Gurkha Cigars has named Christine Martinez de Castro as Director of Marketing and Public Relations. As part of Gurkha’s executive team she will report directly to the CEO Kaizad Hansotia and plan, direct, supervise and coordinate all branding, advertising, public relations, social media and marketing campaigns for the company.
Christine brings more than 20 years of experience to the position and has worked with several Fortune 500 companies throughout her career. She began working for Ketchum Public Relations in both their Miami and Atlanta offices overseeing several accounts including Charles Schwab, BellSouth, Nokia and Visa International among others. Christine later joined Delta Air Lines’ Corporate Communications team and executed internal and external communication strategies for Latin American, Caribbean and U.S.–based Hispanic media. During 911 Christine coordinated the company’s communication strategy and was then promoted to General Manager of Technical Operations, Safety and Security where she managed internal and external communications of the aviation industry. Moving back to Miami Christine returned to agency life and continued to work with compelling clients such as JetBlue, GE Energy, New Zealand Tourism, Marriott and Coca-Cola North America, to handle media training, crisis communication and integrated marketing and branding campaigns.
Gurkha Cigars was also one of her many clients over the last several years where she became an integral part of their team.
“Hiring Christine was a no brainer. She was already part of the Gurkha family… she knows the brand, she knows the team and she is a great team player,” said Hansotia. “It was just a natural transition and over the last few years she has really showed her value to the company and I think I can speak for the company when I say we are all excited that she now is officially part of Gurkha.”
