About
PapaLoDown a boutique PR firm specializing in client base of small businesses, non-profits, and educators in the restaurant, entertainment, art, and fashion industries. The company was founded by Paloma Belara in 2008, and is located in the Bay Area. The company’s well rounded background in complimenting industries provides clients with a diverse network of resources, and over 10 years of experience.
Meet The Team
Paloma Belara was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, and gives credit to New York City for developing her business savvy state of mind. Her education and career began in the fashion and retail industry, and transitioned into the music business at the height of the digital media boom. Inspired by progressive artists in the Bay Area, Paloma began to explore youth empowerment programs and activism, and found her passion in supporting the progressive arts community through public relations.
Paloma has served as a program coordinator in partnership with Beats Rhymes and Life, and the East Bay Asian Youth Center in Oakland, CA, as well as a Program Director with nonprofit arts organization, The Estria Foundation.
Combining her experience in these fields, she founded PapaLoDown, a boutique PR firm specializing in a client base of educators and activists in the fashion, art, music, and entertainment industries. Since then, she has expanded the company to serve small businesses owned by minorities and immigrant families.
Catherine Judge was born and raised in San Francisco and has coordinated programs with youth, political, community, and labor organizations in the Bay Area, and New York City. Catherine graduated from Queens College, in New York, with a B.A. in Urban Studies, and has given presentations and workshops on campaigns and organizing strategies at universities throughout the country. She has also served as a Program Associate with the Youth Leadership Institute (www.yli.org), in San Francisco. Catherine is the first graduate from the PapaLoDown PR Apprenticeship, and has moved on to become the company’s first Client Manager.
Arnold San Jose is a San Francisco native, and received his B.A. in Sociology with a minor in Educational Studies from the University of California, Irvine. During his time there, he was highly involved with the Health Education Center helping to raise awareness on issues of tobacco, positive body image, and eating disorders, which included organizing UCI chapter of the National Eating Disorder Awareness Week. He started his fashion career as an intern at an LA showroom, which led to producing fashion show’s in the Bay Area, and becoming a style assistant for City Style House LLC. As a PapaLoDown PR Apprentice, Arnold looks forward to working with local artists and making a difference in his community through fashion and social change.