Marisa Vallbona, APR, Fellow PRSA, knew she was made for PR when she was 12 and fried an egg on the sidewalk with her sister on a super hot Texas day. The perfect weather story made the TV news, and that’s all it took for her to get hooked, and her career was born. Since then, she’s gotten local, regional, and national media exposure for just about everything. If it’s newsworthy, she can get it in the news. A seasoned business strategist, Marisa has worked with top businesses and entrepreneurs on business strategy, crisis communications, reputation management, publicity, public speaker training, strategic communications, community relations, new product launches, and special events. Marisa has won four Silver Anvil awards (the Oscars of the PR industry) from the Public Relations Society of America and was part of a PR team that won a Silver Anvil Best of Show for the launch of XM Satellite Radio. She was recently awarded a Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award for Exemplary Leadership; San Diego Business Journal named her “Women Who Mean Business” in PR, and she’s won countless other awards. She was featured as the cover story in Inc Magazine and as a chapter in the book Alpha Dogs: How Your Small Business Can Become A Leader of The Pack. She is the co-founder of PR Consultants Group, a national network of PR firms with offices in every primary U.S. market and Puerto Rico. Marisa also has been inducted into the PRSA College of Fellows (a prestigious distinction awarded to a very small percentage of PR practitioners). She served on the national board of directors of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) five years, including as national secretary. She also served on the board of directors of SDX (formerly the San Diego Ad Club), and is a sustaining member of the Junior League of Houston. Marisa is fluent in Spanish and holds citizenship in the U.S., Costa Rica, and Spain. When she’s not working, she enjoys spending time with family, traveling, snow skiing, and surfing.

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