HPRB: What was your childhood ambition?
Angela: I was always a creative soul. As a child, I reveled in creating themed parties, costumes, and leading my pack of friends on imaginative adventures, treasure hunts, and expeditions to haunted houses (where I would layout the booty and spooky booby traps). As a teenager, I was a creator of stories and a writer of poetry. At times, I thought I wanted to be a veterinarian, because of my love of animals. Yet at others, I would dream of being a dancer or signer while standing in front of the mirror (you all know what I am talking about). In the end, what surfaced was my true calling. As a Public Relations professional, I am immensely lucky. I can continue to unleash that creative child in me, infusing a sense of wonder an excitement into everything I do. This is part of a winning formula that often translates into results.
HPRB: Tell us about two people you admire and why?
Angela: The people I admire most are not luminaries in the eyes of the world, but are in my eyes. These are people who have touched my life, inspired me and made me who I am today.
- My parents: these two magnificent individuals have taught me much. Personal responsibility, kindness, and putting your best foot forward lead the way. These are not only values that I apply to my personal life; these are also tenets that guide my business practices.
- My teachers: I was lucky enough to encounter many amazing mentors. Throughout my school years and later in college, these teaching giants gave me the tools to grow, cheered me along the way, and when I lacked the self esteem, they served as the wind beneath my wings.
HPRB: What is your favorite life or business quote?
Angela: “There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.”
HPRB: Besides your firm, what are you really passionate about outside of work?
Angela: Cooking is a definite passion. Making a meal is a deeply creative process. Inventing new dishes, mixing ingredients, and garnishing a dish are artistic expressions. I simply love to entertain and come-up with new surprises that will have friends and family either licking their fingers or/and oohing and aahing.
HPRB: Tell us about your educational background.
Angela: Bachelor of Arts in Communications from Boston College, Master of Arts in Communications with a concentration in Public Relations from Barry University and Master Certificate (CFP) in Finance from The University of Miami.
HPRB: What is one of the best lessons your parents taught you about life?
Angela: Be good in all you do. This means always operate with your best efforts and intentions.
HPRB: What is the most important business habit you have?
Angela: Always giving 120%, this also tends to work against my business interests, but I just can’t seem to help it. My staff seems to suffer from the same affliction.
HPRB: What is the best book you’ve recently read and why?
Angela:I would like nothing more than to answer with a list of Pulitzer Prize winners such as Joyce Carol Oates and Edward Albee. I certainly perused their books while working to promote their lectures as part of my work for the Festival of the Arts Boca, an international music and literary fest that brings some of the best talent to South Florida (a sister to the Festival del Sole in Tuscany, Italy).
Truth be told, besides the required forays into winning works of literature for the purpose of work, I prefer light reading. I enjoy fiction novels with a good dose of intrigue, mystery and some action. Books by Dan Brown, David Baldacci, and John Grisham are favorites of mine. I recently finished Dan Brown’s Lost Symbol. As always, it delivered on intrigue, a stay up all night read.
HPRB: How did you start your career in PR and where has that taken you?
Angela: I started on the media side of things working for Univision, as well as WPLG Channel 10, and Miami’s Fox affiliate. This gave me five years of media experience, which have served me well in Public Relations.
The switch came as a fluke. A friend and head hunter came to me with an opportunity to join Fleishman Hillard. I thought about it, went for the interview and the rest is history. During my agency years, and as I grew in the industry, I was lucky to be able to gain experience in different industries and markets. At Fleishman the focus was on Latin America. Later, I joined the team at the Nixon Group (now Golin Harris) and my focus migrated to the US general market. Finally, at Newlink I gained my foothold in the US Hispanic market. This combined experience compassed work for a number of key brands such as: AT&T, Siemens, Noven Pharmaceuticals, Merck Sharp and Dohme, GolTV, Miami Fashion Week, GolTV, DHL among others.
In 2006 I decided to venture out on my own with the encouragement of friends, family and a good client who believed in me. My work then and now have garnered me numerous awards. I hope you will visit www.adcompr.com to learn more.
HPRB: What advice would you have for young people exploring Hispanic or multicultural PR careers?
Angela: I think there are a number of key things to observe that are universal. First, you must believe in yourself and your abilities. This means you must keep abreast of the changes in the industry, learn and adapt accordingly. You must be an avid consumer of news. You must unleash your creative child in everything you do. Finally, your writing should tell a story that is of interest to your target audience and the media will follow.
HPRB: Tell us something about you that would surprise even many of your closest friends.
