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Copyright American City Business Journals Apr 28, 2000

ALICIA REECE

Vice President of Marketing and Promotions Communiplex

Marketing and Promotions and Integrity Hall

Age: 29

At the age of four, instead of going to day care, Alicia Reece headed to work with her parents.

I was an entrepreneur baby," Reece said. "I would cry to get to go with my parents."

Reece's parents, Steven and Barbara Reece, are the founders and owners of Communiplex Marketing & Promotions and Integrity Hall.

The toddler Reece was such a part of the was Communiplex.

"I'd answer the phone and say, 'Communiplex Services, hold on,' and then I would go get my mom" Reece said.

All those long days at the office helped prepare Reece for a successful business and political career.

At 29, not only is she the youngest female member to be elected to Cincinnati City Council, she is also vice president of her family's 30-year-old business. As a marketing consultant, Reece has serviced Communiplex contracts with Cincinnati-based Federated Department Stores Inc., Firstar, WIN radio, McCluskey Chevrolet and the Urban League.

Reece's day normally starts at 7 a.m. Not until 9:30 p.m. does she head back to her apartment. But work doesn't stop then. There's council reading and research to do, and constituent letters to write.

The balancing act of holding a council position and working full-time in a family-owned business is coming easy for Reece, though.

After all, she grew up working at Communiplex, Juggling high school extra cur ricular activities and then a college career. Reece earned a B.A. in mass communications from Grambling State University in 1993.

That's what I like about entrepreneurship, you've got to juggle to survive," Reece said. "Doing more than one thing has always been expected of me."

Reece's community involvement is nothing new. She is the founder of the Communiplex National Student Leadership Summit, a three-day leadership training conference with college student leaders from across the country Reece also is the founder of African American Business & Consumer Week.

Reece plans on keeping up the family tradition and is already taking her 9-month-old niece, Paige, to speaking engagements.