All Digitocracy

Media & Diversity

Nikki Barjon’s Lessons On Public Relations

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From professional athletes including Michael Vick, entertainers including T.I. and upscale brands like Bentley Motors, The Barjon Group works with some of the biggest names in sports, entertainment and high-end brands

NikkiBARJONblackandwhite“I think you’re the most gifted generation of trash-talkers,” Nikki Barjon recently told students at The University of Georgia.

Founder of the Barjon Group, a public relations firm based in Atlanta, she has had clientele ranging from lifestyle guru Martha Stewart, rapper T.I, football player Michael Vick and Martin Luther King III, son of the late civil rights leader. During her career she has also lead the PR and communications work for major networks covering shows such as Jeopardy Wheel of Fortune, The Oprah Winfrey Show and Inside Edition.

With hopes to inspire public relations students to “follow their passions,” Barjon spoke about the truth in the business and her path to success.

Barjon originally majored in psychology in college, and although she says she had no idea that public relations was her dream when she first started (actually Barjon thought “PR” was short for “people relations”), she has been a trailblazer in the industry since very early on. She was engaging and challenged attendees to become more involved in the lecture, handing out sticky notes with statements for her to address.

Here are some of the things we learned from Barjon’s sticky notes:

“Social media is NOT a career”- Barjon spoke on the importance of understanding social media and how it can affect a client negatively if not used appropriately or if you don’t understand the art of branding. Saying “I have a problem with the word ‘expert’ anyway” she admitted to challenging people guilty of this to explain how they can truly know or measure the extent of their knowledge, or expertise. Instead, she insisted that duplicating someone respected and admired in the industry was the best way to become great at something until you could add more of yourself into it.

“Addressing your ‘back road’ mentality”- Admitting that she came from a family of “back road” mentalities, Barjon described it as a term for people who focus on the not so smart things people do. In PR, the job entails representing all kinds of people that have possibly done crazy things. She chuckled as she told UGA students about a point in her career where possible clients thought they needed a prison background to be represented by her because most of her clients–she’s represented domestic doyenne Martha Stewart, rapper/actor T.I. and football player Michael Vick–had been in prison at some point. While you don’t have to agree with the choice’s someone has made in the past, as long as they are willing to grow, you should help.“I am a person that believes in second chances,” she said.

“You’re talented, but ‘talented’ is overrated” – Talent alone is not enough. The difference between a talented person, and a hard worker, from her experiences, is a job and a successful career. A real “talent” is an added bonus. The competition is real, and its tough. “Talent won’t cut it. Hard work will.”

“You are raising a generation of s*** talkers”- “Started from the bottom… you’re STILL at the bottom” Barjon joked twisting Drake’s song. The hard work never ends. The PR life can get to people easily and make them think they’ve reached the top thank to the parties, the celebs, the lifestyle- but they forget the work. Students laughed when Barjon asked what the most common phrase on everyone’s resume was, only to result in the very ordinary “proficient in Microsoft word”. As common as it is, she was adamant in explaining that no one looks at a resume and reads “proficient in Microsoft Word” and thinks that’s their hire. So when asked what would impress her, Barjon told All Digitocracy that it would be someone expanding their knowledge and skills. This could be achieved by taking classes outside of school, or playing around with Adobe so that she “can get [you] to support the brand in other ways than just coming up with good ideas.”

“You should be getting your butt kicked“- Finally, Barjon seemed a firm believer in “tough love”. She admitted, “I’m brutal with my staff; they get their butts kicked everyday! But I do it with love, I really do.” Wanting to improve her own work as well as theirs, Barjon pushes and challenges her staff to look past their limitations and go beyond their expectations to polish those diamonds in the rough. She ended the lecture saying, “I’m saying a lot of things, I’m throwing a lot of things out there saying talent is not enough, and having passion is not enough. I’m giving you all the keys to what I do everyday, and still do today to make it. Because you can’t do it on your own. You can’t do it with just talent. You can’t do it with just hard work. You really need ALL of the things that I am talking about in order to really make it.”

