the ciaooo! story

the ciaooo! story

we didn’t start as an agency. we started as a magazine.

We started in 2019 as a content site called Ciaooo! Magazine. Founded by 2 local New Yorkers, we felt that there was no media site showcasing the authentic stories of NYC, so we did it ourselves. For 3 years, we created hundreds of articles, posts, and events, building out a community of over 10K local New Yorkers. Our biggest finding? Audiences want to feel seen, be heard, and be part of an impactful community.

Our readers were our first clients, shout out to Aaron F of Big Brothers Big Sisters. They recognized our ability to build communities with young audiences from online to in real life. We said yes, built it like we'd build anything rooted in real community, and never looked back. We closed down the magazine and transitioned full time into an agency in September 2022. We’ve been blessed to have worked with brands like Stetson, Disney, Zara, MyFitnessPal, Swrl and more, all because of how we invest in our community.

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meet the team!

  • A woman with long black hair, wearing a black top and a necklace, poses with a slight smile against a lavender background.

    chau mui

    co-founder / creative director

  • A portrait of a young woman with long dark hair, wearing a white shirt and beige blazer, against a light purple background.

    paola hertz

    co-founder / operations director

  • Close-up of a woman with dark hair, wearing a black top, showing tattoos on her arm, against a purple background.

    jaxxy davies

    marketing coordinator

  • Brian Ondrako - Sales Expert at Ciaooo Media NYC.

    brian ondrako

    advisor / sales

what we believe

Every brand we've ever met has the same instinct: post more, spend more, hope harder. It rarely works, because content isn't the thing that's missing. A world is.

Community isn't a tactic you run in Q3. It's the foundation everything else stands on — your product, your content, your activations, your paid spend. All of it either serves the world you've built, or it's just noise with a budget behind it. We don't believe in fail fast. Not here. Fail fast is how you build an app. It's business suicide when the goal is community — you don't get a second chance to earn someone's trust after you've wasted the first one.