Moët Hennessy USA Comms Chief: Trust Earns the Seat, Growth Keeps It

Yunice Emir, head of corporate communications at Moët Hennessy USA, says the formula for a seat at the leadership table is short: "You earn the seat through trust, sound judgment, and contribution. You keep it by continuing to grow."

Emir runs communications for the luxury wine and spirits division of LVMH. She has more than 15 years of experience, previously held leadership roles at Coca-Cola Co., and advises the CEO and senior leadership team. She was named a 2025 Ebony Power 100 honoree, one of Luxury Roundtable's 2025 Luxury Women Leaders to Watch, and an inaugural member of Essence's Power 40.

In an interview with Ragan's Isis Simpson-Mersha, Emir laid out how relationships, repeated rejection and a self-built framework shaped her path from sales training to the boardroom.

How did a sales job lead to a PR career?

Emir's first corporate role was sales capabilities manager at Coca-Cola in her hometown of Atlanta. She delivered training to the North American frontline sales team. She admitted she did not expect to enjoy the project management and reporting work.

She took the job anyway. "Getting in the door was all I needed," she said.

The role paid off through people, not tasks. "Once inside those 'bubbly gates,' affectionately known as the Happiness Factory, I met brilliant, generous people who became mentors, advocates, and champions," Emir said. Those relationships opened her first official PR role, managing some of the company's largest brands, despite no traditional communications background.

Her lessons from that period:

• Never tell yourself no.
• Treat every no as one answer closer to the next yes.
• Be excellent where you are, stay curious, and build meaningful relationships.

What does advising the CEO actually require?

Emir said her job demands preparation, discretion and the confidence to disagree in the room. She must understand leadership priorities, anticipate questions and bring recommendations that support well-informed decisions.

Accountability is the second half of the equation. "I ask for feedback. I own my mistakes, correct them, and apply what I've learned," she said. "Yesterday's success doesn't replace today's responsibility to contribute."

Her career was shaped by both the people who said yes and the people who said no. The yeses gave her opportunities and advocacy in rooms she had not entered. The nos taught discernment, and, in her words, that rejection can be protection or redirection.

Why did she build the Conn3ct Method?

Colleagues kept bringing Emir the same questions: how to build a personal brand, how to enter a room with presence, how to stay positive. Some ended conversations by asking her to be their life coach.

She noticed a pattern. People could describe what they admired in others far more easily than they could name their own strengths. She saw the gap in herself first.

That insight produced the Conn3ct Method, a framework linking three elements:

• Purpose — what matters to you.
• Presence — how you show up.
• Power — owning your strengths and acting on them.

Emir, who is also known as The Conn3ct, turned the framework into "The Unspoken Authority: The Conn3ct Method," a guided reflective journal published recently. The journal pushes readers beyond titles and expectations toward how they want to live and lead.

What advice would she give her younger self?

"Be open and be bold," she said. She would urge her first-day-in-PR self to ask the question, share the perspective and pursue the opportunity before feeling completely ready. Her own habit, learned at Coca-Cola: say yes and figure it out.

Outside communications, Emir said she would work in travel and hospitality, curating experiences that make people feel welcomed. The common thread, she argues, is understanding people and creating meaningful connection.