Heather VanBrummelen, 28

Being in marketing and promotional products, Heather VanBrummelen has a front-line seat to the damage the pandemic has caused to area businesses. That’s because some companies, in a desperate move to keep the doors open, have cut back on marketing — even though that step can be hurtful in and of itself.

“We’ve had to shift our client’s mindset,” says VanBrummelen, a Southwest Florida-based marketing and branding specialist with Pro Forma DHJ Promotions, a Palm Beach County company her dad, Craig Roma, has owned for years. “We’ve had to work with clients on their marketing budgets and places where they are going to cut. It takes a little bit of thinking on your feet and problem-solving.”