Emily Merrell  00:00

Hey, my name is Emily Merrell. I’m a taco loving people connector, and I’m obsessed with playing the name game and all things networking. I’m the founder of second degree society, a female focused networking community, as well as a business coach for female business owners, passionate about bringing their business to the next level with the help of events, community and connections. I crave deep conversations and am continuously curious to see what makes people tick, and I’m invested in uncovering their stories with some life lessons along the way. This podcast is aimed to inspire and educate as you tackle your busy day. So join the conversation and tune in for the second degree podcast. Welcome back to the second degree. I’m your host, Emily, and today I am so excited. Y’all. I have award winning bilingual founder and principal owner of why communicate. Miss Yesenia Reynoso as our guest for today. So Yesenia, welcome to the show.

 

Yesenia Reinoso  01:04

Hi Emily, hello. Second Degree podcast community. It’s a pleasure to be on your show. I am so excited to be here and happy. Today’s Wednesday, so I’m just going to inject that happy Wednesday vibes to you all. I love it

 

Emily Merrell  01:17

on Wednesdays, we tell each other about our weather? No, I feel like, I feel like you’re, you’re like an Alexa, I’m like Alexa. What are all the updates today? What’s the weather today? What day is it today? Where am I? No, you said yet. So we’re recording this in March, and it’s kind of wild to think next week is the end of the first quarter of the year of 2024, didn’t that fly by?

 

Yesenia Reinoso  01:43

I still cannot believe that we are literally just on the precipice of ending q1 I always thought that February, the month prior, is the fastest month, and then March is the slowest same and so it is not surprising that March has lived up to his bullet. It has gone incredibly slow. But, yeah, it’s just fascinating to believe that. And it and again, it goes to the testament that time, you know, the same goes, time goes by so fast you literally are doing one thing over the other, and then boom, we already at the end of q1 and before you know it, July is going to hit, we’re going to be already hitting halfway point of the end. It’s just astounding as to how, you know, how busy we are with our lives, and you know, just how, how time lost to, you know, morph different different aspects for us totally.

 

Emily Merrell  02:38

My I was talking to my dad the other day, and he’s 83 this year, 82 this year. And he’s like, You think time goes by fast now? Like, imagine my age. And also he’s he said to me, he’s like, Well, I feel, you know, while my body is 82 I feel like I’m 22 so yeah, your body doesn’t keep up with the way you feel. And I was like, Oh, God, I don’t want that yet. I’m not ready stop

 

03:07

slow down time.

 

Yesenia Reinoso  03:09

I think we all want to have, like, what are those time machines that you know you could go back a certain year and then just travel back in time and just like, I just want to stay here and just let things go by slow. But I think that’s what you know. That’s you know, one of the many mysteries of life is, you know how we live it. You know our purpose, our mission. You know, how do we utilize, you know, this one big concept called life, and how do we maximize it to the fullest? And I think that is, you know, something that each of us, you know, try to diversify in so many ways, yeah,

 

Emily Merrell  03:49

which I feel like is a great segue into the this thing called life, this game called life that we’ve all been playing. But Yesenia, you are an owner of a business that helps people kind of maximize their visibility. And so, can you tell us a bit like what, what it is that why communicate and what you do with why communicate?

 

