Laura Palau: Happiness Inc

September 9, 2010

By Carlos Macías

The act of smiling involves 12 facial muscles working in unison to produce a universal gesture that opens doors in a way that no other human sign can. It can convey love, kindness, or optimism to anyone that crosses your path in a split second. The power of smiling is limitless. In PorColombia, we have someone who knows how to harness the power of a single smile and gracefully multiply it with infusions of Colombian swagger into outbursts of joy. Ladies and gentlemen, I want you to meet the CEO of Happiness Inc., Laura Palau.

Laura was born from a couple of Colombian professionals that migrated from Bucaramanga to New Hampshire. Her father is an architect and her mother works as a medical translator and interpreter. She has a younger brother who just turned 18 years old and is now a University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) freshman. They are her best friends and biggest fans. After finishing high school, she studied her undergraduate years at New York University (NYU) where she was a founding member of our NYU chapter; she started working for AOL in NYC as an intern to then after graduation make the big move over to the West Coast and work for MySpace Latino. She later accepted a gig in Los Angeles as Digital Sales Planner for ImpreMedia. But something was missing, and not even the West Hollywood glamour could complete the picture for her. In her own words, “it was time to pick up and go.”

Laura is a river of joy and after chatting with her for a while you begin to doubt the idea that happiness is ephemeral. She breathes, wears, and speaks happiness with such ease that it makes you wish that if this is a contagious condition, you want to get infected without delay. But what makes Laura so happy? As her mother Margarita Tobar says, “[Laura] has a sweet character, she enjoys everything, from the biggest to the tinniest things in life. Life smiles at her because she always smiles back.” Her former boss, publisher of Vista Magazine and Senior Vice President of Digital Sales at ImpreMedia Digital Liz Sarachek thinks, “Laura is an eternal optimist with a warm and bubbly personality which is contagious and refreshing. She always came across very positive with solutions for our clients’ needs both internally and externally.”

Besides her outgoing personality, her affection for Colombia is what makes her glow brighter. When you ask Laura, “What does Colombia mean to you?”, she gets both nervous and spirited, and says (all these while smiling): “My pulse is galloping just thinking about it. Colombia? País bello, tierra querida de mi corazón, con su flora, su fauna, su gente, su música y pasión.” (Colombia? Beautiful country, beloved land of my heart, with its flora, fauna, its people, its music and passion). Despite her sporadic visits to Colombia, Laura’s love for the country of her parents has become her dominant cultural identity. “I love to be part of it, it is an integral part of me,” Laura says.

This is the reason why she was one of the founding members of our current chapter at NYU.  “For me, joining PC was a no-brainer,” Laura says. She thanks her tenure as a student member of PC because this time helped her to learn much more about Colombia, make lifetime friends, and put Colombia on the map at NYU. “My advice for all freshmen in any chapter at PC is the following: Take advantage of as many networking events as you can, make PC your prime extracurricular activity, and volunteer for any of the leadership positions available. You will not regret it,” Laura adds.

In her constant search for nirvana, Laura decided to quit her job in L.A in August and book a flight to the land of passion. Vacation? Nope. The time was right for her to go to Colombia, look for a job and finally make one of her dearest dreams come true: To officially live in Colombia for the first time. As a professional Latina, she feels that her connection with her Colombian roots gives her an edge at the work place. “Being Latina has never been challenging for me, I think maybe the opposite, it has helped my career a lot in digital marketing,” Laura says, now as a PC alumni.

Before leaving for Bogotá, she shared 3 tips to help us on our way to happiness:

1. Be your own best friend. You must be comfortable in your skin and be happy with yourself.
2. Keep family close and make them your best friends.
3. Celebrate and delight in the tinniest beauties, in the small things that may look normal but always carry good meaning.

On the Record: Colombia is Passion’s Saúl Cardozo

Monday, September 21, 2009

By Carlos Macías

PorColombia’s editorial team was able to get a hold of Colombia is Passion Director of Strategic Alliances Saúl Cardozo, in the heat of one the most successful public relations initiatives done by the Colombian government to improve its international image. Via email, Cardozo spells out how the “hearts” exhibition was conceived, what they are going to do with all the feedback and experiences gathered from thousands of people visiting the show, and what are the next stops for the campaign.

The “Discover Colombia through its Heart” campaign finished its first leg of its United States tour in Washington D.C. on September 15 with tremendous success. More than 250,000 people visited the city-wide exhibit, 25,000 flowers were handed out, and 15,000 cups of freshly brewed Colombian coffee were served, according to the Colombia is Passion website.

Starting on September 22, New York City’s Grand Central Station will host the exhibition until Monday, September 28. This week’s agenda includes fresh Colombian coffee tastings along with the presence of Juan Valdez, free flowers given away, and Colombian urban folklore shows.

PC: How did the Colombia is Passion heart logo get transformed into 47 art displays? How did this idea develop and how was it brought to life?

SC: Exhaustive research with tourism professionals and influential journalists who visited our country last year, showed us that Colombia’s perception from the United States public is distorted. But at the same time, they also stated that such perception has begun to change in a favorable way.

We decided that this was an excellent time and opportunity to launch an effort to change the way the world thinks about Colombia. To achieve this goal, the country brand “Colombia is Passion,” who’s mission is to diminish the gap that exists between negative perception and positive reality, created an strategy to teach people from around the world about “The heart of Colombia.”

We want the world to know that Colombia has lived through many changes, that it is a hospitable and secure country for the tourists, full of happy, good-hearted, and talented people, with vibrant cities and great cultural diversity.

PC: What are you going to do with all the feedback that these interactive hearts generate?

SC: We are using it to show others around the world, including the media, that once people learn about Colombia, they see it in a positive light. They see our  positive reality, so their perception of Colombia changes for the better.

PC: To deploy these massive art displays in major cities like Washington D.C. and New York City, you needed plenty of collaboration from local officials. Tell us what kind of relationship your organization has forged with local and federal authorities thanks to this campaign?

SC: An exhibit of this magnitude is a huge undertaking, not only takes the help of many Colombians in local communities, but it also takes extensive collaboration with local governments.  For months, we met with officials to learn the process and procedures to have the hearts placed along streets and sidewalks. All our efforts have paid off and now we are able to have all 40 hearts placed in compliance with the stringent local laws.

PC: The international media reports mostly the bad and ugly about Colombia. How do you guys manage to keep the positive note when only negative stories are the ones heard by most foreigners about the country?

SC: In fact, this campaign has the main goal of mitigating the bad image that has been reinforced by the negative publications, because bad news attracts viewers and readers. The idea is to end with the lack of information that citizens all around the world have about Colombia.

Since we can’t take the world to Colombia to see what it has to offer, we are taking Colombia to the world. We are bringing them a little piece of Colombia so the international community learns about our reality. We want to give them surprising information and tell them new things that the people don’t know about our country.

PC: Are you planning to take this exhibition/promotional campaign to other countries?

SC: Yes, after ending our exhibition here in the United States, the hearts will travel to Shanghai’s Expo 2010 in China and then to Europe. We want to show the world the real Colombia!

Leave your questions and comments for the editor at cmacias@porcolombia.net.