‘X’ as in exceptional

A “dream semester” at her dream school helped Lupita Zamora hit the ground running in her life after San Diego State University. 

Zamora, a public relations major from Oceanside, said she was prepared to experience months or years of rejection when she started her job search in the days after graduation. 

Instead, she landed a job in six days. 

She was hired as a marketing assistant by Creative Electron, a commercial and industrial X-ray inspection system company based in San Marcos. Her first day of work was June 16.

“I was fully prepared mentally to get so much rejection and to go months, maybe even years, without a job, and I only had to wait a week, which was great,” Zamora said. “I feel so blessed because every time you jump on social media, you hear about the job market not being good.”

Zamora spent three semesters at SDSU, which she described as her dream institution, after getting her associate’s degree from MiraCosta College in just 18 months. Her final semester, she said, put her in a great position to find success in the job market. 

This spring, Zamora, who was also working full time at a restaurant in Oceanside, served as the Broom Student Fellow for the Glen M. Broom Center for Professional Development in Public Relations, a mentorship program that fully immersed her in the world of professional public relations. 

It was through this program that Zamora was taken under the wing of Kaye Sweetser, the director of the Broom Center and Zamora’s capstone professor in her final semester. 

As a “Broomie,” Zamora got to attend Public Relations Society of America conferences in Los Angeles and New York, the latter of which she said was a “very impactful” experience because she was able to meet a number of female public relations professionals. 

“I had a lot of doubts, because there’s this stigma attached to PR and comms majors that you’re not going to get a good job out of college, or they’ll be low-paying jobs,” said Zamora, a first-generation college graduate. “But then, I met all of these women who were former students of (Sweetser), and they all are thriving, and they have great jobs that pay well, and they are happy. It reaffirmed everything that had led me to that point.”

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“One of the things she stressed was the importance of salary negotiation, and I put that advice to use immediately,” she said. “The other thing she told me was that as I entered the job market, I needed to put my fears aside, and I didn’t go to school this long to not pursue my dreams.

“She is an incredible person and she’s been so successful, and when a successful person says something or gives you advice, you have to take it into account,” Zamora said. 

Zamora’s passion for public relations emerged during the mid-2010s, when she became, as she said, “obsessed” with the 2016 era of social media beauty and cosmetics influencers. She quickly decided that while she didn’t want to be a cosmetologist, promoting the brands would be the next best thing. 

While her current job is far afield from the beauty industry, Zamora said she’s OK with that. 

“This is a great start. I'm excited for where this journey will take me,” said Zamora.