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As a native Marin County resident, Brooke Gray brings an intimate knowledge of the San Francisco Bay Area to her work. It was during a community service trip to the Dominican Republic, at the tender age of sixteen, when Brooke first realized the power of photography. “A picture is worth a thousand words” stated Gray. Upon return from her two-month service in the highland mountains of that developing Caribbean nation it was difficult for her to describe the affect the culture, the people and the community had on her. Instead she took pictures.

Gray has traveled to over 52 countries and over 250 cities to date and she will not stop exploring. She lives to travel and experience life in its natural state. Gray prefers “candid character photography” and loves to capture “organic expressions.” She specializes in maternity, infants, children, engagements, weddings, portraiture, travel, editorial, product placement, food & beverage and hospitality. Gray’s “corporate career experiences” consist primarily of management and director level positions at some of the finest hotels and restaurants in the Greater Bay Area and Napa Valley.

Gray holds a B.A. from the University of California at Berkeley in Latin American Political Economics and is an aspiring sommelier with a passion for photography, writing, traveling and studying foreign languages. Gray spent a year studying at La Universidad de Chile in Santiago, Chile, and is fluent in both Spanish and Portuguese. She has a strong tie to the community and commitment to several non-profit organizations including the Latino Film Festival and Amigos de las Americas. Gray currently resides in San Rafael with her husband Kyle.

Gray recently left the hospitality industry and decided to pursue her own creative interests and passion. Gray spent the last two years as the Director of Sales, Marketing & Hotel Operations of Pat Kuleto’s Nick’s Cove & Cottages in West Marin County. While there her primary responsibilities included business and partnership development, event creation and execution, community outreach, hotel operations, public relations, marketing, individual leisure, corporate and group sales. Her efforts were instrumental in the re-integration of Nick's Cove & Cottages into the Tomales Bay community.

Prior to Nick's Cove & Cottages, Gray served as group and corporate sales manager for The Meritage Resort at Napa, where she was quickly promoted and, while there, received the Pacific Hospitality Group's Pinnacle Sales Manager Award. Her efforts increased the group sales programs as well as overall exposure for the resort. Gray was previously the Banquet Manager & Lead Host at the popular San Francisco restaurant Betelnut Pejiu Wu, where she organized luncheons, cocktail parties, dinner parties and corporate banquets. Gray formerly worked with several educational tour companies organizing, creating and leading group travel in Europe and Latin America. It was over a decade ago that Gray first entered the San Francisco restaurant industry with the Real Restaurants group as Banquet Coordinator and Lead Host at Fog City Diner. Gray previously worked with the Pat Kuleto Restaurant Group as a Maitre'd at Farallon Restaurant on Union Square.

Gray Consulting & Design is an offshoot of Brooke Gray Photography where Brooke pairs her professional skills and experience with her passion. Her love of the hospitality industry is “in her veins” and she has had the privilege to work with some of the culinary world’s top Chefs.* Gray realized that when working a typical 50-60 hour work week in the industry it’s hard to find the time to come up with creative concepts and marketing tools. Gray stated the she “likes to help give the good restaurants and quality hotels a little facelift and a small dose of creativity. In today’s day and age, with technology, small businesses (especially restaurants) should be embracing online social marketing and networking. Now is the time to value your guests and build a strong return-client base. Keep yourself fresh and in front of your target audience. I can help you do that.”

*Gray worked with Executive Chef Bruce Hill at Fog City Diner now Executive Chef of Bix in San Francisco and Owner/Chef at Picco in Larkspur. Working with chefs like Alex Ong at Betelnut Pejiu Wu, Gray expanded her culinary knowledge to the far reaching region of the Pacific Rim. Gray also had the privilege to work with Executive Chef Mark Franz and Pastry Chef Emily Lucchetti at Farallon Restaurant and almost a decade later at Nick’s Cove. Gray worked intimately with the notorious restauranteur Pat Kuleto on the Nick’s Cove & Cottages project on a weekly basis. Working side-by-side with Kuleto (on his first hotel project), Gray understood his vision, design and philosophy and she implemented standards of procedure and a superb level of hospitality for her guests, her employees and the press. Gray speaks highly of the professional relationships she has been fortunate enough to have and feels as though they are her mentors and have taught her “everything she knows about food, wine and having “a good dine” in the Bay Area.”