Local Folks: Pete Kimmel

Around the globe to San Marco

By Michele Leivas

Pete Kimmel has a unique appreciation for the roots he’s laid in his San Marco community.

Growing up, Kimmel traveled extensively with his family, both nationally and internationally, for his father’s job. At the time, his father worked for Ally Bank – then known as GMAC – and he was the guy they sent to struggling branches.

“Their whole policy was, if you’re doing a good job, we’ll take you and move you to a place that isn’t doing a good job,” he said. “And my dad was really good at his job.”

Kimmel estimates he lived in 15 different places around the globe growing up, from Michigan and Oklahoma to Switzerland and England. The first time he landed in Jacksonville, his family lived in the Riverside community, where he attended the Episcopal School of Jacksonville before his family moved on to Charlotte, North Carolina. But Kimmel said leaving Jacksonville behind was not easy.

“I always had fond memories of Jacksonville, for sure,” he said. “I feel like I had a really good group of friends, and we got into all sorts of trouble. Nothing too serious. But when I moved away, I was really upset about it.”

Following high school, Kimmel followed in his older brother’s footsteps and attended University of Florida. An unexpected fraternity party reunion with Paige Brzoska, a middle school crush from Jacksonville, would eventually lead him back to the Bold City. The two dated in college before Kimmel moved to Detroit to launch his professional career, at which point he and Brzoska began a long-distance relationship, with Kimmel in Michigan and Brzoska in Jacksonville. Eventually, Kimmel decided to make the move and return to the First Coast so they could be together.

Kimmel said he took the first job he could find to relocate to Jacksonville. That first job, he recalls, was as a membership and grants coordinator for MOCA Jacksonville before moving on to become a marketing manager for First Coast Homeless Pets, which he said was much more in his wheelhouse.

Today, Kimmel calls San Marco home and works as the marketing director for the Brandit Agency in Vero Beach and has also launched his own boutique agency, Perception Marketing. In addition to the creative aspect of his job, he said he finds gratification and reward in building brands for people and businesses.

“I like the aspect of helping people and making them look good and making their brand shine,” he said.

While he and Brzoska are no longer together, they are co-parents to 6-year-old Vivienne. After traveling and relocating so frequently during his own childhood, he said he’s found a unique appreciation for laying roots here in San Marco, with his parents nearby in Ortega.

“I really like the neighborhoods in Jacksonville,” he said. “I just feel like it’s a great place to be a family, you know, to have a family, to have a kid, because there’s a lot to do, there’s enough to do, but it’s not so busy where you feel like it’s overcrowded.”

With Vivienne’s current obsession with catching frogs, Kimmel says one of their favorite things to do is walk down River Road with Otis, Kimmel’s Labrador mix, after it rains to see if any frogs are out and about. Often, their walks will include a stop at Landon Park or, if the timing is right, a stop at the pier at Riverfront Park to watch the sunset.

“It’s kind of a local gem,” he said. “It’s probably the best views of the sunset in Jacksonville, in my opinion.”

While he does enjoy exploring the tighter-knit communities and neighborhoods of Jacksonville, Kimmel said he hopes for something to “finally happen” downtown.

“I’m ready for a cool downtown experience,” he said, “because I think that’s the next step for Jacksonville.”