You'd expect a conversation about statistics and mathematical analysis to go down in a more straight-laced office. Somewhere with white walls and serious suits.

Instead Judette Coward-Puglisi and I chat over a shag carpet, sitting on swank leather chairs, with a bundle of tropical flowers shifted to the side. Jewel tones are everywhere-from the walls to her elaborate blouse. A scented candle warms the space.

The sanguine Managing Director of Mango Media and President of the International Association of Business Communicators' local chapter (IABC T&T) is a bona fide creative soul. But even that sort must be concerned with brass tacks in a business environment.

"In corporate communications people sometimes say that what we do is so unpredictable," Coward-Puglisi starts. "How on earth do you measure it? We might set out to do one campaign, expecting a particular result and it doesn't happen that way. But the other school of thought is that we cannot manage what we cannot measure. CEOs want to know 'what is the value of communications? If I invest this amount what are the return and risk characteristics? How are we going to measure objectivity and predictability?' "