Fabiola Camacho

I attribute a lot of my success to my family, who taught me the value of hard work and a strong work ethic from a young age. That's carried me far in my career.  Every time I get frustrated, or disillusioned, or when a setback occurs, I remember, okay, this is part of life. And hard work is never a bad thing, and hard work is rewarding. I remind myself of that, and that's something that I learned from a young age from my family.

One of the best pieces of advice I got from a mentor was that you have to manage up too. If people keep handing you things, you need to ask what's actually the priority, especially when you're already juggling several projects. Early in my career I was eager to please and proud of being a hard worker, so I took on too much without pushing back. Over time, managing all of it becomes second nature, but learning to manage up early makes a real difference.

I think my biggest piece of advice would be to go for it. If there's an industry, a client, or a job that seems interesting for you, try it out. The time is going to pass anyway, so you might as well spend it discovering something you didn't expect, maybe even falling in love with it.

AI is probably the biggest one. It's a huge opportunity, it lets one person do so much more in PR than was possible even a few years ago. But it's a balance. You have to remember it's a tool and you're the one using it. You define the tone, the scope, how much of it you lean on. It absolutely shapes how we write and communicate day to day, but it should never change your underlying strategy or replace the things only humans can do, like judgment, relationships, and instinct. We're the differentiator, not AI.

Two things stand out for me, organization and mentorship. Staying organized means knowing exactly what's on my plate so nothing falls through the cracks, and when something unexpected comes up, being able to quickly reprioritize without losing track of everything else. The other is mentorship. I've started intern programs at nearly every company I've worked at, even when they didn't already exist, because I think it's important to pass that knowledge on to the next generation. Hearing from people I've managed that I've made a real difference for them is something I take a lot of pride in.

On a personal level, honesty, ethics, and loyalty matter most to me. I think doing the right thing in small, inconsequential moments, when no one's really watching or it doesn't even matter that much, says a lot about who someone really is.