CTVA Alumna Finds Her Path in Entertainment PR
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Jordyn Palos, CSUN alumna, was named in 2015 Variety's New Hollywood Leaders in PR and Digital. Photo courtesy of Jordyn Palos.
As an entertainment publicist, a typical work day for Jordyn Palos ’06 (Cinema and Television Arts) might include a walk down the red carpet with a client, maneuvering them from photographers to journalists, from outlet to outlet at the Golden Globes or another major awards show. The chaos of coordinating logistics is par for the course for Palos.
For the past 12 years, Palos has worked tenaciously in public relations. She owns and operates the bi-coastal public relations firm Persona PR, which began in her apartment in 2010 and quickly grew into an industry standout. In 2015, Variety named her one of “Hollywood’s New Leaders in Digital and PR.”
“It was such an honor that they included me in their new leaders in Hollywood list,” Palos said. “In the representation world there are not a lot of ways we get recognized,” Palos said. “I was blown away, it was definitely a high point in my career.”
Her father, Ronald Borczon, chair of California State University, Northridge’s Department of Music and director of the CSUN Music Therapy Wellness Clinic, described his daughter as someone who always had an entrepreneurial spirit.
“She was driven. I mean, she started a babysitting company when she was 12,” Borczon said. “She put up fliers in the neighborhood and has always been a leader. She was someone whom people followed and gravitated towards.”
Borczon said their family believed Palos would have a great experience at CSUN, and it was a great entry to the entertainment industry.
“We weren’t sure what she was going to do until she took an internship and found her passion in public relations,” Borczon said. “When she was at the company she worked for, I told her she should leave and start her own business, and I knew she would be successful.”
Palos was ambitious and not afraid to pursue her goals. In 2002, she enrolled at Moorpark College to complete her general education requirements before transferring to CSUN in 2004. She practically grew up on the CSUN campus, Borczon has been teaching at CSUN since 1984, the year Palos was born. She said she would visit her dad at work and did not consider attending any other college after transferring from Moorpark College.
Once she arrived at CSUN, she chose to major in Cinema and Television Arts (CTVA) with an emphasis in Electronic Media Management, intending to work in advertising or marketing at a studio or network.
“The classes that I took were so rich in knowledge,” Palos said. “All of my professors were so intelligent, I truly learned so much.”
During her time at CSUN, some professors pushed Palos.
“The teachers who knew my dad were a little bit harder on me, I think they had high expectations” Palos said. “I will never forget, I took a test in my entertainment law class and didn’t do great, my professor wrote on it ‘I know you can do better than this.'”
Leading into Palos’ senior year, she found herself working in music videos as a stylist for bands like Panic! At the Disco, Tyga and Paramore. Her colleague and friend Brandon Bonfiglio (also a CSUN alumnus) had emerged as one of the most up and coming producers in the music scene, and he invited Palos to work with his team.
“Working on set for long hours and with some of my best friends was so fun, I knew I wanted to do something in the entertainment field but I hadn’t figured out what exactly that was, yet,” Palos said.
Also during that time, Palos needed to secure an internship before she graduated. She searched on Craigslist and found a position at a boutique public relations firm near where she was living. Although she had not taken any PR courses, the internship piqued her interest in publicity and upon graduation the company hired her full time.
“When I started working in PR I thought, ‘OK, this is cool, we are doing different tasks every day and juggling so many diverse clients,'” she said. “I was a part of a small company I was helping to build, and that was extremely rewarding.”
While working in her first PR job, Palos never thought she would run her own business. In 2010, four years after she accepted her internship, she took a leap of faith and quit her job to open up her own firm, Persona PR.
“In 2010 the economy was in a bad place, and I had applied to dozens of jobs once I realized it was time to leave the firm I started at. When I didn’t receive any call-backs, I thought ‘Well, I could start my own company,’ and my then-boyfriend (who is now my husband) helped me launch a website and logo in one weekend. It was extremely important for me to show my clients that this was going to be a legitimate company and that I was going to be successful.”
Since opening her business, Palos and Persona PR have represented hundreds of clients in the film, television, music, non-profit and corporate industries, including working with talent based in not just the US but Europe, Canada, South Africa, Japan and Australia, to name a few. As the company has grown, she relocated from her first small office in Beverly Hills to a suite on Sunset and Vine in the heart of Hollywood, and offices on Park Avenue South in New York City.
“It is such a pleasure and an honor to have a hand in our client’s careers, while also being a business owner and providing jobs to incredible people,” she said. “I try to be a leader, and I am definitely a perfectionist. I love to have everything a certain way, I am sure my staff would attest to that!”
Palos and her husband have a family, and she works full time as a publicist while running the business. She noted that she would love to get her master’s degree in the future and become a professor.
“College teaches you to follow through. [CSUN] taught me about responsibilities,” she said. “I learned to be thorough, research and come prepared, take notes, always learn new things and be open minded. I don’t think it matters what courses you take or what major you are in, the core values that college teaches you are what are most important.”
For more information on Palos and her firm, visit https://www.persona-pr.com
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