Name: Ana GomezAge: 20Year: seniorMajor: public relationsMinor: theaterHometown: Miami, FL
Her Campus: What is your position on campus?Ana Gomez: “I am vice president for PRSSA (Public Relations Student Society of America).”
HC: How did you get involved with PRSSA?AG: “I got involved my sophomore year. There was a PRSSA national conference in San Francisco, and I had always wanted to go there, so I said, ‘You know what, I’m going to go.’ Once I was there, I really loved it. I love that it opens your eyes to all the opportunities you have when you study this field. I told myself after that year that I wanted to get involved further, and then I was the webmaster my junior year and vice president this year.”
HC: What is your favorite part of being in the club?AG: “My favorite part is just helping people find their passions in public relations. You can apply it to so many different things, and we have members from so many different majors; we have members from the business college, from the agricultural school and such a wide range of people. It’s just so interesting to see what they want to apply their studies to.”
HC: And the biggest challenge?AG: “It’s always time with anything, but it’s like what people say — if you’re doing something that you love, it doesn’t even feel like work. It’s fun and you learn from it and grow from it.”
HC: What other things are you involved in on campus?AG: “I’m involved with the Agency, which we’re actually recruiting for this year. I’m a student adviser, and it’s basically just helping to build the business and establish a foundation for it. It’s set to launch Spring 2015, and it’s really exciting because before you didn’t really have a place for advertising and public relations. I’m involved with the theater department, and this year I was helping to build sets for plays. I’m also involved with Hispanic Communicators Association.”
HC: Where do you see yourself in 10 years?AG: “I hope to be working in public relations in either brand marketing or public interest communications. Communication for social change is a big passion of mine, so I really hope to be working in that. I hope by that time I’ll also have a family.”
HC: What is your dream job?AG: “ Somewhere where I can go and I feel like I’m leading a campaign that’s making a change in someone’s life. (It would be) even better if that’s in public health or arts education because those are two of my passions.”
HC: What are your hobbies?AG: “I love to read, and I try to find time to read for something other than school. I love to cook, bake and just feed people in any way. I like yoga and anything with art, especially theater.”
HC: Do you have any hidden talents?AG: “I can usually pick up on how people are feeling. I’m very intuitive with other people’s emotions, and it’s a blessing and a curse. I’m always the person who’s like, ‘Are you okay?’ and the person doesn’t want to talk about it. They can hide it from everyone else but not me.”
HC: Who is your role model?AG: “My parents. My mom was raised in Ecuador and I was actually born in Ecuador. They picked up their lives and left everything to give me a better life here. They built everything from scratch for themselves, and to me, that’s very heroic.”
HC: What advice would you give to new students?AG: “Find your passion and do something in that field. At the same time, try something new, even if you’re uncomfortable. The second that you leave your comfort zone, you’re going to learn so much more about yourself and find things that you never knew you could do.”
HC: What is your favorite memory at UF so far?AG: “I think that it’s the traveling opportunities that UF has given me. I studied abroad last summer with the college of journalism and communications in London and Paris. I have also gotten to travel for PRSSA with the national conferences, and I’ve been to San Francisco, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C.”