Yesenia Reinoso  04:12

Sure, so why communicate is a communications from assisting clients in establishing and maximizing their brand presence and voice through in house corporate communications. And so consider us as your in house department. We have a heartbeat of an in house department. We have the mindset of in house department. We are and in house Corporate Communications Department. And the reason why I structure it that way is because I’ve spent almost 15 years working in corporate America, strictly in in House Communications department, and I’ve seen firsthand just how organizations put storytelling first in all of their business strategies. What you know? What we. Have seen today when it comes to the world of of corporate communications is communications is storytelling. It’s something that I always educate. You know, whether it’s my senior executives, my shareholders and even general audiences, you know, each and every one of us, when you look around, we have a story to tell, and it doesn’t matter if it’s through a one on one, or through a massive audience, we all have something very unique and special that we want to tell it in a way that’s not only going to resonate with others make genuine connections, but it’s also going to shape narratives and perceptions. And so we as communicators have the power to change a story and mold it to how we want it, and then ultimately, through that story, be able to either inform or in or persuade someone as to why we want this individual to be, you know involved in this process, or why should I be invested in what you bring to the table? And so through why communicate, our goal is to bring communications back to the basics. What do I mean by that? It’s about us as an industry and us as storytellers to go back as to the main reason as to why we communicate in the first place. We communicate because we have a story to tell. All of us do. And so it is through that concept of storytelling and to tell it in a way that is highly authentic, genuine and something that is unique to your flavor, to your style, personalize it to your liking. Everybody has the right to, you know, to tell it the way that they want to. And it’s always better to be different than to, you know, to stay the same. Everybody has their preferences. But the key point here with why communicate is that we are here to bring storytelling back to what it is. It’s core essence. So tell our story is the reason why we communicate. We communicate. We communicate because we have a story to tell, and it’s through in house corporate communications where companies have 100% full control as to how they want to customize that story and eventually amplify it out. You have the power to shape shifted and directed to the way that you want to to the audiences that you want to reach, and we also want to give them the support that they need to eventually be able to build their own communications departments from the ground up, their own their news networks, as I like to say in quotations, work. So that way they could, so that way they can control it and then be able to amplify it across the mediums that they want to to the audiences that they you know that they are hearing it and then also do it in a wide variety of multicultural or multilingual content

 

Emily Merrell  07:49

that is also going to establish themselves as as credible sources. Wow. So to synthesize that so it sounds basically like helping people understand and craft a story that is unique to their flavor, their point of view, and then also empower and establish either an in house communications team or an adjunct one, where you are adjunct, where you are helping them navigate as they scale and grow. So, holy smokes, you do a lot. That’s awesome, and that’s so incredible. And I feel like storytelling, storytelling has been a word that has been percolating a lot recently in, like, the entrepreneurial world. I’m sure you’ve seen it too. You’re probably tagged in a ton of stuff. But so when, and I hear this all the time as a coach, where clients are like, Well, I’m not special. Like, I’ve got no special story to tell. Or no one wants to hear this thing from me. What advice do you have for people to help distill through the BS of not wanting to overshare or take up too much space? But like, how do you how do you recommend going about crafting your story?

 

Yesenia Reinoso  09:06

I think first and foremost, all of us have something special that we want to share, and it’s how am, and more importantly, the why, the why is the heartbeat in every story. So then you have to look at yourself as to, why am I here in the first place? Why am I doing this? I am doing this because I perhaps I’m helping someone to tackle whatever issue it is that they have, or I’ve experienced something that I think it’s a big need. And I want to share this with everybody else. Each and every one of us, whether you’re in corporate or an entrepreneur, got into this arena for a specific reason. And that right there is the first layer in your story. And then from there you want to further add upon those add upon those pieces, and through and. And through the basic five W’s, which are who, what, when, where and why, and then the 1h which is the how those are going to be your core ingredients for how you’re going to be able to further build your story, who you are, what is your purpose? Why are you, why you are in this arena? Why are you actually developing this product, or, if you’re in the nonprofit sector, this program, how does it benefit? How does it benefit individuals? Where can they take it, etc, etc. And so for for individuals, it’s quite interesting when you formulate stories, because ultimately you’re trying to find something that is going to align with what other individuals are thinking. And many people, in many ways, are looking for sources that they can you know that they can lean upon. They’re looking for credible, authentic sources. And so if you establish yourself as a thought leader or as someone that an individual can trust. And if you’re doing it in a way that is highly genuine and directly addresses their needs, then you’re going to be able to, you know, to take that individual, and then that individual automatically becomes your your loyal brand ambassador. And so as you formulate your story, you’re also simultaneously building your brand. And so in the you know and in the communications arena, having a brand is equally as important as you know, as as having a story. Because how you you want to be memorable. You want people to know you. You want people to know you exist and you might be, let’s say you might be selling a twig. This is a very special twig, and I’m going to show you as to how this, how this particular twig is going to help you address your needs. So so many, so many people can find ways as to how to, you know, as to how to customize it to their liking. But I think, you know, my advice, you know, to those individuals is, is to go back as to why you actually started in the first place. Once you figure out exactly as to why you first entered into that arena, why you you know. Why is this something that you, you know, that you love to do? Why is it that you want to, you know what? Why? Why you want to help people out. What is that ultimate goal? At the end of the day, once you answer those set of questions, then you’re going to be feel inspired to to formulate a story that is going to be quite powerful and make you stand out in the market.