Not only does Barjon challenge and expect a lot from her team on a day-to-day basis, she is one to “walk the walk and talk the talk”. UGA students were captivated by Barjon’s words and were easily inspired by her successes during the lecture. She exuded confidence and pride in her work, not solely based on her “talent” but thanks to her dedication to work hard and always pursue her passions.

Maria Hinojosa On Telling Stories Nobody Else Is Telling

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Maria Hinojosa3Maria Hinojosa has paved the way for and inspired thousands throughout the country. A journalist, anchor, producer, author, mother, friend, and Latina, she has broken many cultural barriers and given a voice to the voiceless. With a goal of changing the media landscape and the conversation regarding the America of the 21st Century, Hinojosa launched the Futuro Media Group, which produces the show “America By the Numbers.” Through the program, Hinojosa is talking about how the America we know is rapidly changing.  All Digitocracy spoke with Hinojosa about her path to success, her struggles as a Latina woman in an industry that isn’t always kind to them, and her dedication to making the “invisible, visible”. 

All Digitocracy: What inspired “America By the Numbers”?

Maria Hinojosa: We knew that we wanted to be looking into the future I mean, the name of my company is the Futuro Media Group. Because of the kind of journalism and stories that I have always told, which are usually revolving around people who are voiceless. Because I do this kind of reporting–some people call it social justice, I just call it the truth-people always assumed that I had some political bent. So, with the notion of “By the Numbers,” knowing that we wanted to talk about the future and demographic change, and to be able to say to those who [said]- ‘well you have some kind of political bent’ it’s like “no” we’re basing our reporting on numbers, on facts. This is not about an agenda. It is about the truth, about the future.

AD: What type of audience, besides the Latino community, are you trying to reach?

MH: What we are trying to do is to actually diversify the demographic that is consuming public media while at the same time educating the public. I’m not approaching my stories saying, “Well, this is going to be a story for a Latino audience” and “This is going to be a story for a white audience.” I approach it as “I’m a journalist. I’m curious. There’s a great story here. How am I going to tell it so that everyone wants to watch it?”.

AD: What affect do you hope to have on your audience?

MH: We are a very diverse staff, and because we all come from these different backgrounds, and are owning our personal narratives in a moment of historic demographic change in the United States, we don’t look at demographic change and race as something that we should be afraid of, or concerned about, or worried about. Our team would like to feel like if we did anything in terms of impact, is to lessen the fear of the reality that exists right now.

AD:  How have your personal experiences as a Latina impacted your work?

Maria Hinojosa founded the Futuro Media Group, an independent nonprofit organization that produces and distributes stories not being covered in mainstream media.

MH: I have never lost touch with the fact that I grew up feeling like the ‘other.’ I certainly wasn’t visible in any mainstream media. I also grew up in the midst of the Civil Rights Era. What this has allowed me to do is understand that there is a world beyond the United States, [and] helped me to understand being the ‘other’ and being an immigrant. Because I was not born in this country, and chose to become an American citizen, this has made me very conscious of what my civic duty is. I own it, and I also understand that Latinas in particular are in a moment where we have power. That influences how I move in the world, as a journalist and an entrepreneur.

AD: What kind of power are you talking about?

MH: Power in the sense that the numbers are clear, and at every turn I see more. Whether it’s people in the world of business, or in the world of politics who are testifying, it is irrefutable what is going on here. I understand it in terms of what is happening with the consumer society, but also from Latinas coming from a place of understanding their personal narratives and their role as leaders.

AD: Why did you become a journalist, and did you always know you wanted to be a journalist?

