PR for the People Spotlight: Catherine Marroquin | Community Well
This is a series of interviews with participants in PapaLoDown’s ‘PR for the People workshop’. Hear first hand from amazing people and organizations, who are learning how to amplify their stories in the news, grow their visibility and attract new opportunities.
Meet Catherine Marroquin, founding partner of Community Well in San Francisco’s Excelsior neighborhood.
Catherine Marroquin, founding partner of Community Well
What is your background and experience?
My family emigrated from Colombia in the mid 70’s. I was born in San Francisco and raised in SF and Concord. I’m the youngest of three and the first one in my family to go to college. I’ve been working with youth for over 15 years and most recently have worked for Mission Graduates for the past 11 years helping Mission/ Excelsior youth to get into and complete college. 5 years ago I was one of the founders of Community Well and currently, I’m the Marketing Coordinator and I serve on the Advisory Board.
What is the current Public Relations (PR) campaign you're working on about?
We’re working on the H3 (Happy, Healthy, and Healing) campaign with a couple of angles of mental health and the SF Soda Tax. H3 classes are weekly drop-in healthy food, fitness, and emotional transformational classes that are specifically designed to engage the San Francisco community to look at health as a whole human experience.
What goals do you hope to accomplish through this PR campaign?
Our goal is to get Community Well known in San Francisco. Ultimately we’d like to be the go-to place for holistic wellness in the southeast sector of SF. We would also like to make more community connections for possible collaboration opportunities.
How has the experience of pitching and working with media to amplify the stories in your PR campaign been like so far?
It has been a super informative process. The education we’re getting through this program is helping us to think about our external communication in a whole new light.
Through the #PrfothePeople workshop Catherine secured an interview for one of their practitioners on KRON4 news during Mental Health Awareness month.
What are a few things you know now about PR that you didn't know before you started?
I learned so much! Honestly, I didn’t know much about the process aside from researching emails to news outlets and sending a press release. I learned what a Media Kit needs to have, how to create a proper press release, how to better format an email to pitch, and the steps following the initial pitch. I pretty much learned the entire process!
What other projects are you working on that we should have on our radar?
At this moment we’re pushing our H3 classes because they’re virtual until the shelter-in-place is lifted. We have some possible exciting collaborations down the line supporting the health and wellness of students and teachers at SFUSD but none of that has been confirmed just yet. We’ll keep you in the loop!