We were lucky to catch up with Mauricio Berzunza recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Mauricio thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

Berzunza Studio is a start up business with the objective to explore, experiment, express and experience creativity and communications, as an energy to develop disruptive concepts and strategies that challenge the status quo.

I have a business degree in Hospitality Management, however, there was no entry level position for me within the Public Relations department, not at any hotel I worked for. There was just a senior position that most of the time hired public relations and social media agencies.

I started from the bottom, first as a trainee and assistant, then as an account executive, eventually growing to a manager and director. When I started up my project, I looked up to creative studios who truly work within multiple disciplines beyond PR agencies. After looking back at my career path, I knew I was born to be channel the vision of those brands and projects who don’t know how to materialize it within creativity and communications (a broader scope than PR, therefore looking for solutions beyond those areas in disciplines such as design, creativity and communications).

Mauricio, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I always wanted to work creatively for brands. As a customer you get to experience one side of the brand, but you don’t get to experience it behind the scenes. How has a team came up with that idea? I wanted to be there creating ideas, rationales, concepts and experiences to communicate to customers, or for them to receive. To create along with the multidisciplinary minds of our network of collaborators, as we believe the future is collaborative.

Most of the work is teamwork, the people who collaborates with the studio has a the same differentiator as I do, an authentic and honest approach to the client. We partner with them to interpret their unique needs and aspirations united by the purpose of improving human experience through their brand identity, understanding every aspect of the brand at that moment (as it is in a constant evolution) in order to immerse their brand into local culture.

Problems are unique to each brand, I can not say they are exclusive to one area/discipline. Understanding the problem through multiple perspectives, we explore all possibilities without judgment (‘no wrong questions, no right answers’, according to our manifesto), nevertheless questioning every possibility, until one of them feels right logically.

At the moment our services are within the disciplines where creativity and communications exist and co-exist: art direction, communications, content creation, creative direction, cultural marketing, experiential marketing, influencer marketing, media planning, photography and videography, public relations and social media management in the architecture, design, fashion, food and beverage, hospitality and music industries.

I’m proud of starting up a creative studio with my vision, it hasn’t been easy. To share it with the world and to find like minded people who resonate with it, with it’s manifesto (another thing I’m proud of) not only as brands, clients or collaborators, but also as a community of people who nurture each other through their experiences professionally and personally.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

After completing my degree and coming back to Mexico City I always knew I wanted to start up my own agency (although it evolved to creative studio), however I didn’t know what I needed. I could have started in a more senior role in hospitality, I remember already having a great offer in a corporate position in a Mexican hotel chain. However it didn’t feel right to me, starting walking a path I didn’t see myself in the future knowing it would only move me away from what I dreamt of.

I had to start from the bottom and it wasn’t easy, comparing yourself to other people because of social constructs regarding where I should be at that moment. After not finding anything for months I literally knocked the door of the agency I started my career as a trainee. Being a trainee you don’t get paid much, at least economically, my perspective was I was being payed off in knowledge and experience. Aside the fact that I was taking two certificate courses, one in Protocol and Etiquette at CIP and the other one in Public Relations and Social Communications at ITAM. It help me deepen in the understanding of my new field, however there were no possibilities for me to grow there.

Due to my steady growth, I landed a new opportunity in a higher position in a different agency where I worked for international fashion and design brands. Although after almost two years it stopped resonating with me, so I decided to quit with no job on the horizon. A friend at that time, came to me with an opportunity, so I co-founded an agency with him, establishing their foundations, developing the team and working for brands within a broader scope of industries, such as retail and media. It was during the pandemic, so it wasn’t easy at all, but we managed to grow and start up an agency from scratch. Nonetheless, the vision I had was becoming very different from what was happening in the agency, where I did not have the final decision and I didn’t agree with the decisions that were taken. So it was clear, I had to leave.

At that time I had a crisis, the darkest one I have had in my life with multiple endings. I saw a light. It was me sharing my perspective and starting up my own project, this time a creative studio. It took more time than what I expected, but it took the time it needed until I launched it in a symbolic day for me on February 25th, 2022 although it had been already operating for a month.

What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?

My current clients. Most of them have become our clients through recommendation which I believe is the best way, fortunately and unfortunately, I haven’t had the time to prospect and reach out to new clients which I’m grateful.

I can’t say it’s exclusive to one thing, it’s beyond results (which of course are important and we always seek to excel in). As I mentioned before, honesty and authenticity are two values that extend beyond our collaborators to our clients. We resonate with it.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://berzunza.studio/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/berzunza.studio/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/berzunza.studio
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/berzunza-studio/

Image Credits
Photo (Portrait) Mauricio Berzunza – María Levy Artwork Don Ramón – Harbin Harrison @harbinharrison Photo Don Ramón – Vanessa Nieves @vanessanievesfoto Photo Carpano – Martín López @marlocanez Photo Berzunza Studio – Mauricio Berzunza @berzunza__ Artwork Berzunza Studio – Mauricio Berzunza @berzunza__