My first try with branding was in elementary school. My best friend and I, armed with plastic pizza slices and mini skillets, decided to open an imaginary restaurant. Before the spoons and spatulas were stolen from the cabinet, we ran to take printer paper, using markers to draw up a brochure. It became ‘BB&D’s’, a premier Breakfast, Brunch and Dinner café for parents, pets and dustbunnies. BB&D’s was memorable to me because the instinct to draw a logo, name the idea and pass flyers to unsuspecting customers was organic.
During my first year in college, on campus clubs and organizations were my social lifeline. With the goal to connect with peers sharing a Latinx identity with me, I found Latinas Unidas as the place to do that. I wanted to be part of a group encouraging mentorship between students, staff and faculty, friendship and fun (and food that tastes like home). A ballot opened to be Public Relations Chair. I have no idea how I was voted in during my first year; as second year with no experience, I was in an Executive Board position.
Latinas Unidas, despite being the sole club for Latinx-identifying students, did not have a sterling reputation on campus, but I knew many other latinx students on campus craved a safe and nurturing place in our campus community. Instead of believing our status was a only setback, I saw the vaguely negative reputation and lack of signature annual events as an opportunity. As the leadership, we decided to restart LU at Agnes Scott beginning with Hispanic Heritage Month, creating a month of events starting off the academic year.
I had learned the ins and outs of Instagram in high school, and had used Canva for a few flyers made for my high school soccer team. In Canva, I created a logo, color palette and branding image for Latinas Unidas that reflected our spirit: fun, bright, distinctive, concise and elegant. A yellow ombré into a bright reddish hue, “LU” in cursive over a setting sun. It is laidback but polished and beautiful, colorful but not garish or childish. It borrows from Instagram’s own logo colors, attention-grabbing orange, pink and yellow with white lines.
Alongside this logo, I also created daily posts on Latinas Unidas. Creating the Instagram, I followed everyone I knew on campus, including other clubs. I created a virtual countdown to the live page, and first reveals of the Executive Board. Every other day, another member was introduced to the campus community, and our rollout of Hispanic Heritage Month events was advertised.
When our kick off party was held, I had my phone and portable charger in hand, and a Sony camera loaned from the library. I snapped photos to later post on our Facebook page, tweeted students to come by, and created live highlights on our IG stories. Complete with filters, stickers and tags, all the joy and celebration was collected together. Post event, I saved them in a highlight to replay–and show what was missed by those who did not show up!
Latinas Unidas was a hit, and from 2019-2020, we moved from strength to strength. We earned the Distinguished Community Alliance Award based on all the collaborations and efforts we made to connect. Through it all, I posed member shout outs, Scottie-owned businesses, pre-event flyers, QR codes for RSVPs, post-event wrap ups and photo albums on the three platforms.
Just before we transitioned to online learning due to the pandemic, I decided to not run again for Public Relations Chair. I decided to graduate one year early and instead focused on job and fellowship applications during my newly senior year.
The designs I made raised our profile on campus, and made us the go-to group for successfully planned, managed and attended events. Almost every club and organization on campus asked us to collaborate with them, and the page I painstakingly created on Instagram was touted by our Admissions office to prospective students. As a result, our budget was increased by 50% for 2020-2021, and we had a very competitive selection of applicants for the next Executive Board.
Though I loved being an all-in-one public relations department, after the whirlwind, intense year, it was best to pass the opportunity on to another Scottie. Latinas Unidas is not just my vision and it is a stronger organization if it can gather from many leaders, designers and students. I stayed nearby to answer questions and troubleshoot questions, but now Latinas Unidas is led by other students.
