New Whip!

I have a new set of wheels!!

You can catch me driving around with the windows down jammin' or on the phone...

on bluetooth speaker of course ;) 

Buckle up

Zoom zoom....

Chicago

I know I haven't blogged in a month but I'll try my hardest to post more often! But back to the BLOG....

I've finally experienced the city of Chicago!

One random Saturday night my friend Kevin took me to the city to check out Navy Pier and see the city at night! 

Lets just say Chicago has got the skyline down!

The following Monday, Karina (my roommate) and I decided to become tourist for the day and head into the city and fully experience Chi-Town!

First stop Lunch!

Chicago's Worlds Famous Deep Dish Pizza.

Soo yummy!

Next up, Willis Tower aka Sears Tower

On our way walking to our next stop, theres so much art around the city, I had to capture it.

Finally, the FAMOUS BEAN!

Loving every time I go to the city!

My RHEA sunshine!

My sweet little niece was born!!!

Rhea Lihe Raspopi

7lbs 8oz.  20 in.  @6:53PM MST

So proud of my BESTIE Summer for doing an amazing job at giving birth. She made it look so effortless.

I wasn't able to physically be present in the delivery room to catch my sweet baby girl, BUT thank goodness for FACETIME!

The process of birth is so magical. I've personally have witnessed two births both being my sweet nieces. You are filled with instant happiness and for me LOTS & LOTS of tears of JOY.

After she was measured and weighed, I was posted near her and I kept talking to her over FaceTime and babygirl definitely recognized my voice, from all the times I talked and had our dance off sessions  with her while she was in Summers belly. Rhea is just a perfect little love bug. I seriously cant wait to hold her and just give her all my lovin'

Tia loves you mamas!

Besos...

The BIG move!

So for many that don't know, I've recently moved to the Midwest, Chicago, to be exact. I was offered a management position with Marriott in Chicago. My property is in the north suburbs of Chicago. Lincolnshire Marriott Resort and it's massive and gorgeous!

Work is awesome. They keep me very busy which makes the days go by quick and painless.
I'll say it again and again this place is AWESOME. It has a golf course, a theatre for daily plays or musicals, trails everywhere! Which is now a part of my daily routine. Daily Runs actually more like walks or bike rides. (Lets be REAL)

Ok ok I've been here for about 2 weeks and I still haven't experience the amazing city of Downtown Chicago, but believe me it will be ASAP!
The very first day, the moment I checked into my hotel, my boys came down from Milwaukee to help me coupe with the big solo move. Definitely loved every second!

After my first week of work, I hopped on a train to Milwaukee to visit my boys for the weekend and catch my boo Dashi do WERK in Wicked the Musical. Milwaukee is gorgeous, who would of thought!

Coming back to reality, its back to work I go or should I say my temporary home! Living at the hotel is very nice, especially walking about less than 20 steps to get to my office. And the ROOM SERVICE... to die for!!

I found an apartment, about 20-25 mins from my work and guess what, less than 5 mins away from one of the LARGEST malls in AMERICA!! PERFECTION, right? I think so!!
So I found this incredible shared apartment on Craigslist. Yes, I know sounds super sketchy, but turns out shes AWESOME! We met up (with others obviously because we both felt the same way with meeting up with randi's off craigslist), checked out the CUTE apartment, and later that night went out for dessert and drinks and just hit it off, so now we're roommates!

Yajaira & Karina
Cheers to good memories!
(Pic to come)

Disneyland & CA Adventures

Crisis

On the final day of the regional conference, we had a crisis.

 A crisis management competition that is.

Hosted by Joan Gladstone, President & CEO of Gladstone PR.

Gladstone PR

The UVU team got separated and mixed into groups with other PRSSA members. We had at least 1 or 2 UVU members in every group, giving us a higher chance on being on a winning team.

We all had different crisis situations. We brought out our knowledge that we learned in school and were determined to win, and we did.

1st, 2nd, and 3rd place.

After dominating in the competition, we had a private meeting with Matt Prince.

Matt is an amazing guy and very experienced on the social media world.

Post only if 

IFE IFE

Interesting, Funny, Educational.

Intellectual, Flattering, Embarrassing.

We ended the night with family dinner at The Cheesecake Factory in Anaheim .

Sessions

It's conference break-out sessions time!

Today we had the opportunity to have a fire side with Wing Lam,  co-owner of Wahoo's Fish Tacos. Lam is one of three brothers who own the restaurant and the PR/ Marketing pro and the face of the Wahoo's.

Lam was very inspirational to all of us. He mentioned that his restaurant was created to fit the needs of the people cheap and fitting the surfer style. He believed you need to fit your brand with your target audience and you will have a successful brand.

 I then went to a session with Daniel Rhodes, GM at Idea Hall. He expressed that research with different types of marketing will create a lasting brand impression.

Notes:

Integrated marketing 
All cross channel marketing is coordinating as to reflect a unified message and brand 
Pr is the cheapest form of marketing 
Keep it simple 
Co branding 
Integrating marketing plan
R research - client know about them. Opportunity or problem. Audience. 
O objectives -informational. attitudinal.  behavioral
P programming- messages. Plan or special events. Media targets. Controlled media 
E evaluation - measure Objectives   Deliver report. The professionals keep score 

My next session was with Danielle Gano, CEO/Founder & Publicist at Elle Communications. She explained how she started her own PR firm and what it's like to work with non-profit organizations. She has worked with companies like TOMS, KONY 2012, and Natural High. Working with companies like these has shaped her firm to have others reach out to them for their amazing PR work.

Notes:

Omaze 
Explore. Put yourself out there in the right place at the right time.
What makes you different makes you special.

After my last session, I decided to go into Damion Dean's session. Damion Dean is the Director of Operations for The Notice Network & Executive Director of Evolve Minds Media. He explained what it takes to make the red carpet glamorous and the celebrities glow. 

The formula:

Your network is your net worth.

I ended the sessions by walking into Sandra Bernardo's session. Sandra is the VP at Westbound Communications who work with multicultural PR. She provided information of the evolution of multicultural  public relations and how to prepare yourself as a future practitioner in this world.

Notes:

Brand loyalty
Community involvement
Bilingual 
Building expertise. 
Research 
Culture
Language
Best practices 
Test campaign on the cultures 
You're not a translator 
Avoid taboo test all age groups 

After a long day of PR sessions, the UVU group decided to end the day at the beach. 

We went to the Santa Monica Pier to have dinner at Bubba Gumps.