 

Emily Merrell  12:37

I think that the w’s that you gave like the who, what, where, when, how, I think that that was what you said. The how, yeah, the how. I why now and why I say so smart, and you’re so right in terms of just giving people the opportunity to go back to the beginnings. Well, we get So, we get so over complicated, or we love to over complicate things. And so I’m with you. One of my favorite methods is the keep it simple, stupid method, right? Like, why did we start? Oh, I started because I wanted to make it easier to connect. How did it happen? Well, did it and then so on and so forth, and synthesizing it down to a digestible, memorable story, like, like a Sarah Blakely or another founder that we always remember the stories or Facebook. So then the other thing that you do, and in part of why communicate, is you also, and guys, when I’m saying why, it’s like the letter Y, it’s not why communicate, but I like the play on it, just to let people know. But you also tackle PR and public relations, and this is a conversation Lexi and I have a ton about, like, the misconceptions of what PR encompasses and what people assume it means. So can you tell us about a what you do in the realm of PR? And then my second part to that question is, for those that are starting a business or have a business, at what point do they need to layer a PR into their business?

 

Yesenia Reinoso  14:17

I saw, I’ll break this down into two parts. So part one, I’ll give you my, what I believe is my definition of public relations, and it is the professional maintenance of a favorable public image by a company or an organization or a famous individual. And public relations is a subcategory within external communications, which is, from a much broader perspective, part of the one of the key clogs in the corporate communications umbrella. And so public relations, you know our you know our job is to pretty much be the professional gatekeepers of the organization. We are there to protect the organization. Brand represent them in media opportunities or in any thought leadership engagements, and as well as being content producers or creators when we are executing different types of whether it’s external for the general public, internal for employees, or even for shareholders or stakeholders, or even for digital audiences, create different types of content creation and productions, uh, that directly addresses the key initiatives, the objectives and the needs of the organization. And on top of all of that, we are also crisis managers, especially in times of crisis where we have to basically formulate a communications plan and develop a team in place, and then very quickly with working with top senior executives and everyone. If I highly recommend, if you haven’t done so yet, please build a crisis communications, crisis communications team, one in every department, so that they know exactly in times of crisis who they need to go to. What is their job, what is the purpose, why it needs to be done? How quickly the channels everything. I cannot stress that enough. And communications coordinates, all of that. So typically, the misconception as to communications is that when you first hear about communications, or even public relations in general, they automatically think it’s, oh, strictly media and where and where narrative shifters. It’s, you know, it’s, it’s understandable. It’s part of it, but it’s not all of it. I always tell people, communications is more than just simply talking to a reporter. We, you know, we multitask a whole lot of things. We are again, we are crisis managers. We are fight you know, we are find we are teachers. We educate the public as to what exactly that it is, you know, that we do for a living. We are also gatekeepers and ensuring that the reputation of the of the organization is kept intact, and it’s all, what are the best offenses? Do we put up with it? We are, you know, we are also communicators, and the fact that we communicate our story through that, you know, various arenas. And so communications is not just PR, it is external, internal communications for staff, digital communications for, you know, for social media and for other digital marketing tools with and also communities as well advocacy communications for nonprofit public affairs and government. We talk with government officials as well investor relations, shareholders and stakeholders and and so much more. And so although you know the role, you know, the role of communications is quite expansive than you know, then what people first recognize and and that, I believe that transitions into the the second part of the question, which, again, Emily, if you kindly might tell me what. What was it?

