Cristina Pinzon

The best career advice I ever received was from my husband when I first started my business. It wasn't something that I had anticipated at that very moment in my life, so it was very stressful. I started off with one client, and here we are 11 years later, but it was just a few months in and I was ready to throw in the towel. My husband was like, give it at least 6 months. He was just talking me off the ledge. I also had another woman who, when I told her that I opened up my business, she said, 'Oh, that's cute.' I turned that into a positive. I'm like, that's not cute, that's my livelihood. And so I took it as a positive and I ran with it. I'm like, I'm gonna show every single person here who thought that I couldn't be something without them. I'm gonna show them that I can do it myself.

I think that they should try really hard to put themselves in situations that are gonna make them uncomfortable, whether it's with public speaking, new business development, interviewing clients, or third-party validators. The more that they establish and hone in on those skills early on, I think the more they will stand out amongst employers. And also, just stay true to yourself and your roots. It's very easy in a fast-paced world to just forget about what we're passionate about. So just try to have fun with it, and also see what good you can do with public relations. There's a lot, like I just talked about with child abuse. We get to choose what type of work that we want to do. And so, for us, personally, everyone is different and everyone has a different mission in life, but for me personally, it's important to apply what I believe in. And if I believe in an organization like Wynonna's House, then I'm gonna do everything in my power to help them. And I'm also giving back to the community, and I feel like my work is purposeful. I think it's possible to do what you're passionate about and also do your job at the same time with public relations, because it's so broad.

I always say that there are a few challenges, but I would say one of the bigger ones is being a minority and Hispanic-owned, or Latino-owned business, and a woman-owned business. I think that when people think DEI, or they think woman, or they think minority, they think that the value of our work is less than mainstream. And no, we do the same work, if not we do quality work. So I think that they expect lower proposals when we're at par with everyone else. And I think that it's gonna be a rude awakening for a lot of folks, but you can't dismiss the changes going around in our community. I think one of the challenges, which is just the nature of it, is what it is, but convincing people that it's important for businesses to be culturally aware and look at the purchasing power of different ethnic groups so they can invest in those communities.

It's important to me to be my authentic self. You know, who I am professionally and who I am privately is who I am. And ethics is a big part of what I do. Even if there are clients, the journalist in me has to always corroborate the stories that we're putting out, because I do feel like it is our responsibility as public relations professionals to put out factual information as well, even if it's for a client or if it's for a private client. So those things are important to me, and also, most importantly, is giving women, and especially young women, guidance academically, whether it's with their schooling, education, or professionally. Towards minority, I like to try to pave the way for younger girls. I didn't have that experience growing up. I'm a first-generation Colombian American. So, you know, I'm only giving what I wish I would have gotten as well.