dímelo @Pamett
In "Dimelo @," La Nueva Link speaks with different Latinx creatives / professionals to highlight their contributions, work and get them on your radar. Up next, LNL celebrates pride with this new mamá and audience developer, Pamela Reynoso.
Pamela is a Dominican audience developer and paid social media strategist with a focus Latinx audiences in the US. She uses photography as a form of creative expression and centers her work around capturing the vulnerability and softness of femme bodies and energies. On her free time, you’ll find her trying to burn the patriarchy to the ground while simultaneously doing hoodrat things with her friends.
Name: Pamela Reynoso
Job Title: Audience Development Manager
Company: Verizon Media (AOL & In The Know)
Side Hustle: Paid Marketing Strategist at Remezcla
Location: Brooklyn, NY
Social handles: IG @Pamett | @SoftFemme.shop | TW @Pam_It
LNL: You are a new mamá, congrats! What's the greatest thing about motherhood you've learned so far?
P.R The biggest lesson for me was experiencing the power of love, before my daughter was born, I was concerned that I wouldn’t feel the same level of attachment my wife would feel since she was the one gestating our baby. But literally the moment she started crowning, before I even looked her in her eyes, I felt a wave of love wash over me and take with it all those fears I had about maybe not loving her enough. A mother’s love supersedes biology.
LNL: What were some of the challenges you faced on the road to motherhood, from planning to conception to birth?
P.R: We had way too many challenges. For me, it started with challenging patriarchy and facing my internalized homophobia. My wife is the first woman I ever dated and I did not grow up thinking I’d end up marrying someone from my same gender, so I went through a really dark period of denial, acceptance, and then of mourning the life I thought I’d provide my hypothetical children. After that, we then both had to face our ultra-Catholic family and sit by as they went through the same process themselves. It was a really hard and long process for all of us.
LNL: What’s the one bit of wisdom you can share for other expecting mothers, or same-sex partners looking to start a family of their own?
P.R: Follow your heart and make your own rules. Even within the LGBTQIA+ community, there is a “traditional” way of procreation which is very clinical, expensive and limiting. I did not feel comfortable using a fertility clinic, sperm bank, and an anonymous donor, so we went on a journey to challenge that. We were able to find a known donor and inseminate at home on our terms. So don’t think for a second that you have to take the paved path, do what makes you comfortable! I’m always open to guide you and answer any technical questions you may have.
LNL: June just passed, but it’s always PRIDE at LNL. How do you and your new family celebrate pride?
P.R: This year, our celebration was more spiritual than anything else, we are so proud of how far we’ve come, and coincidentally her first month of life happened during Pride month, so she’s literally been the embodiment of the Pride we feel. Much of this month has been spent staring at her in awe for hours at a time, it’s been a very special Pride month for us. But as she gets older and we collectively finish kicking rona’s and racism’s ass, we plan on creating our own traditions around Pride so that we can instill that feeling of Pride in her, so just like Christmas, we plan on going all out in June.
LNL: OK, switching gears a bit to your professional life. What has been your biggest lesson you’ve learned about your latinidad and the workplace?
P.R: Uff, that’s a loaded question. Working at place where it was most Latinxs, I learned a lot about elitism within our community and how that can inadvertently become a form of unconscious discrimination and create inequality within the workplace. Once I moved on to work for an ultra corporate company, I learned about how rampant discrimination in the workplace really is and learned the hard way that HR is there to protect the company, not its employees. A lot of managers don’t know how discriminatory they can be, but if they rather promote someone they can relate to and work closely with (because they have more things in common) rather than someone who has more experience and is better qualified, then a line has been crossed. As a Latina, I’ve learned to be hyper-vigilant of certain cues and document them, I’ve learned to pick my battles and to stand up for my community both internally and externally. It’s a lot of work beyond your job duties.
LNL: In your career -- what has been your biggest achievement so far?
P.R: I honestly feel like my whole career is a big achievement. I immigrated from the Dominican Republic when I was 19 and didn’t get to go to college until I was older and had to work while I studied, so I didn’t graduate until I was 30. I then started my career at Remezcla as a social media intern and worked my way up to social media strategist (although the role didn’t represent all my duties). Most of the time, I was the only person on the team. I had to learn a lot on my own. I became a paid social strategy queen and spent a lot of time learning about the Latinx audiences in the US and abroad (which are like apples and oranges, really.) I worked on their content strategy for videos and articles, as well as their traffic acquisition strategy. I became really interested in audience development and data analysis. I finally left when I hit a learning plateau and moved on to become an Audience Development Manager for In The Know, AOL and briefly for Yahoo. I also now manage Remezcla’s branded content strategy during my free time. I did this all in 5 years, so I pat myself on the back a lot to be honest.
LNL: What is the best advice you’ve heard so far?
P.R: The biggest advice I’ve gotten so far is one I always give to those I mentor: “No matter their position, always treat everyone you work with with love and respect, you’ll never know when they’ll be in a position of power.” We all know the workforce at times is all about who you know, and as the great Maya Angelou said “People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” So it’s important to always be humble, caring, and helpful to those around you. Share your knowledge with them, guide the new person on the job or fresh out of college, teach them about soft skills as well. Remember that what goes around come around. While you are at it, don’t forget about the cleaning staff, ask them how they are doing, make their jobs easier and don’t take them for granted.
LNL: Your responsibilities have suddenly expanded. How do you recharge and re-energize for the hustle?
P.R: I go inward. Meditation, yoga, and exercise are vital to my well-being. I can only recharge when I connect with myself and heal from the day, tuning in and out is the only way I can do that. I also have learned to set my boundaries and not bite off more than I can chew. Latinxs are naturally hardworking and tend to go above and beyond our duties regardless of how that might affect our mental and physical health, so I now do all that is necessary for the day and not all that I want to do so I can be a better employee the next day (this also applies to motherhood by the way).
LNL: In closing, are there any movements, people, artists, organizations you'd like to highlight or show some love?
P.R: Absolutely! In terms of advocacy and art, I’d like to highlight my dear friend Carlos Rodriguez (IG @Carlosincarlo) who’s doing a lot of important work around queer visibility in the Dominican Republic, he also works hard to create safe spaces for voguing and the ballroom scene back in my hometown of Santo Domingo 🇩🇴.
Another dear friend and artist we love and support is Dori Lozada from Puerto Rico, she’s an incredibly talented comic artist who just published her own book! Check out her work on IG @DoriLozada
Last but not least, I’d like to highlight a small organization here in New York that we always give our support to: Rainbow Heights Club (IG @RainbowHeightsClub). They provide mental health services to members of our queer community and need all the support they can get. I see that a lot of times folks highlight giant organizations that are already getting a lot of support and donations, so we always try to make a point of finding the little guys that don’t have much visibility but are nonetheless providing essential services to our community and are far more accessible.
Learn more about Pamela and keep up with her beautiful familia aqui.