November Member PRofile: Zenaida Gonzalez Kotala
Title and company? Assistant Vice President for Strategic Initiatives and Communication at the University of Central Florida
Give a brief explanation of your job. I manage all communications — internal and external — for the Office of Research and the College of Graduate Studies at UCF. I also am responsible for coordinating research news for the university.
How long have you been a member of FPRA and why did you join? I joined in 2007, a year after I switched careers from journalism to public relations. I joined to help learn the craft and to network and learn from other members in the Central Florida area.
What has been your favorite FPRA event or experience so far? I absolutely loved Leadership FPRA. I was part of the inaugural class and learned so much more than simply how to help leaders with communication needs. I also learned about how important relationships are across various industries and disciplines to successfully advise leadership. I also enjoyed getting to know talented public relations professionals across the state and especially in my area.
Tell us about an exciting achievement. One of the most exciting opportunities I had was to lead communication efforts at the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico when UCF entered into an agreement with the National Science Foundation to manage the federal site. I worked with personnel in Puerto Rico, the NSF and UCF to help publicize how the facility contributed to various scientific discoveries from 2018-2020. During those two years, we produced numerous science news stories, which international media outlets routinely picked up. Because I am bilingual, I was also able to support a host of education outreach efforts in Puerto Rico that impacted hundreds of young children and college students there. It was one of the most exciting and satisfying projects of my career because we worked as a team and our impact was so broad.
What was your first job? My first job in college was as a cashier at the NFL Pro Shop at Pier 39 in San Francisco. The job taught me a lot about people. My first professional job was as a reporter covering a city beat and then education for the Marin Independent Journal, a daily newspaper in Marin County in California.
What's one fun fact about you? I’m a California native, giving up one set of natural disasters (earthquakes) for another (hurricanes) when I moved to Florida 20 years ago.
