A Coffee with… Yari Aquino, Account Executive

Yari Aquino, AE, Issue Advocacy

☕️ We grabbed coffee with Account Executive Yari Aquino to chat about doing powerful work across today’s urgent issues, the collaborative dynamic of our D.C. office and the telenovela she can’t stop watching, one 90-minute episode at a time. #escandalo

How do you like your coffee?
I like cappuccinos with almond milk or cortaditos after dinner. 

What do you like doing outside of work? 
I like to cook a lot, especially Puerto Rican food. I usually facetime with my grandma while I’m doing it. I also am really into true crime books/podcasts and follow Penn State football during the Fall.

What’s your day-to-day like at BerlinRosen?
I’m a morning person so I’m usually up early catching up on the news. I focus mostly on clients in the immigration space and am trying to expand our Spanish-media market outreach. Some of the accounts that I work on include Families Belong Together, Texas Civil Rights Project and Alianza Americas. The fast-paced, rapid-response side of our jobs is what I enjoy most. 

How’s it like to work at the DC office?
Since it’s an open office space, we get to bounce ideas off of each other. It’s easy to collaborate. Being in DC, I frequently get to staff Capitol Hill briefings, press conferences, and rallies clients participate in. Definitely a good city to be in for this work. We also have great snacks in the office. 

Tell me a life-changing moment that helped shape who you are today.
Moving from Puerto Rico to the US for college at 18. It’s such a different culture and being this far from the rest of my family forced me to learn how to be on my own quickly. 

What advice would you give to candidates applying to join the Issue Advocacy team?
It’s a fast-paced field and it’s great to get to work on issues that you care about. Make sure you’re a news junkie, passionate about communications and enjoy working in a big team.

⚡️ Fast Facts

• Last TV show I binge-watched:  I’m watching this telenovela on Netflix called Velvet. It’s set in the fashion industry in the 60s in Spain. The episodes are an hour and a half long which is ridiculous but here I am, three seasons in. 
• Restaurant I’d only recommend to close friends: Boqueria in Dupont Circle. 
• Best concert I’ve ever experienced:  Wisin y Yandel.
• Book that changed me: Wouldn’t really say one book did but if I had to choose one, I’d say Heart Talk by Cleo Wade. In the past 2 years, I’ve gifted it 13 times so definitely worth a mention. 
• Movie I’d pay to see again and again: A lot of Marvel movies come to mind, but definitely End Game. The only movie I’ve paid full price to rewatch when it came out in digital. 
• My hero is… RBG. I feel like this one doesn’t require much of an explanation. 
• Advice I’d tell my young self: As cliche as it sounds, everything that’s meant to be will be. There are a lot of moments that feel like the end of the world when you’re younger but things tend to work out.