We recently connected with Joanna Parada and have shared our conversation below.

Joanna, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What did your parents do right and how has that impacted you in your life and career?

My mom and dad are both first-generation immigrants from El Salvador. While El Salvador has a glowing reputation now, it wasn’t always that way. My parents decided to change the rest of their lives in the midst of a civil war, a time of hardship and poverty. In the late 70’s my parents were 26 and 17 years old and they opted to take the most challenging journey to the United States. Fast forward to now, I am proud to be who I am, where I’m from and what I’m becoming – and it’s all because of them. So, what did my parents do right, you ask? Well, to put it simply – everything. They weren’t the perfect parents and my siblings and I certainly weren’t the perfect kids, but as long as we were together, we were always strong. My parents owned and ran their own business in Downtown Los Angeles for 32 years before retiring and in that time, they taught me the value of hard work, the advantages of tenacity and more importantly, that sacrifice doesn’t always have to be bad. As I run by own business while working an 8-5 corporate job, I look in the mirror every morning and am proud of that little girl that is fulfilling her dreams of doing what she loves. I continue to aspire for more each day and always look for ways that I can inspire and give back to others that have been told that they’re reaching too high or dreaming too big or overstepping their boundaries. After all, that is what my parents did for me – showed me to touch the clouds, expand my view and go beyond what is expected of me.

Joanna, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Ever wonder what happened to the kid back in grade school that was ​moved around the classroom by teachers because they talked too much and distracted the other students? I was one of those kids, here I ​am! My passion to connect with people in all aspects has always been ​rooted deep in my soul.

My passion for working with people from all walks of life ​and experiences, developing unique strategies, executing unforgettable experiences and always ​thriving to discover new and better ideas are what have ​allowed me to work in the marketing and branding universe. My ​goal is to always shatter expectations and to provide the ​most efficient and effective results for my clients.

In case you were wondering, yes, I still talk too much and continue to ​disrupt the current. Anything else is just not fun!

JP & Co. Branding offers all brand and marketing solutions such as logo consultation + design, pitch deck creation, website design, copywriting, digital content strategy and design, SEO AdWords creation and audits, analytics, tailor-made travel itineraries, business collateral designs, brand revamp consultation, workforce management + employee development to turn them into brand advocates and so much more.

My goal is to be the partner that my clients deserve and join them on their mission to conquer the world.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

I love this question and not because my own page (@jpandco_branding) has the thousands and millions of followers, but because at almost 400 followers I can attest to the fact that finding your niche, being astute with developing your craft and willingness to learn, takes you further than a number on a page.

I will tell you this, while I welcome the opportunity to partner with more projects and businesses, I have an array of clients keeping me busy. My number of followers probably won’t reflect the fact that every day, when I come home from my corporate job, I have projects to work on, emails to respond to, and drafting new contracts and proposals.

The best advice I can give is to focus on quality content, engagement, and DM’s over likes. Develop a library of high-quality images, plan your content and put some strategy behind it. Sprinkle in some of you, your personality in everything that you do, because at this point, AI is very palpable. I will share what I do for my clients that has generated success.

1) Develop, Define, and Distribute Your Brand. Make sure your brand tells a narrative that is true, that reflects your personality and what you stand for. Whatever your product is (even if it’s you), treat it with respect. I’ve always said that people invest in YOU, not your product.

2) Study and Understand Your Audience. Take a look at the data, numbers don’t lie. Start with a simple exercise, who’s your ideal customer/consumer? What do they look like? What stores do they most frequent? What are their interests? When no one is looking or judging them on social media, what makes them the happiest?

3) Maintain a Presence with a Consistent Schedule. Develop a content calendar and stick to it. Use scheduling apps like SocialBee, Sendible or Loomly to help.

4) Prioritize quality over quantity. Make your content informative, entertaining or inspiring. And if it can’t be all three at once, that’s totally alright!

5) Design for the eye, not for likes. Make sure your content is digestible, not cluttered, and not overly designed. Don’t be afraid to put your own spin into your designs.

6) This one is the most important, be you, be authentic and don’t be afraid to take risks once in a while.

Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?

I learned to write before AI, I learned to design before Canva, I learned to draw on Microsoft Paint before Freeform. Through practice and tons of experience I have been able to master my craft, however, as a creative, business owner, writer and project manager, I can’t live without these programs:
– Canva
– Adobe Creative Suite
– Pexels (for free stock images)
– Pixabay (for free music bites)
– CapCut
– Sendible
– Dribble (for design inspiration)
– Trello and Adobe Workfront (for project workflows)
– WordHippo (when I need help saying the same thing different ways)
– Chat GPT (for inspiration).

Contact Info:

• Website: https://jpbrandings.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jpandco_branding/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jpbrandings
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/jpbrandings/