My warmest congratulations to two women I've had the privilege of watching build extraordinary careers: Tracy Nguyen Romulus, newly promoted to Chief Communications Officer of SKIMS, and Kisha Maldonado-Madrid, just named VP of Influencer at SKIMS.

I don't think either of them would call this a coincidence, and neither do I. And I don't think it's a coincidence on Kim Kardashian's side either.

Tracy came to us first. She answered a Craigslist ad in May 2002, when 5W was a few rooms inside a travel agency. I hired her on the spot. I've told that story before, and I'll keep telling it, because I knew in that first meeting what I was looking at.

Kisha came not long after. By February 2005, she was Vice President at 5W Public Relations, working the same New York floor as Tracy, on a roster that by then included Lil Kim, Snoop Dogg, Ice Cube, Microsoft, McDonald's, BET and Evian Water. We were maybe ninety people at that point, out of one Midtown office. There was nowhere to hide and no such thing as a narrow lane — everyone touched everything. Tracy and Kisha both grew up, professionally, in that pressure cooker, at the same time, under the same roof. Both of them worked harder than almost anyone else in that building, and it showed in everything they touched.

When Tracy left in 2007 to start her own shop, Industry Public Relations, I wasn't surprised she took that leap, and I wasn't surprised when Kisha eventually joined her there too — Partner, by September 2011, staying through December 2016. Two firms. The same two women. Overlapping both times, not by chance.

What happened after is its own story. Tracy went on to become one of Kim Kardashian's closest confidants, Chief Brand Officer of KKW Brands, and now Chief Communications Officer of a five-billion-dollar company. Kisha built her own path through Cashmere Agency, Poosh, and her own agency, Cruz Control Digital, before SKIMS came calling for her too.

Here's the part worth sitting with: Kim Kardashian didn't need to go looking for a VP of Influencer. She had one sitting a phone call away, already vetted by the person she trusts most with her company's voice. That's Kim's instinct showing, as much as it's Tracy's or Kisha's résumé. She builds the way the best founders build — by pulling people into the room who've already proven themselves to someone she already trusts, rather than running a search and hoping a stranger's references check out. SKIMS didn't hire a VP of Influencer off a shortlist. It hired someone its own Chief Communications Officer had already worked beside for over a decade, across two firms.

It's consistent with everything I've watched Kim build. Her move from paid endorser to founder and equity owner was the same instinct at the company level — trading a rented relationship for one she controls directly. Her approach to reputation has followed the same logic, absorbing scrutiny herself rather than outsourcing the response. Hiring Kisha through Tracy, instead of running an outside search, is the talent version of the same philosophy: proven trust over an unproven stranger, every time. Her full brand and PR timeline and her seven-move PR playbook tell the longer version of that story, if you want it.

I've said it before about Tracy, and I'll say it now about both of them: I saw the drive in that very first meeting, and I've watched it compound for more than two decades. You don't get two people landing at the same company's leadership table by accident. You get it because the people were always that good, and because a founder as sharp as Kim Kardashian knows exactly what she's getting when she hires someone her own CCO has already vouched for with years of proof.

5W is approaching twenty-five years now. I've watched a lot of people come through those doors, and very few have made me as proud as these two have, for as long as they have. Tracy and Kisha were among the hardest-working people I've ever had the privilege of building alongside — full stop, no qualifiers. Twenty-five years of this firm, and this is exactly the kind of outcome that makes every long night of it worth it.

Congratulations, Tracy. Congratulations, Kisha. I am so proud of both of you — I always have been, and I always will be. And credit to Kim — building a team this way isn't luck, it's a pattern, and it's working.

Frequently Asked

How long have Tracy Nguyen Romulus and Kisha Maldonado-Madrid known each other? Their careers have overlapped at two firms: 5W Public Relations, where both held senior titles in New York between February 2005 and August 2007, and Industry Public Relations, the Los Angeles firm Romulus founded, where Maldonado-Madrid served as Partner from September 2011 to December 2016 under Romulus's decade as Managing Partner.

What roles do they now hold at SKIMS? Tracy Nguyen Romulus is Chief Communications Officer of SKIMS and co-General Manager of NikeSKIMS. Kisha Maldonado-Madrid was named VP of Influencer at SKIMS, PR Week reported in August 2026.

Why does this reflect on Kim Kardashian? SKIMS' VP of Influencer hire came from inside the trusted circle of its own Chief Communications Officer rather than an outside search — consistent with a pattern of Kardashian promoting people with long, proven working relationships into senior SKIMS roles, and with the same preference for direct control visible in her shift from paid endorser to brand owner.

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Ronn Torossian is the founder and chairman of 5WPR (5W Public Relations), approaching its 25th year. He is the publisher of Everything-PR and the author of two best-selling editions of For Immediate Release.