By Samantha Pastorino
Knowing your worth, advocating for yourself, continuing to hone your skills, and never letting fear stop you from taking that leap were some key pieces of advice Josefina Loza gave at the spring Induction and Senior Farewell Dinner.
Loza, a University of Nebraska at Omaha alumna and CEO of Lozafina, a marketing and public relations firm, shared her passion for writing, something she never imagined being a life-long career.
“I still to this day love to brag that I’m proving my 2nd grade teacher wrong, that I can make a career out of being a chatter box,” Loza says. “Don’t let anyone put you down ever, prove them wrong.”
Loza’s resilient mindset is one of the many characteristics she attributes her success to throughout the evolution of communication.
“As long as I do what makes me happy, make my path, and never ever let anyone talk me below my worth,” she says, “I was going to succeed.”
Loza’s ambition paid off even as a high school junior when she began writing for the Omaha World-Herald. As a sophomore in college, Loza the newspaper hired her part-time.
She also emphasized the importance of doing work that’s fulfilling.
“You’re going to make life choice along the way of your career and they’re going to be tough ones, but as long as you choose what you know is right in your heart, that’s the best thing you can do for you,” Loza says. “There are some things in life more important than chasing a dollar.”
During Covid-19, Loza hit a turning point. While experiencing a time of personal hardship, instead of retreating, Loza hustled and opened her own firm, Lozafina, in October 2020.
Loza’s marketing and public relations firm began with helping black and brown businesses during a time when many of those establishments were forced to close their doors. Lozafina helped to save many of those businesses.
Today, Loza says her firm works with social media accounts, graphic design, feature writing, and even ghost-writing books for multi-millionaires.
Loza’s success couldn’t exist without her ability to fearlessly believe in herself and take risks.
“As you’re at that cusp of wanting to learn and wanting to grow, do not self-sabotage,” she says. “If there’s something you want to do nothing can stop you, but you have to set that mindset.”
From being a hired writer for the Omaha World- Herald as a high school student, having her own night-life column as a 22-year-old, to becoming CEO of her own firm, Loza knows success, but more importantly, she knows resilience.
“It’s OK to fail, it’s not failure it’s a life lesson, pick that piece up and add it to your mosaic,” Loza says. “Know your connections, stay connected, ask for help, and make mistakes because that’s the best thing you could ever do.”