Angela: Uh oh spaghetti – o …..Shhh, it is really a big secret as all my friends think that I have only gourmet tastes…. but I have the strangest cravings at times and have been known to sneak in a can of Chef Boyardee spaghetti-os… and Gerber pineapple banana delight for dessert – say it isn’t so. Must be the child in me.
HPRB: What do you believe differentiates your agency and how big is your Hispanic-focused PR team?
Angela: ADCOM PR is a small team with a lot of heart and creativity that delivers big results. We are a small boutique shop and are ruled by a very simple philosophy. We do not take on anything we cannot deliver on. And yes, there are those projects that are better left to marketing or advertising. Once onboard, we become part of your family and committed to wowing you.
HPRB: Describe the most effective Hispanic marketing campaign you’ve worked on and what made it special?
Angela: I would say Discovery en Español’s campaign for Earth Day in 2009, which recently garnered us a Beacon Award for multicultural public relations.
In celebration of Earth Day, we sought to develop a multifaceted campaign that would encompassed a number of on-air, online, and grass roots components, designed to inform and inspire viewers. Each vehicle developed to disseminate our message was done with explicit attention to detail. Items such as the EPK (electronic press kit) were designed for interactivity and incorporated catchy graphics. The main cover led with the message, “inform yourself, involve yourself, and act!”.
The EPK also highlighted the programming, incorporated promotional video of the on air specials, and a link to the application “3 Pasos 3 Personas”, an online viral component that was created to motivate viewers to make three simple eco-changes in their lives and inspire 3 friends to do the same by forwarding the link, thus creating a snowball effect. Coverage well exceeded 40,000,000 impressions with a good dose of viral participation, dissemination of our promotional video on key video sites such as You Tube, Google Video, Yahoo Video, and excellent standard PR coverage.
HPRB: What are some of your agency’s top Hispanic/multicultural PR clients and what is the most exciting campaign your team is presently working on?
Angela: 2010 has been and exciting year where we have done Hispanic / multicultural PR on behalf of a number of our clients including: Discovery en Espanol, Discovery Familia, and Festival of the Arts in Palm Beach County. Perhaps the most exciting campaign this year is the one that is currently in progress. I find that I am always excited by the latest, but the Discovery Familia refresh has been a complete winner as we head into the home stretch. The brand and its promise were certainly helpful in our quest, but I think the components that were included offered the right combination for success. From the strategic approach, spokesperson, social media aspects, and sponsorships we incorporated, no stone was left unturned. I expect this one to be an award winner.
HPRB: What adjustments has your agency made to overcome some of the challenges of the current prolonged recession?
Angela: I could say work harder, but honestly we always do. We have taken a couple of hits but have been lucky enough to weather the storm.
HPRB: What’s in the works at your agency for continued growth and expansion?
Angela: We just finalized our new website this year www.adcompr.com . Now that it is in place, we hope to start an active marketing campaign. I would like to make sure that what we do reflects our creative bent.
HPRB: What is the biggest Hispanic marketing cliché that you would love to see go away?
Angela: Again, this applies to all markets and is not specific to Hispanic efforts. I mention this because it is a timely topic. That is, that every brand must have a Twitter account and a FB page (well, yes and no). I think if it is thought out strategically, has a reason for being (this one is key), and you’re committed to it, then yes. Otherwise, you may be doing more harm than good. They idea is to have a tool that will lead to engagement and that your key audiences will follow. This means one that is active with worthwhile information or content. If you can’t commit to the quality that reflects your brand, you may as well do nothing at all.
HPRB: What are the top dos and don’ts about marketing through Hispanic social media?
Angela: When it comes to Hispanic social media, it seems that many folks are going at it willy nilly. Just putting it out there into the Hispanic social media universe does not necessarily achieve you desired results. For tweats sake, simply because you obtain a tweet or a post by a Hispanic blogger (even when their reach numbers are large), does not mean you are hitting the mark. As with your standard media relations, you must approach and select your targets in a strategic manner, sometimes employing a niche minded approach to reach the true audiences that you seek.
HPRB: What are your three favorite sources to find out what is going on in the US Hispanic world and what do you look for in these resources?
Angela: This truly depends on what the client roster looks like. We consume a great deal of news every day, starting with what is going on in the world. I read the Wall Street Journal and go to the Yahoo News portal. For US Hispanic news, we read our local daily, El Nuevo Herald, but also make a point to visit the sites of publications like la Opinion, La Raza, etc. and portals such as Terra and AOL Latino to see what coverage is getting play. Bottom line, you really need to mix and match your consumption of Hispanic media so that you gain not only familiarity with what is going on but with the outlets you are trying to reach. Certainly TV and magazines (not named above) also need to be part of that equation.