Our Team

Meet Nicole Mahoney

CEO

The backstory

You might say being an entrepreneur is in Nicole's DNA. As a student, she worked for her dad at the family's audio and car stereo shop, eventually taking on their annual Sound Off event held in their store parking lot. The natural marketer in her took over, and the event grew to mini-festival size, attracting up to five thousand people on a Sunday. When her dad told her to "A to Z" a project, she learned to do every step of business development, marketing strategy, PR, and branding while working her way through college and her Masters.

Professional path

With a talent for creating special events, Nicole went on to work in sports marketing at Frontier Field in Rochester, and as the executive director of the internationally known Lilac Festival. Later on she headed the Canandaigua NY BID. There were projects for Visit Rochester as well.

In 2009, she founded Break the Ice Media, with more than 20 years experience in tourism marketing.

As a business owner, Nicole knows what it takes to be successful. She founded BTI to help businesses tell their brand story through public relations, digital and traditional channels. She has the ability to uncover unique marketing opportunities, and develop marketing and public relations initiatives that help clients build long-term success.

Inside the office she loves:

Working with clients to understand their marketing needs, developing plans and executing those plans. Leading and nurturing her team. (You might call her The Founding Mother.) Watching results happen for clients.

Outside the office she loves:

Her family (husband and four daughters). Traveling on family vacations. Maine. Playing euchre with her long-time girlfriends every month. Living in wine country (and drinking that wine!).