Meet the Brownthought Academy: Kristine Dizon
UNDSCVRD was inspired by our late friend and marketing master mind Marco Jastillana.
To honor his memory and to uplift the next generation of creative thought leaders, the Jastillana family and Kultivate Labs is unveiling the Brownthought Academy (BA): Marketing Bootcamp.
The Bootcamp is a 4 month paid internship where 3 interns learn all aspects of marketing from email campaigns, social media, website maintenance, paid social media, and the fundamentals of socially conscious economic development. Interns will learn on the job by working on the marketing campaign for UNDSCVRD. At the end of the program, the interns will pitch a campaign idea or product to launch that they will manage. The best idea will be funded by the Jastillana family.
What is your name?
Kristine Dizon
How do you identify yourself?
I am a Filipino American SoMa native and first-generation college grad from Loyola Marymount University. My pronouns are she/her.
Where are you from?
San Francisco, CA
Why did you apply for BA Academy?
As a sociology major, I honestly had no idea what I wanted to pursue career-wise since it could be applied to almost everything — which is also what I loved about it. During my senior year, I ended up taking a couple elective courses in PR, event management, and communications which I really enjoyed. My previous internships at media & event marketing companies DoLA and DoTheBay taught me how to connect my personal interests in music and events with professional interests in content and social media marketing.
I applied to the BA Academy because I wanted to further my digital marketing experience within events, and I thought it was such a cool opportunity to be able to work with a company that hits so close to home, literally. I am so excited to learn more about, support, and grow with the SoMa Pilipinas community and its economic development through UNDSCVRD.
What was your most memorable experience at Undiscovered?
I went with one of my best friends to see SoSuperSam perform and convinced her to get a tooth gem (my best friend not SoSuperSam lol)! I definitely regret not getting one myself.
What do you like to do for fun?
I love concerts and usually would go at least once a month, pre-quarantine. I love finding new music, film & digital photography, cooking & baking, and lately, I’ve been learning how to roller skate!
Pick a Filipino food or dish that represents you + explain why.
I would say tinolang manok/chicken tinola because it might sound intimidating at first if you've never heard of or had it, but it's a pretty simple, straightforward dish that's always reliable and there for you when you need something super comforting.
What's one thing you've learned about yourself during this global pandemic.
Going through this pandemic has confirmed that I am a true introvert who honestly doesn’t mind being home and having a lot of time to myself. However, at this point, I do desparately miss nights out with friends and people watching. Besides that, I’ve learned I’m actually not too bad at cutting my own hair — recently chopped off 10 inches!
What's your jam right now? (This can be a song, funny video, piece of content, netflix show, livestream, etc.)
I just finished binge watching Insecure and I’ve been watching a ton of room/apartment makeovers on YouTube for inspiration since I’ve been in the home improvement phase of quarantine for a while now. Music-wise, I found my old iPod nano and a CD I burned in middle school while cleaning so 2000s rnb has been on repeat!
What does being Filipino mean to you?
Being Filipino to me means valuing family, education, and kindness. It means remembering the resilience and love my parents had in their journey to immigrate here and raise my siblings and I, and using that to fuel my dreams and theirs. They have been so supportive in everything I do and I cannot wait to be able to give the world back to them, as I’m sure many of you reading this can relate to.
Being Filipino means belonging to such rich culture from languages to funny superstitions, and from delicious food to the shared love of music, even though I am not personally musically inclined haha. It means giving food to my neighbors whenever we have a party and lending a helping hand whenever in need. It means Manila mangoes are my favorite fruit and that I love my Filipino nose.