How To Become A Latino Marketing Dynamo
Sometimes it’s the most unexpected, unplanned things that happen to you in life that will be the most important. At least, to this listener, that’s what seemed to happen to Becky Arreaga, parter in the Latino marketing agency Mercury Mambo, small town Texas girl, and inadvertent superstar. Recently I had a chance to sit down with Arreaga to talk about her work, her education, her family, and her path to where she is today. Hers is a story in an occasional series on News Taco about how people achieved their American Dreams.
Arreaga grew up in Waco, in between Austin and Dallas in what she called a “truly bicultural world” with two sisters and the expectation that one day she’d go to college. Although she told us she wasn’t sure what school she’d attend when she applied, after she graduated, she found her way to San Antonio and into the growing field of Latino marketing. After branching out on her own and attending graduate school, she and her partner started Mercury Mambo in Austin, Texas.
“We lived in Waco with no Latino community, but growing up, that expectation was there. It was never ‘if’ you’e going to college, but ‘where.’ My sister Liz had blazed the path before me, so when I graduated and wanted a job, she recommended me for a job at a Hispanic agency in San Antonio. I didn’t even understand that Hispanic marketing was a career path. But [my employers] had a great hand in convincing others marketing to Hispanics was profitable.”
After 10 years in San Antonio Arreaga told us she began to see her life in a new light, as one of unexpected opportunities. She knew she didn’t want to work in another agency, but she wanted to try something new, so while in graduate school she and her sister started a consulting group. With hard work came success, and she and her partners decided to open up their own shop.
“I never thought about owning my own business seriously until I came to the end of my 10 years at the agency. I knew I wouldn’t find better bosses than them. I’m very passionate about Hispanic marketing; if we can empower our community with information that helps them along their journey — especially when you’re talking about first generation Hispanics and immigrants,” she said.
“It’s all about pivoting. If you’re going down the path, and something stops you, pivot. It’s a wide open field and there’s lots of opportunity. We are fortunate to work here in Austin at a Latino agency because it gives us a really unique perspective.”
Arreaga gives lots of credit to her mentors and her partners, and has become involved in efforts to help Texas kids be successful in school and beyond both with her work with Generation Texas and Latinitas. For more information about Mercury Mambo, visit the website.
Follow Sara Inés Calderón on Twitter @SaraChicaD