MH: I could never have grown up knowing I wanted to be a journalist because they were nothing like me. Barbara Walters on the “Today Show” was the first woman who I saw doing national television. I understood that, one: that there was an audience that wanted to hear stories that I was telling from a different perspective and, two: that because of my background and where I was at school, it was an extraordinary privilege and responsibility. There were a couple of people who spoke to me, and said, “You understand, you have something here.” So then I understood, I kind of have to do this. I have a responsibility because I have been given an extraordinary privilege in my life to have been at Barnard and then at Columbia University, so that, I think was a big push for me. I always wanted to make the invisible, visible and to show the America that I live in, and own that as the essential part of the story of American journalism today.

AD: You mentioned diversity in your newsroom, but how would you specifically define “diversity” in America and what does America mean to you?

MH: I think really, in terms of journalists, for me, diversity is not just race, it’s class, it’s political orientation, and it’s religious background. For example, it’s important for me to have somebody on my team who is from Latin America, who will bring the Latin American perspective. To me, diversity is really broad. So we look for that, and we also think it makes for better journalism, a better newsroom. The more diversity, the more people talking back and engaging in conversation. I think you get stronger ideas, journalistically.

AD: For other journalists, how would you say they can improve their coverage on diverse communities?

MH: If you’re a journalist, you should be booking up stories left and right. There’s so much to be doing. Everywhere I go I see a great story to be told. I think you have to open your eyes. I’ve always told plenty of journalists that the best stories will come from their actual personal interaction with fill-in-the-blank: a person who unbeknownst to them is revealing phenomenal things. You could’ve happened to meet this person on the subway and started talking to them. I just say that I’m hungry as a journalist, I’ve been doing this for a long time. So if you’re young, I can’t even imagine. Then for journalistic institutions, I think that it’s not about doing the right thing, in the sense of diversifying your staff. It’s that if you don’t do that, it’s unclear to me how you survive. I’m not sure the audience that you think you’re going to be able to have.

AD: What story have you been most proud of, what was the turning point for you?

MH: Wow, there isn’t one. I mean, definitely a turning point for me in my life and as a journalist and as a human being was 9-11. That just was a real marker and changed my life in every way, shape and form as a journalist and as a human being. But you know what? There’s just so many. I mean I literally have to say I have a lifetime of extraordinary stories. Whether its meeting- one of my first stories that was an award winning story on gang members here in New York, who were desperate for a voice- seeing one of those young men become a young professional. To meeting Sonia Sotomayor to being in Africa and reporting from Rwanda to being on the frontlines in El Salvador. How do you even put that all together? It’s an extraordinary series of stories that I’ve had at every turn. I just believe that as a journalist I would like to think that I work with an open heart and that I allow myself to be moved and motivated by the most recent story that I am doing, as opposed to hanging on to “that one great story”. I’m just always motivated by the people who I meet and the stories that they do share with us. And I’m completely humbled by that.

AD: What led you to launch the Futuro Media Group?

MH: It was the middle of the economic downturn, and the world of journalism was contracting, no one was hiring, they had just cancelled my PBS show. So I didn’t have a television show to be working on and Latino USA was going to be from KUT in Austin. So it was a real moment in transition, and I don’t think I would’ve been able to do it had I not met somebody who believed in me and therefore agreed to be my angel-funder. I think that if I would’ve had to start with zero; I don’t know how I would’ve done that. I’m very, very lucky that I had somebody who believed in me. [Being a] Latina, that is very rare, and a woman, that is very rare. I believe it was just an extraordinary situation. Life is a very strange thing. That’s why I was going to say “eyes open”. I walk, and I live in the world, I believe, with an open heart. And that, I think has helped me as a journalist.

AD: What difficulties have you encountered for being a Latina and a woman?

MH: You have to understand- and it sounds weird and it’s ancient history, but I was the first Latina at NPR, first Latina correspondent at CNN, the first Latina anchor at PBS, the first Latina to anchor “Frontline”. I’ve encountered the “first” a lot. It’s something that has been very real for me. I can’t begin to tell you the number of times when people said things to me that really just like furrowed my brow, and say “What did this person just say to me?”. But I didn’t let it stop me, is what I’m saying. I didn’t let it stop me.

AD: If you would do anything differently in your career, what would you do?

