ALUMNI UPDATE: Caroline Cabral
Enthusiasm, Flexibility & Persistence Open Doors for Recent Comm Grad
Have you ever gotten your arm twisted, but so delightfully that you didn’t really mind?
Caroline Cabral, a 2019 Southern Oregon University grad with a double major in Communication and English has that special skill, and is turning it to her advantage as she has migrated from community journalism to broadcast news to travel & tourism promotion in the last three years.
A former editor of The Siskiyou student newspaper, Cabral has taken over as the Visitor Center and Virtual Outreach Coordinator for the East Bay community of Concord, California.
Originally from Concord, Cabral decided to move back to her hometown last December, and applied for the position of Event Specialist at Visit Concord.
“I ended up not getting that position,” Cabral said, “but my interview was great and they liked me so much that they wanted to hire me on part-time as their Visitor Center Coordinator.”
With her background in journalism and social media, Cabral has proven able to expand her role and help market the city to locals and travelers.
When the pandemic lockdown started in March, Cabral added the title of Virtual Outreach Coordinator, and began focusing on ways to bring the community together to support the businesses that were suffering from the lack of visitors. Her work encompasses destination marketing including outdoor recreation, family-friendly activities, and regional dining opportunities.
Among her winning campaigns, Cabral and her colleagues created the Concord Taco Trail to promote local Mexican restaurants.
“There’s a really big Hispanic population here and a ton of Mexican restaurants that are family owned,” said Cabral.
She and the team created a map of more than 40 Mexican restaurants in the area where visitors could check-in and accumulate points toward prizes. Keen BuzzFeed users may have heard about the Taco Trail in a piece published in mid-October.
In addition to creative campaigns like the Taco Trail, Cabral writes blogs and maintains a steady stream of activity on Visit Concord’s Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest accounts.
“It’s still communicating information and inspiration,” Cabral said, reflecting on her current experiences in community journalism at the Klamath Falls Herald and News and KOBI5 TV News in Medford. “We’re just writing a little bit more persuasively.”
But, hey, if tacos are involved, no further arm-twisting is needed.
Story by Autumn Micketti (@mountainmusicwoman), Community Manager for the Communication Program at Southern Oregon University.
