Sophia Puglisi

I've been in this field for close to 12 years, and my journey started somewhat unexpectedly. As an English major in college with parents who are public educators, I was trying to figure out what to do with my degree besides teaching. I found my way into academic publishing almost by proximity - there was a research publisher in Thousand Oaks when I was based in Ventura County. I loved the editorial work, but there was a lot of focus on the business side of publishing, like relationships and renewing contracts. I wanted something more creative and focused on writing, which is how I found marketing, and it was sort of happily ever after after that. Before landing in my career, I worked every type of hourly job you could imagine - multiple ice cream companies, copywriting for a company that sold bacon products, restaurants, clothing stores. I was the perpetual worker, but all of those experiences were beneficial because learning about customer service has benefited me in every step of my communications career. What I love most about my work is getting to know other people and having the opportunity to educate myself by working with people who are experts in their fields. Whether it's academics who research the most specific things or thought leaders in educational access, I have such beautiful access to people who know a lot more than me and are willing to share and help me tell their stories in a way that reaches broader audiences. That's really been the through-line of my communications work - distilling complexity and making it simple, clear, and fun.