Marcela Gómez is CEO and founding partner of Culture Shift Team, with over 30 years of experience effectively connecting with diverse and continuously changing U.S. demographics, Marcela leads CST’s multicultural marketing and advertising division. Marcela helps clients understand and develop new target markets in the continuous global changing demographics. She has worked with universities, public utilities, packaged goods companies, consumer, corporate, nonprofit and business-to-business clients in industries such as transportation, education, government, banking and finance, wireless, sports, food, health care, and the arts. Her expertise includes the development of marketing, communications and grassroots campaigns, from conception and brand development to production.
A native of Bogotá, Colombia, Marcela graduated from high school in Charlotte, North Carolina, and earned a bachelor’s degree in advertising from Universidad Jorge Tadeo Lozano in Bogotá. Following graduation, Marcela moved to Miami, Florida to work as advertising coordinator with Editorial Unilit and as a member of Expolit’s (Spanish-language Christian literature trade show) leadership team. In 1996 she joined Thomas Nelson Publisher’s Spanish language division in Nashville, Tennessee as a sales representative and later was promoted to marketing director.
Her life as an entrepreneur started in 2002 in Nashville, Tennessee with Hispanic Marketing Group, in 2017 she became founding partner of Culture Shift Team, a business consulting firm and multicultural marketing and advertising agency specialized in helping companies understand the changing demographics and culture in the workplace and marketplace.
In early 2021 she relocated to New York City from where she continues to help lead Culture Shift Team as the firm’s CEO and leads the firm’s multicultural marketing and advertising division. She enjoys traveling, films, theater, ballet, opera, the symphony, and long walks in Manhattan. She is a vice president of the National Speakers Association New York City Chapter, a member of the Statewide Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of New Jersey, the Manhattan Chamber of Commerce, and the New York City Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.
Marcela has a 33-year-old son, Esteban Pedraza, who is an award-winning film director, and musician residing in New York City.
ACCOLADES
2018 Certificate of Recognition, Presented by Mayor David Briley, Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County.
2018 Resolution for a Decade of Service to the Tennessee Latin American Chamber of Commerce, Presented by the Council of the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County.
2017 Community Leadership Award, presented by the Nashville Kitchen Cabinet (The National Restaurant Association and The Tennessee Hospitality & Tourism Association.)
2017 International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) Music City Gold Pen Award of Excellence for Community Relations; nMotion Campaign of the Metropolitan Nashville Transit Authority. (Team member with MP&F Public Relations, MEPR Agency, and The Ferrell McDaniel Company)
2017 PRSA Nashville Parthenon Award for Multicultural Outreach; nMotion Campaign of the Metropolitan Nashville Transit Authority. (Team member with MP&F Public Relations, MEPR Agency, and The Ferrell McDaniel Company)
Marcela was awarded the 2016 International Champion Award from the Office of International Affairs, Tennessee State University.
Audience Favorite award, Dancing for Safe Haven Fundraising Gala, 2016.
2015 National Football League's Hispanic Heritage Leadership Award presented by the Tennessee Titans.
2014 PRSA Nashville Parthenon Awards forCommunity Relations; NashvilleNext Campaign of the Metropolitan Nashville Planning Department. (Team member with MP&F Public Relations, MEPR Agency, and The Ferrell McDaniel Company)
2014 PRSA Nashville Parthenon Award for Posters, Displays or Exhibits; NashvilleNext Campaign of the Metropolitan Nashville Planning Department. (Team member with MP&F Public Relations, MEPR Agency, and The Ferrell McDaniel Company)
2014 PRSA Nashville Parthenon Award Public Relations Campaign; NashvilleNext Campaign of the Metropolitan Nashville Planning Department. (Team member with MP&F Public Relations, MEPR Agency, and The Ferrell McDaniel Company)
2014 PRSA Nashville Parthenon Award Research; NashvilleNext Campaign of the Metropolitan Nashville Planning Department. (Team member with MP&F Public Relations, MEPR Agency, and The Ferrell McDaniel Company)
2011 Tennessee Advocate Award for Assisting Entrepreneurs in Marketing, Counseling and Financing by the Small Business Administration District Office in Tennessee.
In 2011, Ms. Gómez was one of the 25 Most Beautiful People in Nashville by the Nashville Lifestyle Magazine.
Vendor of the Year, MP&F Public Relations, (2009).
The Nashville Post identified Hispanic Marketing Group as one of “25 Emerging Companies in Nashville” and the Nashville Business Journal three years in a row named the firm as a finalist in the emerging business category for its “Best in Business Awards.”
In 2007, Ms. Gómez won as one of the 30 Women of Influence by The Nashville Business Journal.