Meet Latinitas’ Public Relations and Community Engagement Intern, Ilse Garcia Romero. She is a Media Studies graduate student at the University of Texas at Austin, with a minor in Mexican American and Latina/o Studies. Ilse will be graduating in May 2017, and hopes to continue working in communications after graduation.
What made you want to join Latinitas?
My professor introduced us to the organization in her Latina Feminisms in Media class. I am passionate about media and helping young people develop useful skills, and I highly support Latinitas’ mission of empowering young Latinas and giving them the tools to succeed.
What is it you will be doing for the Latinitas organization?
I will be developing the Latinitas media contact list, conducting media outreach, and creating press releases.
What is your idea of a dream job and how will your involvement in Latinitas get you there?
Ideally, I’d like to work with Latina/o communities, especially in helping recent immigrants get settled, or I would like to help create a television series that celebrates Latina/o culture without alienating non-Latina/o audiences. Working with Latinitas will expose me to the issues and triumphs of Austin’s Latina/o community, which might inspire my future work.
What is an interesting fact about yourself?
I moved to New Jersey from Mexico City when I was 9 years old, then moved to Austin for grad school.
Who is your favorite celebrity/public figure and what would you like to tell them?
I would love to meet Janelle Monae and tell her how inspiring it is to see a woman of color acting in a main role as she did in Hidden Figures, along with her costars Taraji P. Henson and Octavia Spencer. I would also mention how much I enjoy her music and fashion sense.
What is one of your favorite hobbies and how’d you get started with it?
I really like painting and crafting when I have free time. I inherited my love for art from my dad, who inherited it from my grandfather, an illustrator by profession.
What is your guilty pleasure?
Despite me being past the target age for them, I enjoy reading coming-of-age novels. John Green and Benjamin Alire Saenz are two of my favorite young adult novelists.
What is your favorite movie and why?
I don’t have one single favorite movie, but I like the movie Serendipity because it is a reminder that we have to trust that things (and people) will come into our lives at the right time.
