Her Story
About Karla
I studied fine arts but have always had a passion for business and have always been an entrepreneur. As soon as I graduated college from the University of New Orleans in 1999, I started as a marketing project manager at one of the local real estate firms, and from there became the director of marketing and public relations at a local bank, Bank of New Orleans, where I was for 4 years. Then I started publishing my own magazines - I published Nosotros Magazine, which is a bilingual publication in the New Orleans area, for 8 years until I started working at the International School of Louisiana, where I was Director of Communications and Development for 18 years. About 4 months ago, I returned back to working for myself. I now run two businesses: Spotlight Strategy Group, my PR and marketing firm, and Studio Shakti, which is an event space, dance studio, and community center. My work has always been at the intersection of community and culture, very involved with culture, communications, and connection. On a regular day, I visit my PR clients and check in and do work together with them, have multiple meetings for potential clients, serve on two different boards, run 5 social media accounts, and teach dance classes at the studio and at Tulane University. Everything I do is very public-facing - visibility is everything in my work.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Karla
01What do you attribute your success to?
I think that I've been really intentional about keeping my work connected to my culture and to cultural work. And that is a passion for me. And so it doesn't feel like work - it just feels like my purpose.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
I think that the advice that keeps me on the pulse is that, like, not to wait. If I have an idea, and I believe strongly in it, not to overthink it, to put it into action, and as you're putting it into action, see where it leads you, because sometimes it stays that path, other times it brings you in a completely new direction. The ability to move without having a full plan and a full view has been the best advice, I think.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
I think making sure - the work requires a lot of you, a lot of energy, a lot of personality, and a lot of connection. So, if someone were interested in entering this field, I would tell them that they should feel connected to the work that they're doing, and to make sure that either the place where they work or the industry that they're in comes back to their personal interests in making their mark in the world, because it's going to be the driving force when you don't feel the energy.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
What I'm finding, my biggest challenge is that everything that I do is very public-facing. I'm not typically a private person, so it helps, but I find that there's nothing that I can do in the background. Everything's very, very public-facing, and it requires - even for my clients, that work is in the background, but it requires that I am visible. Like, visibility is everything. So lots of energy.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
I think transparency, authenticity, and vulnerability. I think it's really important for me, and as a family, we value being able to learn from others all the time, even when you're guiding, even when you're directing, to be able to be vulnerable, and to be transparent, and to be connected to whatever you're doing, and whoever you're doing it with in an authentic way. For a really long time, I went into sales, and I think that the reason that I didn't like sales, and I was really good at it, but the reason I didn't like sales is because whether or not I believed that the person needed the product, my goal, and if I was doing a really good job, I was going to sell them on it, whereas I love marketing and the idea of you have something, and you have a message, but you bring that message to the people that are already seeking that. So that's where I value that work, because it allows me to be more authentic.
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