 

Emily Merrell  18:14

Yeah, so my question was, at what point do entrepreneurs need to consider layering are within? To their business or company.

 

Yesenia Reinoso  18:24

Great segue to that, Emily and I just you know, and I want to you know, and I want to reiterate that in any business that that you do, it is so important that you need to have communications in your business clients, I say probably after the first five years, once you already navigated through, like, the very early years of your business, once you hit that fifth year mark or more, then you start, then you start thinking, Okay, what is the next stage for me as a company, as a business, or as a company, to, you know, to further, you know, get my brand and my services across, and then that’s when you bring in communications into the arena. And so through why communicate? You know, I want, you know, I want to be able to assist people as to building their own communications departments from the ground up. Because many organ, you know, many organizations may not have the monetary means to either hire a PR agency or an independent petitioner. And so when they need to do different types of messaging, you know to you know to further generate leads and to bring to establish markets, bring in new markets, and so forth, they’re going to have to do it on their own. And so through I communicate, we want to give them the power and the resources for them to learn as to how they can build their own departments from the ground up, whether it’s a one person shop or a team, again, depending as to the preference we want to give organizations the full resources and control for them to be able to steer. Ship messaging wise, and be able to formulate and you know, and be able to formulate their own stories in their own way. And so I think once you cross that five year threshold, organizations will have a much better idea as to, you know, what you know the next phase and what is needed and how it and how they can obtain it. Mm, so, so

 

Emily Merrell  20:21

great. So basically, at five years, around five years, just looking at how it plays a role within your business, and optimize and bring in a Yesenia to help make sense of it exactly, feel overwhelmed, yeah,

 

Yesenia Reinoso  20:34

absolutely. I think, right, you know, once the, you know, companies are obviously looking into the growth phase. And so obviously, there’s, like, I believe there is a chart where they talk about, like, the four stages, four or five stages of how a business, you know, is typically operated. And so in between, you know, those early stages, the growth phase, that’s when they start thinking of ideas. Okay, I’ve already established myself. I already have a nice, you know, I already have a nice core community, core customers. Now I’m ready to expand, you know, even further scale. How am I going to do that? And that’s where communications come comes into play. Because through the PESO model, which is paid, earned, shared and owned, businesses will now have, uh, have a key pillars for them to, you know, to further amplify their their messaging, the the kinds of communication mediums that they want to use, the budget, obviously, and as well as who is going to be responsible for that

 

Emily Merrell  21:37

love. It amazing. So Yesenia, in terms of easy hacks for people who don’t necessarily have the bandwidth or they don’t have the resources to hire on a firm like yourself, What? What? Where should they go to find like visibility options or visibility opportunities?

 

