As an account director at the Tierney Agency, Christina Fonseca promotes marketing and community outreach among her customers and the diverse consumers in the Philadelphia region.

For those who are unfamiliar with it, what can you tell us about your job at Tierney?

I work as a public relations agent at Tierney, primarily collaborating with our clients to find a niche unique to their brand. We reach out to target consumers to create a conversation and build a relationship between our clients and consumers. I work with the general market and also oversee the multicultural accounts. As part of that, I have the opportunity to work with the Latino market, you cannot ignore its growth. 

How has your Latino heritage influenced your professional development?

My father is Puerto Rican and my mother Colombian. I definitely think it's been a blessing; they both met in Philadelphia and really worked to build a better life for me, my brother and my sister. I've always tried my best to make them proud, they instilled their work ethic in me and it is definitely reflected in my career and in my job. At the end of the day as much as I want to be successful, I am always looking to see how my success can help those around me, and of course the top of that list will be my family. 

How do you strike a balance between the communications side of your work and the business side of it?

Public relations is, in many ways, an intersection of business and art. You can develop the best business plan in the world but if you don't know how to communicate that plan, it doesn't go anywhere. I think that I love that I get to wear both hats. As much as I am focused on getting my clients the best return on their investment, a lot of what I do is build relationships, and build a brand and loyalty with consumers.

What role does social media play in your job?

Social media continues to grow and plays an integral role right now in PR. I can say that when I started doing PR at Tierney eight years ago we were barely on MySpace and there was no talk of social media. You fast forward to today and the impact is tremendous: we manage and provide social media services for 95 percent of our clients; is an everyday part of my job. I oversee the strategic social presence for our clients. For my job I prefer Twitter, but personally I am an Instagram fan.

What are the biggest challenges you face?

My challenges are a gift and a curse. I love the different day-to-day client work, I love that I might be hosting a Ronald McDonald charity and raise $1 million and within that same month oversee the HACE scholarship as well as launching the Premium MacWrap. The challenge is finding the best way to prioritize and make time for everything. It is a challenge to control chaos at times because a crisis can occur at any moment and when you are managing a negative situation it really has to be all hands on that around the clock. 

In your personal experience, being a Latina has been a positive or negative?

I think it has actually affected me positively. Again, we are a group that you can no longer ignore. If you wan to succeed in business then you have to reach out to the Latino market, you have to understand the culture behind this market and companies know that, so thats what they come to me for. It's absolutely been my friend and I embrace it.

What has been your biggest accomplishment so far?

I think the path that I've chosen has been very rewarding. I am blessed to work with so many smart and talented people, and that is definitely one of the highlights in my career. Coming back to Tierney in the role that I have now and being able to be the Latina face of the agency, that's a great accomplishment.

How do you see yourself in the future?

I would love to be overseeing the multicultural division within an agency. I think there are a lot of PR agencies that serve the general market and then there are smaller shops that are just Latino, Asian or African American. But I think the way the future of the business is going you will have to be able to serve every market and really help to grow that multicultural division. I would like to work with diverse teams towards this common goal to increase the reach to a multicultural market.

What do you enjoy most about Philadelphia?

I am born and raised in Philly and I've always stayed close to home. Everyone I love is here. I also enjoy the size of the city — I think we are big enough that we are recognized nationally but not so big that you get lost in the city. You are able to know everyone by name and really build great relationships, and I think that has to do with the size of the city.