Madeline Hooper

Before devoting herself wholeheartedly to gardening, Madeline de Vries Hooper forged a trailblazing career in public relations, beginning at Bergdorf Goodman in the days when the Goodman family still owned the store. She was appointed PR Director at the age of 23, and among her responsibilities was creating shows for all the top European and American designers, including Yves Saint Laurent, Gucci, Givenchy, Oscar de la Renta and Halston. She left to have a baby seven years later, on the day Mr. Goodman sold the store in 1972. While at home with her baby son, she started The Craft Group with two friends, designing and creating needlepoint and embroidery kits for the Columbia Minerva pattern company. After several years of doing freelance public relations work, she opened her own agency in 1978, which grew to become DeVries Public Relations and the leading firm in the country specializing in marketing and public relations, with more than 100 employees. The agency's expertise covered a broad spectrum of categories, including fashion, beauty, retail, luxury products, wines, household goods and pharmaceuticals. During the course of its growth, Madeline made a strategic decision to shift focus from designers and entrepreneurs, such as Karl Lagerfeld, Donna Karan and Swiss Army, to mass consumer brands. The agency started working with Procter & Gamble in 1983 and represented many of its pillar brands: Pantene, Olay, Crest and Tide. It also enjoyed long relationships with Gallo, Old Navy, Tupperware, 3M's Post-it Notes, Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline. Madeline won the Matrix Communication Award for public relations in 2002 and sold her agency to the Interpublic Group. She retired in 2005 and is proud that DeVries Public Relations has continued to grow and thrive worldwide. Madeline also has dedicated herself to two other endeavors: ballroom dancing and gardening. She took up ballroom dancing, becoming one of the top amateurs in the country, and she started immersing herself in the world of gardening. She was invited to become a trustee of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden and then of the Berkshire Botanical Garden, where she has been Vice Chair for the past 10 years. She continues her gardening education by taking courses and attending lectures and workshops. She has visited many of the finest gardens in the United States and Europe and developed relationships with leading horticulturalists, garden designers and plantspeople. Madeline is a proud mother of two, and lives with her husband in Columbia County, New York, where they devote themselves to maintaining Rockland Farm Garden, an extensive 10-acre retreat they created from scratch for over 20 years.