Yesenia Reinoso  22:00

Well, I think I’ve, you know, I’ve always been a fan of affiliations. I’ve that is one place where I, you know, not only make my mark, but I also generate connections. And so any kind of industry affiliations that you’re a part of, I’m part of the Public Relations Society of America. PR, safe, for short, the entrepreneur League, Ready Set coach community. Obviously, those kinds of affiliations, you know, can help you further elevate your business. Because not only you’re there to, you know, submit a footprint, you’re there to volunteer, and more importantly, you’re there to connect, network with people. And there’s all you know, and those people who you build relationships, which in the communications world, extremely important to have, one of the most basic and most important components any communications Pro to have is to build relationships. And so once you you want to build and solidify those, then they’re and they’re going to be there to help you in, you know, in your plans, whether it’s in the short term or in the long term. So that’s one way to do it. Another way for for businesses to establish themselves is through thought leadership opportunities, the establishment of your own communications channels. I always tell people, always consider your communications mediums, whether it’s social media, your podcast, your YouTube channel, a blog, your website, whatever communications medium you have, consider them as your news broadcast network. And the reason why I say this is because now we are entering into an era where many organizations are becoming more and more like report, more like independent reporters. And so now, as people start figuring, start figuring out ways as to how they can consume the news and the way that it’s being consumed and why is being consumed, many organizations now want to take full control of the narrative, and so your communications mediums is a great way for you to not only keep your followers informed, but you maintain control of it, you’ll be able to decide how many times you want to post the the kind of the kind of content that you want to post there the community that gets formulated, You directly talk to them and figure out what, what needs are they looking for, what exactly it is that they want, and how can you align your services and products and your content to directly correlate with what it is that they’re looking for, and also be able, again, for credibility purposes, submit yourself as a thought leader, because that is where other businesses can come in, be interested in some of the work that you’re putting on, and they may want to partner with you. Or even media. I’ve seen reporters come into and follow these companies because and develop a relationship with them. And that eventually leads to earned media. And on top of that, we’re also now seeing companies start building their own media newsrooms, which is a one stop hub for for prominent media outlets, officials and other individuals to come in and also get direct access as to what the company does for a living. You get to also follow those newsrooms as well, very similar as if you have a social media network. So there you could put your press releases, your press kits, your bios, your headshots, any prominent news that you gathered, your contact information, everything. It pretty much it, it’s a place for organizations to pretty much cement your identity and and it also gives, it gives all of those involved parties a chance for you to get to know the brand better, follow you, and, more importantly, use you for any kind of coverage that directly aligns to your needs or to expertise.

 

26:04

Wow, those

 

Emily Merrell  26:05

are such amazing tips. I love that the community, I love the affiliations, I love the idea of thought leadership. And I think that’s a huge opportunity for so many brands and solopreneurs who are like, Oh my god, I have to pitch media. So beautiful, beautiful tips. So Yesenia, if people want to find out more about you and learn more about working with you and being in your in your world, what’s the best way for them to connect with you?

 

Yesenia Reinoso  26:32

So obviously, I’m available across all communications mediums. I’m on LinkedIn, through my business page, why communicate or through Yesenia Reynoso, which is my official page, Instagram follow me at y dot communicate, Twitter at why underscore, communicate. And I also have my official landing web page for why communicate as well, where they can reach me while our website will uh is in construction, but it will be up and running very soon. So, uh, I got my audience on, you know, on their on their pulse.

 

Emily Merrell  27:08

You’re saying it, you’re saying it out loud, so you’re holding yourself accountable. I love it, yes. Um, well, thank you so much for all those actionable tips and also just that comprehensive outline of the differentiators of communications versus PR, it’s, it’s definitely something that I think needs a lot more education in the in the global sphere, including myself. So I appreciate the background on that anytime.

 

Yesenia Reinoso  27:33

And it’s, it’s always good, you know, for me to, you know, to educate people about the true purpose of communications, because I still feel that many people, still to this day, has these misconceptions as to what the true essence of corporate communications and its functions. And so I kind of feel like it is, you know, my duty to, you know, to reveal that in another light, and more importantly, again, to get our industry back to the real purpose as to why we communicate in the first place. And so I view that as not only as a challenge, but a golden opportunity for everybody to truly discover what the world of corporate communications is really all about. Love it, love it, love it, love it. Well,

 

Emily Merrell  28:20

switching gears a little bit. Yesenia, I’ve got some fast questions for you. So quick, fast questions. Don’t think too much about them. But what is your favorite TV show or a show you’ve been watching currently?

 

Yesenia Reinoso  28:35

Well, the My Favorite TV show is the one that just ended a season, which is the session?

 

Emily Merrell  28:40

Oh, so good. Yeah. And I love to die.

 

Yesenia Reinoso  28:44

Pro, my heart four seasons. I’m like,

 

Emily Merrell  28:51

start over. Watch it from the beginning all the Exactly, yeah, um, what is your favorite book or favorite book to recommend?

 

Yesenia Reinoso  28:58

Oh, that’s a, you know, that’s a great question. Um, so last week, I was actually in Las Vegas for at a at a conference, and I met this amazing author, uh, her name is, she’s from Dubai, and her name is Nadine chamas, and she recommended the book called The stage is yours, your life, the greatest show on earth. And it talks about the innovative and captivating ways that we, you know, as individuals, through storytelling, be able to develop the life that we envision, that we want. And she was very kind enough to assign this book for me. It’s available on Amazon, and I’m going to start reading it, something that I definitely have now on my on my reading list, yeah, up

 

Emily Merrell  29:53

next on the to do’s I love it. What is your favorite or most used emoji?

