My warmest congratulations to Tracy Romulus, one of the most influential women in communications today, on her promotion to Chief Communications Officer of SKIMS.

I spoke with Tracy yesterday to congratulate her personally, and I did so with so much happiness. We go back more than twenty years. From the very beginning, I believed in her, and nothing in the past two decades has given me a single reason to stop.

Tracy and I met very early in the founding of 5W Public Relations, when she answered a Craigslist ad.

It was 2003. 5W was a few rooms inside a travel agency. No lobby. No conference room. Just phones, desks, and the belief that we could build something.

We met. I offered her a job on the spot.

I don't remember exactly what she said in that interview. I remember what I saw: a wide-eyed, hardworking young woman from Seattle with more energy than anyone else in the room, carrying a charisma and an instinct for the work that you can't teach. She had it. I knew it immediately.

Over the next six years, Tracy grew with 5W every step of the way. Our team expanded from a handful of people to 90 employees. We relocated to a real office in Midtown. Tracy advanced to SVP and Group Director, managing demanding, high-profile talent and a client portfolio that included Snoop Dogg, Ice Cube, and dozens more. She handled the biggest personalities in entertainment and encouraged everyone around her to step out of their comfort zones.

I have so many fond memories of the long hours we worked together and the things we built. I smile thinking about the amazing brands we worked on side by side: Microsoft and McDonald's, BET and Evian water. Those were the days when every win felt like a miracle, and every pitch was personal.

The early years of any company are a grind. Long hours. No shortcuts. You find out who shows up when it's hard, who stays when it's unglamorous, and who treats every client like the only client. Tracy was always on, every single time. I watched her grow in front of my eyes, and I took pride in every step she took.

What Tracy has done since is extraordinary, but not surprising.

She left 5W and became one of Kim Kardashian's closest confidants. Tracy served as Chief Brand Officer of KKW Brands for seven years before SKIMS even existed. She was in the room when it was still an idea. She helped Kim Kardashian make the structural leap from celebrity to founder, and she positioned the brands that would become a multi-billion-dollar portfolio.

She then moved to SKIMS as EVP of Communications and Entertainment, helped launch NikeSKIMS as co-General Manager, and oversaw the opening of flagship stores in London and Dubai. SKIMS is now valued at $5 billion. On track for $1 billion in net sales this year. And Skims Beauty is next.

Tracy did all of it the way she always worked: relentlessly, with full heart. Kim Kardashian said it best: Tracy understands the brand at its core, knowing how to protect it, grow it, and put it in front of the right audiences at the right moments.

Tracy has always been that person.

As 5W approaches its 25th year, there are so many stories like these that make me smile. People who started in those early rooms, at those early desks, and went on to lead at the highest levels. That's the part of building a company that no one talks about enough: the people you believed in early and the pride you carry forever when they prove you right.

Tracy's promotion to Chief Communications Officer at SKIMS is proof of what happens when you give exceptional talent the runway to build. I saw that drive in our very first meeting, and I've watched it compound for more than two decades.

Congratulations, Tracy. You've earned every bit of this promotion. I am so proud of you and all you represent, a true example of the American dream.

And how lucky Kim Kardashian is to have you by her side.

Ronn Torossian is the founder and chairman of 5W AI Communications, the AI Communications Firm. He is the publisher of Everything-PR and the author of two best-selling editions of For Immediate Release.