Keisha Raines

I've been working in communications within museums since about 2013, for about 8 years now. I actually used social media and PR as a way to pay for college - I was really fortunate to meet a woman who needed help with her PR office, so I did assistant work. This was in 2009, and social media was still very new, so she let me take over a couple of her social media accounts. In college, after an art history class, I realized I wanted to be in history, in art, in arts and culture - this is what I wanted so badly. So I took some internships at galleries in LA, and out of college, I started working in a PR firm for interior designers and art galleries. Through connections, I was offered a job at the Autry in LA, a Western history and art museum, and I really loved it. I absolutely love museums - there's something just so rewarding, I feel rejuvenated from them. I think they're extremely inspiring. I really love seeing classrooms here on field trips, because I remember what it was like going to a museum when I was younger and feeling all of the feelings for it. About four years ago, I came to the Huntington for lunch and was offered a job. I've worked at the Autry in communications and digital marketing, and for the last four and a half years, I've been at the Huntington in San Marino as the Assistant Director of News and Media Relations. I'm also the PR subcommittee chair for SoCal Museums, a collection of communications and marketing professionals at museums in Southern California, and I'm the co-chair of our Asian American Pacific Islander employee resource group at the Huntington.