 

Yesenia Reinoso  29:59

The simple smiley face. That’s it. Keep it simple. I love it exactly.

 

Emily Merrell  30:05

Tell us an unknown fun fact about Yesenia. Oh, interesting

 

Yesenia Reinoso  30:09

unknown fact about me is that I have three cats. Oh,

 

Emily Merrell  30:19

I only seen one, so I guess maybe there are three running by.

 

Yesenia Reinoso  30:23

Yes, they’re all They’re all scattered, scattered around. But I am a cat mom to three precious, beautiful babies, Rocky, who is my oldest, my ginger Scottish Fold Donnie, my black domestic short hair, the middle child, and lucky, the youngest, the the ginger wise baby. So I love it. You’ve

 

Emily Merrell  30:43

got, you’ve got the Brady Bunch of cats exactly, tell us who would be a dream person to connect with. Oh, now that better alive.

 

Yesenia Reinoso  30:53

Oh, my God, that’s uh. Now that’s a question that is, uh, that’s going to require a little bit of thinking, because I’ve always been the kind of person that I want to work with everybody. And so whomever comes into my life is definitely someone who I you know, someone who I would definitely learn from, sort like a sponge, and be able to, you know, and be able to experience what they bring to the table and how I can help them. But if there is one person in particular that I would love to you know, that I would love to work with, I will probably say Viola Davis. She is one of my favorite actresses, and I just the way as to how she, you know, how she portrays herself in every roles, and how she and as well as Regina King. I think Regina King as well. They both are so incredibly talented, and both are highly dedicated, like in, you know, not only in their crafts, but also in what they do, in giving back to the community. And so, if they’re and so if there is, you know, those two are probably the ones that I would love, especially more for the for the charitable and for community purposes. I think they would. They will be my prime

 

Emily Merrell  32:10

Regina, viola, I know you guys are listening. So you know, reach out to you. Sonia, I

 

Yesenia Reinoso  32:15

can help you with your story. I

 

Emily Merrell  32:18

love it. She’s like, Please, please.

 

32:20

Okay, my

 

Emily Merrell  32:21

final question for you is, what permission Do you want to give our listeners today?

 

Yesenia Reinoso  32:26

Oh, permission to visitors. Alright, to my listen to all of your listeners. Okay, ah, I got one. Please take some time off. I i Give, I grant you permission to take at least one vacation every year. And the reason why I say this, and I just had this conversation with a very good friend of mine, um, we all need a break. Mm, we all need to step back, relax, recharge, reflect. Yeah, we’ve always throughout for so long, we’ve lived with this. We we lived with the concept lift work, and that needs to go away. We need to x that out. We now need to flip over and simply say, we work to live and so as because we have the right to take time for ourselves. We need for for our mental state, for our physical for our emotional well being, we always put so much pressure on ourselves, whether it’s personal or professional. And we have the you know, and we have the right to, you know, take a step back and and just simply, you know, and it doesn’t matter if you take a long vacation or a short walk or staycation, whatever it is that you that you do, set some time for yourself, take some time off, get yourself that vacation or staycation, whatever it is that you want to do, mm hmm, turn off the noise and just simply relax your body, spirit and mind. Well, thank you for it.

 

Emily Merrell  34:03

Amen. I I completely, completely second and yeah,

 

34:08

I double,

 

Emily Merrell  34:09

double agree with that one. Well, Yesenia, thank you so much for joining on today’s show and being a part of today’s episode. Listeners, if you like today’s show, please make sure to follow Yesenia. Share with friends and we will see you the next time on the second degree. Thanks again, Yesenia,

 

Yesenia Reinoso  34:26

thank you everyone. Have a wonderful day. Keep smiling. You.