MH: I don’t think I would change anything. I’m glad I didn’t get stuck in one network forever and then all of a sudden lose my job. That would’ve been really, really hard. So I feel like I’ve had a highly engaged and dynamic career. And that has lead me to be more successful and flexible with change and the future.

AD: What advice would you give to young Latino journalists?

MH: Understanding why you are a journalist is core. For me, it was understanding that there was a whole entire, in this case, United States of America that was invisible and I wanted to tell those stories. For other people, there may be other core missions, but you really need to understand what that is. By the way, it didn’t become clear to me until my late twenties, so don’t feel bad if you don’t get it quickly. It’s absolutely a process. I think understanding why you’re doing this is the best advice, because if you maintain that you’re always going to be finding some challenge. Its going to be difficult to fight for your ideas and you might be frustrated a lot of the time. You need to be prepared for the fight and the long haul. I would convince myself I knew what the hell I was talking about and that the ideas I had were wicked smart and super important and I would force myself to carry myself in the world like that.

Nilda Rosario Leaves Univision for Telemundo

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Nilda RosarioNilda Rosario has left Univision to join the competition, Telemundo, in New York. She joins co-anchor Yaima Crespo as for WNJU’s “Noticiero 47 Fin De Semana” beginning in March.

For 12 years, Rosario was the  weekday and weekend weather anchor and morning show traffic reporter for Univision. She will be a weekday general assignment weekday reporter for WNJU’s newscasts at 5:30 PM, 6PM and 11 PM.

Rosario began her journalism career at Univision radio WADO 1280 AM in 1996 as a copywriter, production assistant, editor, news announcer and traffic reporter, according to Media Moves.

L.A. Times Adds S. Mitra Kalita As New Managing Editor

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S. Mitra KalitaS. Mitra Kalita has been named one of three managing editors at the Los Angeles Times.

“With a background in traditional journalism as well, Mitra will join The Times as managing editor for editorial strategy. She will focus on helping us remake how the newsroom works and on creating new forms of journalism,” said The Times in a press release.

Kalita will report to Editor Davan Maharaj. She joins Marc Duvoisin, who oversees news and enterprise, while Larry Ingrassa will focus on developing editorial products with revenue potential for new ventures.

Kalita is expected to refine new styles of journalism similar to her work with Quartz. She is also part of newsroom efforts in audience acquisition.

About the addition of Kalita, the L.A. Times said, “The news environment and the needs of readers are changing more rapidly than at any time in the history of our industry. The Los Angeles Times should do more than keep pace with that change; we must strive to lead it.”

Before coming to the L.A. Times, Kalita was the founding ideas editor for Quartz. She also worked for the Wall Street Journal, Mint, a business newspaper based in India, Washington Post, Newsday and the Associated Press. She also served as  president of the South Asian Journalists Association

An author, teacher, and award-winning journalist, Kalita was named one of Folio’s Top 100 Women in Media for 2014. She was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., and is of Indian descent.

Lizette Carbajal Named New VP of Community Relations for KVEA Telemundo 52

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Lizette CarbajalKVEA Telemundo 52 Los Angeles has hired Lizette Carbajal as its new vice president of community relations. She started on the job on March 16, taking over for Victor Franco, who retired in 2014.

In her job, Carbajal is responsible for leading the community relations initiatives with community organizations in the Los Angeles area, as well as executing the station’s public relations efforts.

According to Media Moves, before her start at KVEA, Carbajal worked as group account supervisor for Conexión PR from 2003 to 2006, where she oversaw the national public relations campaigns that targeted the U.S Hispanic market. She then worked as manager of community education and outreach at Southern California Gas Company from 2006 to 2015.

In between, Carbajal also worked work as an energy efficiency marketing advisor for SoCalGas, from 2006 to 2008 ,as well as education, training and communication project manager for Sempra Energy Utilities from 2008 to 2010.

Carbajal has a bachelors degree in Communications from California State Polytechnic University in Pomona.

