bizMe

Smart and dedicated are two essential career attributes. And as bizMe found out, to keep up with Jessica Valenzuela, we’ll have to add a few more distinctions—dreamer that turns goals into action verbs, social media guru, and successful entrepreneur—to her list of outstanding qualities.

Jessica is an immigrant from the Philippines but she never let that define her. “I never really saw my being part of the minority group as a challenge for me. I never really saw it as a handicap.” When she relocated, she said that she soon blended with the mainstream and with the friends that she made.

The companies she worked for had a very diverse staff but she found that she was usually the only first generation immigrant. “I think one of the biggest influences to my mindset was always to be really open to learning and listening first,” she said. Her openness allowed her to assimilate seamlessly because she had the mindset to blend within a group but still maintain a sense of being.

Although she was not impeded by her heritage, others did see it as a challenge. She had an interesting conversation regarding race with a female Filipino reporter who attended the same luncheon as she. Everybody at the table happened to be Caucasian but herself and the reporter. The reporter asked her how she was able to work in such an environment where she was the minority. “You’re not white,” the reporter said. Jessica found nothing unusual in the fact that she was the minority. “I never really thought about it in that way. English was still my first language. My social circle in the Philippines was diverse,” she said of her life before her move to America.

Before joining the professional world, Jessica attended DePaul University in Chicago, where she was a marketing management major while maintaining her intense interest in emerging technology. Ever since the .com era began, she was drawn to the industry. “Technology was still very young, things were not so defined,” she said of the time that inspired her.

When Jessica graduated, she tried her hand at different marketing and product development positions. She worked on different projects including focusing on CD-ROMs for classroom learning. She also liked that she and her team were experimenting but soon found that she wanted to try advertising.

Jessica’s first full-time advertising job was when she started as a producer/project manager at Young and Rubicam. “The big media companies were just starting to get in on the digital phase.” Being one of the newest members of the team, she was in charge of managing budgets and timelines. She also worked with brands and launching websites or campaigns for the brands.

Entrepreneurial spirit spurred her ambition
After she gained her experience from Young and Rubicam she thought the time may be right to start her own company. “That experience really helped me,” she said. Combining her experience, her keen interest in the technology world, and lots of initiative she decided that it was the right time to start her own company. Although she had some slight reservations explaining how her company would succeed to investors, she did not let fear hold her back from her goal.

“You shouldn’t be afraid to make mistakes and you should not make decisions based on fear.”

She has noticed that many people in the United States and even in Europe tend to cling to whatever is safe. “Stemming from my point of view on failure, I believe when people fear the idea of failure you really do not get the complete experience on what you could have accomplished,” she said.

Before she came to America, she had a good life traveling with a publishing company in Asia but she felt that world was too small for her. Her curiosity carried her into making the move to the States. Her curious nature and lack of fear were useful when it came time to establish her own business.

2007: Launch of Mavin Digital Inc.
“Ideally, at Mavin Digital we create strategy and discovery and then we create the product. We can produce big scale agencies 360 solutions,” she said. Though her business is relatively new, she is already looking to the future.

In terms of growth, she believes in investing time and resources in developing consumer-focused products with partners. “I am establishing alliances and partnerships to blossom the company,” she said. “It’s very difficult to get funding in the business services phase.”

As for long-term goals, “the idea is to position Mavin Digital to be acquired by a bigger entity five years from now or possibly sell it,” she said. Jessica does not want to grow too much because she doesn’t want to lose the personal touch or conversation with the client. Mavin Digital tries to assist the client by discovering their needs and then walking them through the process.

So was the initial struggle worth it? “It’s 20 or 50 times more fulfilling than my past career,” she said. “Being an entrepreneur makes me happy.” It is a lot of work and it is challenging especially when the business is self-funded but she knows it is worth the risk.

Residing in New York also injects Jessica with a daily dose of energy. “There’s something about this city,” she said. “If you make it in New York you can make it anywhere.”