National Women’s Small Business Month Series Q&A Featuring Alejandra Pelaez of UP Advertising
National Women’s Small Business Month Series
Q&A Featuring Alejandra Pelaez of UP Advertising
October is Women’s Small Business Month in America! To celebrate, we’re featuring Cherokee-based women-owned businesses all month long. These inspiring stories will shed a well-deserved light on their incredible leadership, business acumen, and resilience.
This week, we’ll hear from Alejandra Pelaez of UP Advertising – a full-service multicultural advertising agency specializing in reaching the Hispanic market nationwide. Follow along on cherokeega.org and via social media to like, follow, and share.
What inspired you to start your business?
I identified a need in the market for brands to communicate clearly with different audiences. I came from working in a corporation where marketing is the key to their success. Their main objective is to understand different audiences and communicate with them using the appropriate message and channel.
Medium-sized companies don’t have a large budget to reach the same level of marketing investment as a corporation. For that reason, I created a business model where we could offer marketing services to any corporation at a budget that fits them. Additionally, I’m passionate about helping people and connecting with different cultures; I am convinced that if we work as a community, we can achieve our dreams more effectively.
You mentioned you’re passionate about working with different cultures. Tell us more!
We started UP Advertising specializing in the Hispanic market because it’s our expertise – we understand it very well as Hispanic immigrants ourselves. Having the same background of coming to the United States from a Latino-American country gave us a competitive advantage. However, we have been exploring the idea of expanding to different cultures because they are also immigrants or children of immigrants. Since that is our background, there are shared experiences that immigrants understand, and it is something we already are practicing with the Hispanic market that can translate, both literally and figuratively, into other cultures. We know what affects the decision-making process and how that needs to be communicated to that audience, so we are excited to grow as a company in different markets.
What marketing practices do you find most effective in reaching new customers?
Effective marketing revolves around correctly managing your brand across different types of media. The marketing industry can change very quickly and selecting the right media, whether it is traditional or digital, can properly position a brand for its target audience. Paying attention to detail and knowing the trends helps to keep us on top.
Networking within the community is another best practice – it connects the brand with its target audience. Being in the community and speaking their language, so to speak, can make a huge difference.
Who is your favorite female leader, and why does she inspire you?
My mother is my favorite female leader and the most tenacious woman I know. When I was young and growing up in Colombia, it was a time of great adversity and economic struggles. Even with these challenges, my mother was a small business owner and sole provider for our family. Being a single mother during that time was difficult, but she overcame many hardships to give my sister and me a better opportunity. She provided for us, sent us through college, and raised us to do our best with the resources available. My mother has helped me become the woman I am today, and I am proud to have such a strong woman in my life.
When did you know you wanted to become an entrepreneur, and how do you define success?
I knew from a young age that I wanted to own a business. Being able to create opportunities for other people and set my own goals is something I enjoy. I believe my success is defined by having clear goals and working to achieve them with discipline, commitment, and responsibility.
How did UP Advertising get its name?
UP are the initials of my husband and my surnames: Uribe – Pelaez. At the same time, it means moving upwards, reminding me that I have high goals and must always look up to achieve them.
To learn more about UP Advertising, visit https://www.upatlanta.com/.