Introduction Kayla Casillas

My name is Kayla Casillas, and I am a junior public relations major at the University of Florida. Writing has been my greatest academic love ever since I wrote my first creative essay in the third grade. From that point on, I knew words would stick with me forever.

In my freshman year of college, I took a class about diverse trailblazers in the field of PR. During that class, I decided I wanted to work in diversity, equity and inclusion in my future. As a bisexual, Puerto Rican woman, intersectional diversity is at the core of many of my passions. Even before that eye-opening class during my freshman year, I had a general idea of what my career needed to center around: empathy.

My admiration for the National Diversity Council largely comes from its focus on pragmatic empathy. From my professors, peers and past working experiences, I have learned that there are concrete ways to navigate the expanse of underrepresentation, and the NDC knows this better than anyone. I believe that when empathetic work is tied to strategic work, it results in human good. I hope that my time in the I.M.P.A.C.T. program leads me to meeting new people and sharing ideas surrounding those strategies. I am so genuinely honored to be a part of a team that celebrates and perpetuates diversity at large.

Public relations, politics, pop culture and every other field is incomplete without equal representation across the board. When we fail to prioritize diversity, we fail to produce the colorful, creative work that comes when everyone has a seat at the table. I found my seat within the I.M.P.A.C.T. internship at the National Diversity Council, and I cannot wait to get to work.