Ebony T. Grimsley-Vaz is the Founder and Chief Strategist of Above Promotions, a digital marketing, public relations and promotions company in the Tampa, FL area. She is also the author of the book titled, “Because You’re Small: Effective Marketing Strategies for Immediate Implementation” and an international marketing instructor for Jolt in Israel.

For over 15 years and 80+ brands, Ebony has had the opportunity to work on campaigns for businesses such as AT&T, AAA, AOL, Cold Stone Creamery and Verizon Wireless to smaller national and international organizations and large non-profits such as the University of South Florida.

She is a diversity and tech contributing writer for Moguldom.com and has been featured on MSNBC.com, Food and Wine, Social Media Today, Food Fanatics, BizBash, AdWeek, PR Daily, Yahoo.com, the Retail Customer Experience, Business 2 Community, NewsOne.com and other publications, panels and hosted events. Invited to speak on diversity in tech, marketing strategies, crisis communication issues, leadership and organizational techniques and professional journalism, Ebony leads colleagues across the U.S. through crisis communication topics and the creative community. She has educated those in the business and entertainment communities, and her expertise is well-respected in her field.

While many of her clients and reach go beyond the Tampa Bay area, she continuously gives back to her local community by organizing events and volunteering for Techstar’s Startup Week Tampa Bay, Hospitality Hackathon, Ignite Tampa Bay, Bar Camp, and the Tampa Bay Association of Black Journalists.

She is also a facilitator for the SBDC Tampa Bay and Board Advisor for the Bright Young Minds Coalition.