Arlene Osoria
1. Please introduce yourself and tell us a little about your professional work
My name is Arlene Osoria. I graduated from CSUN in 2016 with my degree in Journalism with emphasis in PR. Since then, I went on to work freelance with different clients, ranging from creative, music artists, non-profit organizations, into governmental and labor sector. Now I currently work with the Carpenters Union, also known as Southwest Regional Council of Carpenters in there in house communications department where we handle not only internal but also external communications. I focus mainly on Spanish language media.
2. What inspired you to pursue a career in PR?
Taking it back to high school, I knew immediately that I wanted to do writing. Initially, I started off with broadcast journalism as my major at CSUN and then I went into general and I had a tough time enrolling since everyone wanted it. At one point, I just compared the classes and thought to myself that it wouldn’t be much of a difference if I went into PR. In the end, it ended up being a blessing in disguise since I didn’t know it was going to be something that I fell in love with.
3. Where do you see yourself in the upcoming years?
I’m really happy to where I am now because it did take a lot to get here. When you get a position that’s for you, you’ll understand why everything else didn’t work. With that being said, since we are an international organization, our chapter is only the southwest. In five years, I’d hope to be working on a national level and overseeing the communications of all of our chapters and unions in the United States and Canada. We’re also very involved in government since we are a union, we need to get the political support. So I’d love to be able to work nationally, not only to represent our chapter but also advocate and push our interests forward in a political level.
4. Do you have any advice for students who are pursuing a career in public relations?
First, I would say to be flexible and to have an understanding that not one thing is going to work. Just like we plan for campaigns, the best you can do is prepare. However, there could be a chance during execution that things don’t work out as you’d hope or planned for. It’s important to have a plan, and nimble as things come up. You just have to look at a situation and then pivot where needed. Being positive is important but professionalism is essential.
5. How would you describe your typical day?
I never thought that I’d end up in the construction industry. You always hear different types of stories when it comes to someone’s day to day at work especially if they work for either the media or entertainment industry. Working in construction is just as exciting. Our day-to-day can range from starting our day in the office for morning meetings to checking all of our socials, responding back to our clients and strategizing upcoming campaigns to even going out to job sites, doing photoshoots, or video shoots. It’s quite exciting and I enjoy that our work environment is very family-friendly and close-knit.