This globe-trotting innovator has many titles – CEO, Author, Editor, Cultural Curator. Rana Florida's perspective on business and life is a fresh new take, breaking the traditional corporate mold. As Chief Executive Officer of the Creative Class Group, Rana Florida manages new business development, marketing, consulting, research and global operations serving such diverse clients as Meta (Facebook and Instagram), BMW, Converse, IBM, Cirque du Soleil, Audi, Zappos, and Starwood Hotels – to name just a few.

As former Vice President of Marketing for HMSHost, the world’s largest airport developer, she brings to this leadership role more than two decades of experience in corporate strategy, communications, and marketing. Prior to that, she was Vice President of Communications, for Disney on Ice and Disney Live! through Feld Entertainment. She helped found and launch, CityLab, a new digital platform for The Atlantic where she also worked on events and programming for The Aspen Ideas Institute and Bloomberg.

Tell us about the inception of your company. How did it all start?

My husband Richard Florida is a prominent urbanist, speaker and professor who advises cities around the world on economic growth strategies that he developed in his bestselling book The Rise of the Creative Class. When BMW called and asked to do a commercial that referenced his ideas, I knew the opportunity and timing was right to grow the Creative Class Group into a full service, consulting, research, and strategy firm.

What has made you successful? What do you value?

We view our clients as experts in their field and partner with them to add value, whether by helping them identify the world’s most creative places for investment or to help them identify their target customers. We’ve been fortunate to work with some of the world’s most remarkable companies, from Microsoft to Zappos. We helped BMW launch their Ideas Class ad campaign and helped Starwood Hotels on location and regional creativity measures for more than 15 global locations. We helped identify the world’s most creative neighborhoods for Cirque du Soleil to pitch their tents. We served as Le Méridien 100, an advisory group of cultural innovators who are striving to enhance the overall guest experience at Le Méridien Hotels worldwide alongside Chef Jean Georges and other creatives. We advised the property developer Edens on their Union Market project in Washington DC, and helped Air Canada with their Growth of Cities campaign. We helped Art Basel launch Art Basel Cities and advised We Work on their Cities Global Initiative. We worked with Converse to help position their Jack Purcell brand to the entrepreneurial Creative Class. From Sibiu, Romania to Dubai to Singapore, our clients span the globe.

The companies that approach us all have an ethos of creativity in their DNA. We are currently working with META to quantify the economic impacts of the new Creator Economy.

Rana’s management style is not a top down approach, she encourages collaboration bringing together individuals with diverse skills, experiences, and perspectives who become more than the sum of their parts. Collaboration allows for collective decision-making, where different viewpoints and expertise can be considered, reducing the likelihood of biases, enhancing critical thinking, and leading to higher-quality outcomes.

She’s a media-savvy corporate powerhouse and best-selling author. Well known as a writer on business and leadership – for Fast Company, Inc.com, the Huffington Post, and the Miami Herald – Rana has also served as a guest business analyst on The Today Show. and MSNBC’s, The Cycle, has been a Fox News contributor for several years. She has been featured in the The New York Times, Vogue Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, Market Watch, CNN and The Globe and Mail.

Her one-on-one high profile business interviews have covered notables – from President Bill Clinton and First Lady Michelle Obama to Andre Agassi, Nelly Furtado, Tory Burch, and many more.

Rana enjoys collaborating with and learning from the most creative organizations in the world.

Her leadership tip, “You don’t have to be the smartest person in the room. Surround yourself with intelligent people and give them the freedom they need to lead. Be as much of a learner as leader.”

She is also a passionate philanthropist lending her time and expertise to The United Nations Global Network on Digital Technologies and Sustainable Urbanization for UN Habitat, The Olympics Committee, Canadian Freestyle Ski Association, Silver Art Projects, The National Ballet of Canada, St. Mike’s Hospital Neo-natal Intensive Care Unit, Luminato Festival, Travel & Leisure Rebel Awards, Le Miami, The Design–Exchange, Isabella Blow Foundation, Girls E Mentorship, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Airports Council International, Council for International Visitors, Best Buddies Canada and The Founders Junior Council of the Detroit Institute of Arts.

Rana holds a Bachelor of Arts in communications and an MBA in marketing and management.

Her book, Upgrade—Taking Your Work and Life From Ordinary to Extraordinary was a ‘Business Best Seller,’ by Tattered Cover, the largest independent bookstore retailer in the U.S. and The Globe and Mail, Editor’s Pick.