RUDD RESOURCES MARKS 10 YEARS OF EQUITABLE COMMUNICATIONS WITH CLIENT CELEBRATION

RUDD RESOURCES MARKS 10 YEARS OF EQUITABLE COMMUNICATIONS WITH CLIENT CELEBRATION

Chicago-based, Black-owned PR agency celebrated with philanthropy, corporate and civic clients

CHICAGO -- Award-winning public relations firm Rudd Resources recently held a 10th anniversary celebration with 160 of its current and past clients, staff and friends. Since 2014, the agency has grown from a one-person company to one that employees 21 and posted revenue of $3.1 million, serving a range of clients from local non-profit organizations to global corporations.

Led and owned by Kimberley Rudd and David Rudd, Rudd Resources has been recognized as one of the 100 fastest-growing businesses in inner-city communities by the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City for the past three years (2023, 2022 and 2021).

Guests at the “Rudderbrat10n” received wristbands celebrating the year they partnered with the agency. They also enjoyed craft hors d'oeuvres and specialty drinks, live music, and a short program that featured remarks by three clients: Diahann Sinclair, chief hospital support and community engagement officer of St. Bernard Hospital; Daniel O. Ash, president and board member of the Field Foundation; and Roberto Requejo, Chicago Transit Authority board member and founding executive director of Elevated Chicago.

Kimberley “Kim” Rudd, president of Rudd Resources, celebrates the phenomenal growth of the agency and looks forward to the expansion of the business in the coming years.

“My team and I have enjoyed the privilege of handling projects that have helped to strengthen metropolitan Chicago and beyond, using our communications skills to connect people to each other and opportunities,” she said. “If the past is an indication of our future, we will continue to be the agency-of-choice for the region’s most impactful organizations. I’m proud of the company we’ve kept when it comes to clients, staff and partners.”

The agency’s longevity is an accomplishment. Only 35% of small businesses founded in 2013 have lasted a full decade, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Furthermore, just 20% of Black-owned businesses survive their first 18 months in operation, according to a CNBC statistic cited in the Illinois Black Business Survey.

Rudd Resources embraces a variety of professional and lived experiences to provide comprehensive service for their clients. The company’s size is particularly notable, as only 3% of U.S. firms are Black owned, and of those, just 26% have 10 employees or more, according to Pew Research Center.

Longtime clients praised the agency for providing culturally aware counsel to help transform institutions.

“I was really happy when I met the Rudd team because for the first time in a long time, I met an organization and a team where I didn’t have to explain who we are, I didn’t have to explain our culture. I didn’t have to explain how you communicate to our population,” said Sinclair of St. Bernard Hospital. “I didn’t have to translate what we were trying to say in a different language, or vice versa. They got us. But more importantly, they listened to us.”

Rudd Resources aims to place the spotlight on those who personify change as it advances stories about communities, people and ideas. Agency supporters noted that as a differentiator of the agency.

“Kim taught me that my job as a leader was not to tell my own story or my organization’s story,” said Requejo of his work leading Elevated Chicago. “My job was to bring other voices to the table, other people across Chicago to the table, so they could tell their story.”

Rudd Resources is a public relations and communications firm based with intention on Chicago’s South Side. Its award-winning work advances people, ideas and communities and has been recognized by the Publicity Club of Chicago, the American Marketing Association – Chicago chapter, the American Planning Association - Illinois Chapter, and Friends of the Chicago River.

The agency’s projects fall under five key pillars: community development and economic opportunity; diversity, racial equity and inclusion; transportation and public transit; healthcare; and philanthropic initiatives. Current clients include Discover Financial Services, the Terra Foundation for American Art, the Public Health Institute of Metropolitan Chicago and the Field Foundation of Illinois. Rudd Resources is certified as a woman- and minority-owned business enterprise in Illinois and is headquartered in Chicago’s historic Rosenwald Courts, a landmark building in the Bronzeville community.

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