Her clients include restaurants like the Blue Sky Grill, Gumbo’s Louisiana Style Café, McCormick’s Fish House and Bar and Rialto Café; entertainment events such as the Shell Denver Grand Prix; hotels, tech companies and the Women’s Foundation of Colorado- and that’s only a partial list.
Owning her own PR Agency keeps Wendy busy and out and about almost every night of the week. She attributes her drive and dedication to her New Jersey roots where she grew up surrounded and supported by all women.
“I grew up in a home with my great-grandmother, grandmother, my mother, myself and my three younger sisters.” She says. “Needless to say there was always a lot going on. I really developed a great deal of respect for working mothers and the female dynamic.”
After graduating from college in Boulder, and spending a year working in the Virgin Islands, Wendy utilized her Political Science degree and went to work for a lobbyist in the PR division and the rest is history. “I’m blessed because I found out earlier in my career exactly what I wanted to do and I have been working at it ever since.”
She then did a stint as the national PR director for Morton’s of Chicago restaurants. “I really loved it.” She says. "But the non-stop travel became too much for me so I came back to Denver and started my own agency.”
When Wendy finds herself with any free time these days, it’s normally spent with her boyfriend, Dale Jensen, having dinner or hanging out with his kids.
So what does the future hold for Wendy Aiello? “There is still a lot I’d like to do," she says. “Like travel all over the world, sail the Greek Islands, spend a month in Bali, have a house at the beach. I’d love to be able to retire so I can do my work pro bono for some causes that really need a good PR consultant, like Planned Parenthood, AWARE and Volunteers of America. I want to be able to use my God-given talents to help people that really need me. And personally, I want to be a good aunt, the “cool” aunt that the kids go to when they have stuff they need to talk about. I want to support my friends who need me and keep my relationship with my boyfriend healthy and vibrant.”
Favorite Clothing Stores: MAX and Neiman Marcus
What gives a woman/man style: Personality
Favorite Restaurant: Too many to name
Which social event is your favorite? MAX fashion show fundraisers and the Western Fantasy Ball
What are your volunteer activities? I’m on the board of Volunteers of America Guild, and AWARE, and I do a lot of pro bono work for non-profits including The Mask Project, Hospice of Metro Denver, Colorado Women’s Foundation, the Children’s Diabetes Foundation, and Volunteers of America.
Who is the most interesting celebrity you ever met? I’ve met Bruce Springsteen many times over the years through a friend and I really admire his take on life, his level of success, and his commitment to the integrity of his music.
Who is your hero and why? Gloria Steinem because she broke so many molds for women, and I admire her strength and the valiant fight she fought on behalf of women’s rights. Also my mother, who raised four young girls on her own; we’ve all ended up in pretty good shape.
If your life were a movie, who would play your part? People tell me I look like Beverly D’Angelo, which I guess is a good thing because she’s Al Pacino’s girlfriend.
Saturday night at midnight is most likely to find you: God willing, sound asleep because I spend a lot of time out during the week.
When you move, what will your home tell its next owner, about you? She wasn’t at home a lot.
What word describes you best? Driven
What word would you like others to use to describe you? Loyal
What was your first job? I babysat, but my first real job was as an ice cream scooper at Carvel in New Jersey
What word or expression do you use too much? If you look at this big picture….
If there were one thing you would change about yourself, what would it be? I would like to be more patient, and kinder, and polish off a little of the Jersey attitude. I can be pretty tough at times.
What is your greatest indulgence? Shoes and handbags.
What or who is the greatest love of your life? My nieces and nephews and my beau Dale Jensen and his children.
Which talent would you most like to have? The ability to sing.
What is your current state of mind? Personally, I’m very happy and professionally, introspective.
What do you consider your greatest achievement? Starting my own successful agency
What is your most treasured possession? Photos of my friends and family.
What do you consider the most overrated virtue? Promptness, I’m ten minutes late for everything
What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery? Being bored
What is the quality you most like in a man? Confidence
What is the quality you most like in a woman? The ability to be supportive of other women.
Favorite books / favorite writers? Reading is my favorite thing to do, especially fiction and mysteries. I love Somerset Maugham, Harlan Coben, Wally Lamb and Jonathan Franzen, but there are too many to name.
What is your favorite movie? One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest.
What is the best advice you have ever received? Listen
