We had the good fortune of connecting with Sophia Ayala and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Sophia, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking
I think my view on risk/taking risks has drastically changed over the last few years. I used to think that taking risks was never the safe thing to do, especially when it comes to your career, but when I started to see that risks aren’t always a scary and bad thing, I came to see how beneficial taking risks could be!

When building my personal brand, I always assumed no one would care about my content or resonate with me. However, I took a leap of faith and jumped out of my comfort zone to start creating my brand anyway and the rewards of that have been amazing. I think starting my foodie journey really encouraged me to start taking more risks, in all aspects of my life, and to stop letting the fear of failure consume me.

Taking risks allows for an immense amount of personal grown and in my case has led to an abundance of happiness through seeing myself overcome challenges and reach new heights that I otherwise wouldn’t have if I stayed comfortable and didn’t take the risks that I have!

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
By day, I’m a Junior Account Manager at an absolutely incredible public relations agency. From crafting messages to help brands, and individuals, tell their incredible stories, working with influencer much like myself to securing national media coverage, no work day is ever the same for me and I LOVE IT! I’ve been working in the public relations industry for just about 3 years now and everyday presents new challenges, growth and opportunities and I think that’s truly so special.

When I first started my communications journey, in college, I was unsure of how to achieve my goals and really break into the industry. From working a full-time job, interning and managing a full- time school load I managed to juggle the challenges and really find what I was passionate about and what I felt I could excel at. I landed my first full-time communications industry job while in my last semester of school and while that was one of the hardest times in my life (personally and professionally), I managed to finish out that semester with honors and get promoted at my job. I’m truly proud of the fact that I never let the hard times get the best of me and rather took those challenges and used them to propel me further in life, my career and my overall happiness!

If there is one takeaway I’ve learned thus far in my career is that that challenges can bring about so much growth. Having a mindset that yes this might be a hard point in my life but I know greatness will come from it, will truly change your outlook on whatever you are going through!

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I’m an Orange County native so if a friend came to visit for the weekend we’d start off in OC!
Friday – Disneyland Day

Breakfast – Mickey Waffles at Carnation Cafe

Snacks – Fluffernutter churros, popcorn,& dole whip

Lunch – Corndogs from Main Street

Dinner – Bengal BBQ

Saturday – OC Day

Breakfast – Sidecar Doughnuts in Costa Mesa for donuts and coffee (the huckleberry is a MUST)

Lunch – Kentro’s Greek Kitchen in Fullerton

Dinner – Ola Mexican Kitchen for a sunset dinner and margaritas

Sunday – LA Day

Breakfast – California Donuts in Korea Town

Coffee – Coffee Dose off of Melrose

Quick pit stop at Crumbs & Whiskers (cat cafe)

Lunch – Shake Shack

Dinner – Jon & Vinny’s off of Fairfax

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I want to shoutout my mom, aka “momager” and best friend! Not only is my mom incredibly supportive, she is also extremely honest and real with me 24/7 which has really helped to shape into who I am today. We all need that brutally honest person in our life to help us out and mom you’re that gal…love you!

Oh and I’d like to give another little shoutout to my boyfriend for always being down for the crazy adventures I drag him to and for loving me the way he does!

Instagram: @socal.soph

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/mwlite/in/sophia-ayala-289556129

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