Stephanie Kruse's e-mails are legendary
at KPS/3, the Reno advertising
and public relations firm she started. It's
not the content, though, that makes
them special; it's the time they were sent.
"Hey, how many e-mails did you get
at 4:30?" one employee will ask another.
That's 4:30 a.m.
Kruse has seemingly endless energy
and a supersonic drive that has helped
her build one of the strongest agencies in
town. She has won a host of awards,
including "Communicator of the Year"
by the Northern Nevada Chapter of the
International Business Communicators
and "Ad Woman of the Year" by Reno
Women in Advertising.
The KPS/3 offices vibrate with creative
vigor. The interior's industrial-funk
design features a bright purple, red,
orange and blue color scheme and huge
photographic murals. Kruse is a handson
partner, pitching in wherever necessary,
whether it's helping move furniture,
throwing out ideas in a brainstorming
session or writing a crisis communications
plan for a client. "I am an adrenaline
junkie, and I love a crisis."
Kruse always has been driven. In high
school in Iowa, she ran track, led her
class as president, performed in school
plays and excelled in the classroom. She
then got a degree in nursing. "My mom
was a nurse, and it meant a lot to her,"
she says.
She quickly realized, though, that
nursing wasn't her calling. Ten days after
college graduation, she enrolled in journalism
school.
Yet nursing still made a
big impact on Kruse. She
worked nights and weekends
in a nursing home while she
studied journalism, and, she
says, she would never trade
that experience. Nursing
deepened her compassion,
reminding her that tender
human beings dwell under
even the toughest exteriors,
an awareness she strives to
keep top of mind today.
"Working with very ill
people, you get exposed to the
full variety of humanness. It
touched my heart, and it
touched my soul."
Kruse's nursing background
also helped her
land a public relations
internship at a hospital.
She then moved west to a
job at Saint Mary's
Health Network in Reno,
where she worked in marketing,
sales and contracting,
public relations and
communications. At the
end of her nine-year
tenure in 1991, she had
finished her MBA and
was director of marketing.
By then, she had a solid
reputation in the community
and was ready to
strike out on her own.
Even as a kid, Kruse
had known that someday
she would run her own
business, yet she still suffered
from sleepless
nights at first.
"I really am a perfectionist,"
she says. "It's
hard dealing with the
unknown when you want
everything to be perfect."
But the workload and
client list grew quickly.
Kruse added employees
and brought on partners,
enabling the firm to offer a
full array of public relations
and advertising services.
Clients include companies
from a variety of industries,
especially the arts and health
and human sciences.
Kruse sees the firm's primary
role as proactive, strate-
gic advisor. "We don't just say,
'Let's go out and create a pretty
campaign,' when you don't
need an ad campaign.We
think like marketing people.
We're diagnosticians."
Business partner Misty
Young says Kruse has a keen
ability to
grasp
complex
issues and
create
sharp
strategies.
"She is
one of the
most
amazingly
smart and talented women I've
ever had the opportunity to
work with," she says. "She
understands very complex
issues topics that sometimes
just boggle my mind so
that I have to ask her to
explain it one or two or even
three times, and she always
very patiently does."
As the business took off,
one of the biggest challenges
was learning all the systems to
running the whole show.
Another challenge was balancing
high expectations and
patience a dilemma faced
by any humanistic manager. "I
have exceedingly high expectations
of myself and exceedingly
high expectations of people
who work for me." On the
other hand, she says, good
managers have to understand
that everyone makes mistakes
from time to time.
Young
says Kruse
has been a
great mentor
and role
model.
"And I
think she
does that
for other
women and
business people in the community,
too."
Kruse serves on the boards
of directors for Special
Olympics Nevada, the Las
Vegas Chamber Board of
Advisors, Forum for a
Common Agenda, the Nevada
Women's Fund and the
University of Nevada College
of Business.
Outside of work, she enjoys
running, hiking, dancing, skiing
and the arts and treasures
time with friends.
She continues to start her
workday at 4:30 a.m. "My
body pretty much kicks me out
of bed then" but given the
good-natured ribbing from
employees, Kruse admits she
has slowed down. "I don't even
leave 3 a.m. voice mails anymore,"
she says with a laugh.