Noticiero Telemundo Las Vegas Adds Grecia Figueroa As Weekday Reporter

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Grecia FigueroaGrecia Figueroa has been named the new weekday reporter at 5:30 PM and 11 PM for KBLR-39’s Noticiero Telemundo Las Vegas. Before coming to KBLR, she spent two years as the weekday news reporter for KINC-15 Univision Las Vegas.

According to Media Moves, Figueroa also worked as the 12 PM and 5 PM daily news reporter for KRCA-62 Estrella TV in Los Angeles in 2012. She was also Estrella TV’s national news correspondent.

Figueroa is a Peruvian native but was raised in Los Angeles.

Variety Latino Names Ernesto Sanchez as New Editor-In-Chief

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Ernesto_SanchezVariety Latino has their new Editor-In-Chief, Ernesto Sanchez.

According to Media Moves, Sanchez started his new Los Angeles-based position on Tuesday, leaving behind his job as editor-in-chief of LatinTimes.com in New York after two years.

Before becoming editor-in-chief for Variety Latino he also worked for Terra as Senior entertainment editor, special content editor for Univision Interactive Media and digital managing editor for People en Español for five years.

Sanchez also worked in his home country of Mexico, for Univision.com and as a senior reporter for Grupo Reforma.

 

Univision Puerto Rico Names Maxi Paglia New Senior Content Director

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Maxi Paglia joins the Univision Puerto Rico team as their new Senior Content Director.

Paglia is responsible for local programming content strategy in relation to market needs and trends. He will be working closely with Llia Arroyo, local programming operations and continuity director.

Univision’s decision to hire Paglia came as a proposal to work on “new prime time local productions” according to Media Moves, after their previously huge layoff period (where they laid off over 100 team members).

Back in October of 2014 they announced Univision Canal 11 was shutting down all departments in Puerto Rico and would become a repeater station.

Before coming on board with Univison Puerto Rico, Paglia was general producer for shows like, “Lo Sé Todo,” “SuperXclusivo,” “Anda Pa’l Cará,” “Qué Suerte con Héctor Marcano” and “El Súper Show con Héctor Marcano.”

Paglia took to Twitter to retweet all the announcements of his big move.

Chad Lopez Is the New VP/Market Manager for Cumulus New York

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Chad LopezChad Lopez, is taking on his new role as vice president/market manager for Cumulus in New York on March 16th. He will oversee News-Talk WABC-A, Hot AC WPLJ, Urban AC WNBM (RADIO 103.9), and Country WNSH (94.7 NASH FM).

Previously a sales manager for CBS Radio, Lopez told Media Moves, “After 15 years in sales leadership in New York, this was clearly my next step”.

“Chad is a highly talented and experienced sales leader behind several legendary brands in New York City radio. The relationships he’s built and the respect he has developed with with the advertising community over the last 15 years are unprecedented,” said Cumulus Senior Vice President Gary Pizzati. “This was clearly the next and natural step in his career. We are extremely excited to have Chad on our team and as a member of the Cumulus family.”

During his time at CBS Radio, Lopez worked at various stations including Yankees Radio Network. Before CBS, he was account executive for Univision’s WADO-AM. Lopez also served as Petty Officer Third Class for the U.S. Navy.

Charo Henriquez Named Executive Editor for People en Español

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Charo HenriquezPeople en Español has named Charo Heniquez their new Executive Editor.

Henriquez will report to Editor-in-Chief Armando Correa and will be responsible for overseeing the creation and distribution of content for audiences in the U.S. and Latin America, including video and social media.

Henriquez is previously from Puerto Rico where she worked in the media industry as innovation editor for GFR Media. She oversaw digital strategy for El Nuevo Dia and Primera Hora, both in Puerto Rico.

She began her journalism career in 1996, where she worked as a business reporter for El Nuevo Dia in Puerto Rico. She was also named Senior Producer, Multimedia Editor, Digital Program Manager, and Associate Business Director during her time there.

Henriquez tweeted about the news on March 4th.