Why P33’s Erin Amico Finds Purpose in the Power of Storytelling
By Erin Amico, Chief Marketing Officer, P33
From a very early age, I’ve had an interest in and affinity for storytelling.
I thrive, I shine, and I find my purpose in bringing misunderstood or untold stories to life.
In my personal life, I write children’s books, where I feature characters of color and bring in many of my personal experiences. As a Chicagoan and an African American, I feel that it's important for storytellers to speak to stories and experiences only they can tell uniquely.
In my professional life, my work is shaped by the same questions that frame my fiction writing:
How can you tell this story in an authentic way?
How do you make it resonant?
How do you get people to connect and to care?
I aim to take waning brands—brands that are misunderstood, losing relevance, or in need of modernization—and make them relevant for new audiences.
I believe, as a kind of personal value, that the human experience, regardless of culture or country, is generally the same. Good marketing can tap into that core thread, the universal truth that connects us as humans. What attracted me to this space was that, in marketing an idea, something intangible, I was helping people connect to a universal truth that might otherwise go unrecognized.
At first glance, my career path looks untraditional—marketing for Tiffany and Co, partnering with many B2B companies during my time with a variety of agencies, and today working as Chief Marketing Officer at P33, where we are forging Chicago’s reputation as a tier-one tech hub. Yet, the unifying theme is clear: Each of my professional roles has centered on telling stories—telling fresh stories to traditional audiences and making familiar stories relevant to new audiences.
I came to Tiffany at a time when the company was working out how to pivot toward digital marketing and social media to connect with a new generation of customers. In my time with VSA Partners, I worked with Fortune 500 B2B companies to find relevant ways to connect within changing markets. And now, at P33, I work to ensure Chicago’s reality as a tech leader aligns with its vibrant brand as a city and isn’t dismissed as a “flyover” hub between the coasts.
The through line between luxury and nonprofit was storytelling—sharing stories about the intangible, about aspirations, about hope. That's the type of story that inspires me.
My work at P33 aligns with my sense of purpose. I’m using my skillset to foster a shared identity in Chicago by helping our community hear each other’s stories. And our tech community in Chicago has so many great stories. The work I do at P33 is to take thousands of individual stories and find the collective story that can be our rallying cry.
That shared story is clear, it’s purpose-driven, and it’s unique to Chicago. Our city is redefining what it means to win in tech.
Tech is at its best when it isn't about the big celebrity entrepreneur. When it’s not about the individual or achieving personal wealth. Tech should benefit the community. It should be about creating generational wealth.
In Chicago, we don’t believe in tech for tech’s sake. We take on meaningful problems—big, meaty problems—that take time and collaboration. Questions like, “How do you feed the world sustainably? How do you move product during a global pandemic?” This is serious stuff.
Ours is a roll-up-your sleeves, Midwestern, get-it-done approach to tech.
In telling the stories of other purpose-driven leaders, I can help change the narrative about our city and about the real purpose of innovation. It’s about highlighting the optimism in what we have here in Chicago.
Dr. Garry Cooper, the CEO of Rheaply, is a great example of one of these Chicago leaders whose approach is shaping the story of what it means to be successful, both in his work at Rheaply and as a board member here at P33. Rheaply has created a platform to support organizations working towards zero-waste models. They’re extending the life of products and helping attack some of our big climate problems. That's not a light challenge, but it is going to be one of many important steps in creating a more sustainable future. He's doing that here, in Chicago, and he’s not only had incredible success as the founder, he’s also had lots of a lot of support behind him. I hope we’ll see him emerge as one of the next tech “unicorns.”
Another example is Paul Couston, the founder of Ascent Integrated Tech. Ascent is developing technology to protect the people who are protecting us—like firefighters and SWAT teams—with technology that shows monitoring visibility. That means that when a firefighter is inside the building, their leader outside can track their location. Paul tells heartbreaking stories of first responders who run into a building and lose radio contact, truly life or death situations. Ascent is taking on these weighty challenges and using tech to help teams monitor first responders’ vital signs and location to mitigate the risks they face every day.
Thomas Jonas, the CEO of Nature’s Fynd, is taking on the challenge of finding new sources of sustainability in the food industry. He’s creating dairy and meat alternatives with a microbe-based protein, Fy, which has led to a series of food products that are delicious and sustainable and revolutionizing the food industry here in Chicago. It’s a huge opportunity to solve one of the most pressing challenges we currently face—feeding our global population in a sustainable way.
Beyond the products themselves, Chicago is home to innovators who are really changing what it means to lead successful tech companies. One leader I truly admire is Godard Abel at G2, especially the way he talks about his values and his hiring practices. He and these other leaders like him should be the models we revere as what tech leaders should be and do. More people need to know about people like Godard, because I think he really embodies so much of what is special about this ecosystem.
My purpose drives me to make sure their stories are told, because these are the kind of leaders and companies who can and will drive transformational change. They make me proud to be a Chicagoan, and if I can tell their stories, if I can show what a high concentration of these kinds of innovators are here in this city, I can do my part in championing them as the model for the future of the tech industry worldwide.
Using my storytelling skills is also my way of opening space for the next generation of tech leaders. Because when their stories are told, they can become the touchstones for young people looking for role models that allow them to envision their own success.
One of the young founders I'm really excited about working with closely is Ruben Flores-Martinez, the CEO of CASHDROP. Ruben immigrated to the United States from Mexico at a young age, and he can serve as such a dynamic and amazing model for community-minded leadership in our city. He told me he wanted to be what he didn't see starting out, which resonated so deeply with me.
I think that's true of so many of our city’s founders, particularly our founders of color. They understand that their success is not theirs alone; it’s also about creating pathways for success for the next generation of founders. Making sure those stories are told is so important because those stories can fuel the dreams of young people who can see themselves represented and reflected in someone like Ruben’s success.
Another founder who embodies this is Ian Michael Brock. Today he’s 17 years old, but when he was just 10, he started a company called Dream Hustle Code. He lives by the mantra that if you can see it, you can be it, so he’s teaching kids on the south and west sides of the city how to code.
Another initiative that gives me a lot of pride is P33’s TechRise, led by Desiree Vargas Wrigley. TechRise focuses on helping Black and Latinx founders create community, access capital, and truly build their connections throughout the city. That program doesn't just help those founders; it's also shaping the next generation of founders. We know through studies from Chicago:Blend and others that diverse teams hire a more diverse workforce. The more we can support founders and companies that change the fabric of what currently exists, the more we open borders and create paths for the future.
These are the stories that could so easily get lost in the shuffle when we only talk about people who have already achieved major success. But telling the stories of people while they’re pursuing their goals is how we show the unlimited possibilities to our next generation of leaders.
That sense of community is the key to Chicago’s rise as a leading global tech city. What we have here in Chicago has been forged over hundreds of years. The fact that we're seeing this growth—our city is the number one metro area for new and expanding companies and number one in corporate expansions and relocations—is not a fluke. It’s the foundation that we’ve built.
My purpose is to bring these incredible stories to the forefront of the story of our city because this community will be in the driver’s seat of creating transformation change worldwide.
