on became very successful thanks to the time and effort my team and I put into it. Everyone would say, “Mariana may not take you on”, it’s not because I didn’t want to take on the brands, but because I had set a goal that I would only take a maximum 5-6 clients at a time, do a great job, and when it’s time for them to leave or grow I would add another brand. I think that this strategy of saying no, and understanding that keeping my business small and healthy and happy and creative was surely one of the main reasons of my success and till today we still operate in this manner.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
I was raised in Florida by my grandmother in a very strict household, until I was seventeen. Like many Arab families, at that age, they believe the best thing to do is to send their daughters back home, and that’s exactly what happened to me. By doing that I unfortunately didn’t get a chance to continue my education, surely not by choice but by circumstance. I was sent back to Beirut and I realized that I didn’t read and write Arabic, nor did I have the finances to be able to go back to school because all of the schools in Lebanon were private.
I had to work, which is how I ended up at DHL and that’s where I learned everything that I know about working with people, teams, budgets, numbers, organizational skills and whatnot. It took me a very long time to accept the fact that I was not ‘educated’. I think that was also one of the main drives for me, that everyone was more educated than me, and you know I was a 3.2 GPA in the States, I was a good student, it’s just that the circumstances of my life didn’t allow me to move forward.
So whenever someone asks I say, “I went to the University of Life”. Saying that, being in a place where you are hungry and where you feel others have more education, or impact than you, makes you work harder, this had become the DNA of myself and my company.
I worked harder, I pushed harder, I wanted to learn, I wanted to educate myself. Many challenges came my way, it wasn’t easy because people have to trust you, and believe in you, and you have to constantly prove yourself.
Perhaps because my approach to learning was non-traditional, where a lot of intuition and trial and error were at play, my approach to business is never to look left and right at what anybody is doing. It is only going to falter my intuition and my way forward. I promised myself never to check what other PRs are doing but to actually just find my own way with my clients and my business.
This is something I am extremely proud of, proud that I trusted myself enough to follow that intuition because doing that has surely diversified me from everybody else. It has created a brand identity of sorts, to who I am as a person, and from there you continuously push yourself and continuously learn. I may not have a multitude of degrees and certificates under my arm, but I am a damn good salesperson, and that’s a character and a personality. What I did over the years was to fine-tune that into the world of luxury and PR and learned how to put my skills to my clients’ best advantage. This has propelled my business and made it one of the successes.

My brand story is that I believe every body has a story, our slogan is, “what’s your story, we’d love to tell it.” Every brand has to have a story, we love stories, we love to hear about how things started and have impacted us, that makes us feel things. That’s actually how I choose my clients, if the client moves me or makes me feel something. When I look back in 10-15 years, I want to feel proud to have been part of their journey and played a small part, in their way forward.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I live between Dubai and Beirut, and here are my favorite spots in Beirut, the crazy city of chaos, magic, a lot of heartache and yet for some crazy reason it still comes back to life. Sporting Club Beach, Burgundy Restaurant, Chez Maguy in Batroun.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
One of the things I learned in my business and in my life really is that people don’t give credit where credit is due. It was really one of the main pillars of MWPR, we always exposed who we work with, give credit to our team, whether it’s on social media or during our events. As we mature in life, we are always taught to have the right partner in a relationship as a man and a woman, but rarely do we ever talk about the right partners in business, although in essence, it is equally important.

I must say that my right hand, the director of MWPR and I are indeed a perfect fit, and we have gone as far as to coined the term ‘soul-partner’ to express it. We see eye to eye, complement each other’s skill set, and most importantly are able to communicate effectively with one another. I guess with time, we are able to integrate emotions into our professional language, and it really makes a difference to our day. We aren’t waiting for the clock to strike 6pm for us to rush off to our lives. The work we do together is also a special part of our lives. As we see the work blossom due to our palpable synergy, we truly understand the importance of having a good partner. Mind you, although Suhad and I are alike in our conviction and passion for MWPR, besides that we thrive on very different parts of the business and life, she is the academic, I am the creative and strategist, I do the networking, she holds the fort. We have a delicate balance, one that we are constantly tweaking and re-addressing. Honestly to me this is one of the most beautiful relationships of my life. I am very proud to call her my director, my friend, my sister, my business partner, because that is the true reality. It is a dance between us, our clients feel it, they appreciate it, they love it, and it’s definitely one of the main growths of my business.

Website: https://marianawehbe.com

Instagram: https://instagram.com/marianawehbepr?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=