My guest today is Fabiola Rangel. Faby grew up in the Los Angeles area to parents who worked in the service and health industries. Since childhood, Faby wanted to be in the television industry but didn’t have a clear idea of how to make that happen. Faby started her college journey at UC Davis as a pre-med student but decided to transfer to USC to pursue something in the entertainment industry. She majored in Communications and Spanish and was involved with Lambda Theta Nu Sorority, Inc. Faby pursued different opportunities and found a career path in marketing that she hadn’t known existed. She is currently the Director of Marketing for Latin America for Warner Bros. Faby also reflects on how her intersecting identities of gender, ethnicity, and class influenced her career trajectory and the types of positions she pursued. Here is a little of her First Gen Journey . . .
Show Notes:
In this episode, Faby details the expectations she had for her career and how she managed to advance in her career despite challenges she faced in navigating both her professional and personal life. Here are a few highlights from her episode:
· Faby’s parents encouraged her to go to college by enforcing good grades but they didn’t know about the other factors and processes of applying to college (1:17).
· As a child, Faby aspired to become a newscast anchor and was inspired by Maria Elena Salinas (2:53).
· Both Faby and her parents expected that going to college would automatically lead to a high paying job. Faby had to reconcile that expectation with the reality that her first job out of college might not be the position she expected (3:57 and 8:00).
· Faby started college as a pre-med student at UC Davis but quickly found it wasn’t going to be the right fit for her. She then transferred to USC to pursue a career in the entertainment industry (4:32).
· Faby decided to participate in non-paid internships during college even though it resulted in having some financial limitations. Ultimately, she believes that the sacrifice was worth it because she was able to gain valuable professional experiences (5:29).
· Faby discusses how her career path unfolded based on the opportunities she pursued at Azteca America, Fox Deportes, UFC, Univision Deportes, and Warner Bros. (9:09 and 18:02).
· Faby found that she was good at marketing and decided to make that her career path. She reflects on the value of finding something that she felt good at (11:46).
· Faby struggled with advancement in her particular field due to age and sex discrimination. In this particular part of her journey, her identities as a young, Mexican woman became more salient than her first gen identity but the lack of professional models in her life left her without clear guidance on how to navigate these issues (12:42).
· For Faby, being in a corporate setting was difficult because she didn’t have any professional models in her family and didn’t see herself represented in the workplace. Alas, this wasn’t a new feeling as Faby had similar experiences in college (15:57).
· Part of advancing in her career meant following opportunities and making sacrifices. Faby discusses the challenges of having to re-locate for her career and how she navigated the subsequent family tension (20:09).
· Faby made a concerted effort to integrate her parents into her work life so they could better understand what she does and feel pride in her accomplishments (22:01).
Resources:
Do you have trouble relating your professional life to your family? This blog post by Latinas Uprising may help.
Faby’s Career Tip:
Faby acknowledges how hard it is to break into the entertainment industry when you don’t have any connections. Her advice is to persist, work hard, and don’t let anybody tell you you can’t do it.