Today we’d like to introduce you to Laritza Lopez.
Laritza, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I grew up in Puerto Rico. My parents had a very difficult time making ends meet and my grandmother became sick. My parents decided to move to Chicago to give us an opportunity to learn English and have a better education and opportunities. We also had the chance to meet our grandmother whom we have never met. We came to Humboldt Park first and then we moved to Little Village. I met an incredible teacher there who was the volleyball coach in my grammar school. He recruited me for the team. I loved it and I had a talent for it, even though I was very short for a volleyball player (5’3). He encouraged me to play in high school. I went to Kelly High School and I played volleyball there. I was in honors and I was very active at school. I was the salutatorian. My teacher, Mr. Krygsheld, took me and others to go see big ten volleyball games at different universities, and he introduced me to the idea that I could play volleyball in college. He used to record my games so that I could send the tapes to the coaches in the colleges. I went to Loyola University. I wasn’t recruited but Mr. Krygsheld told me to try out and that maybe later they can give me a scholarship. I did try out and I made the team; I got that partial scholarship. I was also recruited by First Chicago for their first intern program. Initially I turned it down because I only knew jobs for bank tellers and I remember telling the recruiter that I had worked too hard to be a teller. Thank God he was patient with me! He encouraged me to give it a try and told me they would help pay for my school. He got me with that! I studied communications with the idea that I wanted to be a journalist someday, but I learned that at that time the average pay for a journalist was $15,000 starting salary. I couldn’t do it as I was paying $15,000 a year and I felt that I didn’t go to school to get $15,000 in salary. So I switched to marketing.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Mainly the lack of connections and biases that diminish the value of one’s work and create extreme needs to prove oneself and one’s work, over and over again. Multicultural and diverse markets are still not valued the same.
Please tell us about the Purple Group.
We provide strategic marketing communications and advertising services informed through our researched-based path to insight process. This is a consultative process that blends marketing expertise to inform the advertising or public relations campaign, always managing for measureable results. Our campaigns work. Our services range from strategy to help businesses grow to executions of campaigns, TV, Radio, video productions, social media, digital advertising, events, and public relations.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
Opening my first international location in Brazil and being able to manage through the challenges of the recession and position the business to be ready for the turn.
Contact Info:
- Website: Www.PurpleGRP.com
- Phone: 773-463-3179
- Email: laritza@purplegrp.com
Getting in touch: VoyageChicago is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
