Business & Tech

Are You a St. Clair Shores Business Owner?

Get to know Patch's Audrey Perakis, the ad manager working with businesses in your community.

One of Patch's goals is to make life ridiculously easy for residents of our communities, and that includes business owners.

To that end, we’d like to introduce Audrey Perakis, Patch's ad manager for St. Clair Shores, Grosse Pointe, Grosse Pointe Farms, Grosse Pointe Park, Grosse Pointe Shores and Grosse Pointe Woods. She comes armed with ridiculously effective advertising deals that should fit most any budget.

We caught up with Audrey recently to ask her a few questions:

Interested in local real estate?Subscribe to Patch's new newsletter to be the first to know about open houses, new listings and more.

Where did you grow up and go to school? Do you have family?

From Clinton Township and graduated from Chippewa Valley High School. I graduated from Michigan State University with a degree in advertising. My family lives in Clinton Township, Grosse Pointe and St. Clair Shores.

Interested in local real estate?Subscribe to Patch's new newsletter to be the first to know about open houses, new listings and more.

What’s your experience?

While in college, I sold advertising for the student newspaper, The State News, and after college I moved back to the Detroit metro area and sold medical devices used in orthopedic and plastic surgery. I did that from 2004 until September 2012, when I joined Patch.

What are your personal hobbies/passions?

I love music. I do the social media and marketing outreach for my cousin, Paulina Jayne. She's a junior at Grosse Pointe South and a singer-songwriter and recording artist. Her debut album will be released in the next month or so. I think she represents what music is all about: creativity and originality and the courage to be different. How many 16-year-old girls are jamming with Audley Freed, a former guitarist with the Black Crowes, and Miranda Lambert, a Country music star? Paulina also opened for Sheryl Crow. I'm so glad I can help her.

What are the biggest obstacles facing small businesses today?

I come from a family of small business owners, so I have a personal connection to what they go through and their experiences. My grandmother, mother and two aunts owned the Imperial House banquet facility in Clinton Township. I'm a strong advocate for those trying to stand out in a crowded business landscape because I know how hard it is. It has become even more complicated now because owners are busy making the business successful and there are so many ways to communicate with current and potential customers now. Businesses just get lost.

How can you best help small businesses become more successful?

I'm a strong advocate for those trying to stand out in the crowd and to help their message rise above the noise and clutter. I can help them do that. Before I joined Patch, I lived for a while in Novi and I read Novi Patch. I used Patch to find my favorite restaurants, physicians, and even where to volunteer helping high school girls improve their reading. It really connected me with the community. I'd like help small business owners get connected to their customers in the same way. They need their message to have impact and be authentic. Patch is the perfect place for them to do that.

You can reach Audrey Perakis at audrey.perakis@patch.com and at 248-420-3034. Get in touch. She'll come out to see you.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here