In this Business Blast podcast episode, host Tyler Wagner interviews Katherine Pereda, founder of BLF Communications, a modern marketing and PR agency. The conversation begins with sponsor mentions (Anchor, Authors Unite) before diving into Katherine’s personal story: while studying public relations at Florida International University, she applied to top luxury fashion houses and secured an internship at Jimmy Choo within 24 hours, illustrating the power of bold outreach. Katherine shares her core expertise, emphasizing that newcomers to social media should master one platform (e.g., Instagram) before expanding to others. Her broader business advice centers on seeking mentors and never giving up. When asked about advice to her younger self, she warns against pigeonholing into a single industry, encouraging openness to diverse opportunities. On happiness, she describes it as achieving harmony among work, personal life, health, and spirit rather than a myth of work‑life balance. She cites the book The Ten People You Meet in Heaven as a lasting influence, highlighting humility and appreciation, and her favorite quote is “work hard, stay humble.” The episode concludes with her Instagram handle @blf.communications as the primary way to connect.
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Welcome to the Business Blast podcast. I'm your host, Tyler Wagner. This episode is brought to you by Authors Unite. Authors Unite provides you with all the resources you need to become a successful author. You can learn more about Authors Unite and join the free community at authorsunite.com. Now let's jump into the episode.
All right everyone, welcome back to another episode of the Business Blast Podcast. I'm your host Tyler Wagner. Uh, today I have Catherine Pareta with us. She's the founder of BLF Communications and she does modern marketing, PR, everything social media and digital marketing strategy. So welcome to the show.
Thank you so much, Tyler. Thank you for having me. Hello to everyone.
Of course. Pumped to have you here. And we will dive into the first one. The first question I have for you, Catherine, is what is the best story from your life that has an underlying valuable message?
Probably my— I would say So back when I was in college, I went to university. I went to Florida International University. I was studying public relations and marketing and I wanted to break into the fashion industry. But there was, of course, lucky me, nothing to like, nothing on this, in this university or on this campus to do with the fashion industry or the beauty industry or anything even remotely close. So I figured if I wanted to get into the industry, it would either have to be through my work experience or through my internships. Somebody told me to go ahead and try— I think it was one of my professors, actually— to go ahead and try, shoot for the stars, aim for the highest possible or like best internship you could ever get and send your resume, send your cover letter. You never know what could happen. The worst they could say is no, or just not even respond at all. So I did it and I tried it. I applied to like 5 or 6 of like huge, ginormous luxury fashion houses in New York City. So me based in Miami, little Hispanic girl, never having left home, I applied to New York City. Within 24 hours, I had an interview lined up at Jimmy Choo headquarters. And at Christian Louboutin headquarters for the following week. So I came home to my parents and I was like, I need you to book me a flight ASAP. I booked a flight, I had my interview, and landed the internship that same day at Jimmy Choo. And I started within 2 weeks. And so pretty much the lesson, the biggest lesson that I learned is don't, don't ever think that your dreams are too big. They very well can happen.
Awesome. Congrats on that, by the way.
Thank you so much.
And the next one I have for you is, what is the most valuable piece of information we should know that's within your expertise or industry?
So my daily life revolves around social media and everything that you could possibly imagine about Instagram, the algorithm, and Facebook and Pinterest and Twitter and LinkedIn, everything that you can possibly imagine. My one piece of advice, especially for business owners that are just breaking into social media and like turning on their presence and everything, is start with one platform, get really, really, really good at one platform and then venture out. Once you have a following on that one, then venture out and try one more and only grow one at a time. Don't try to tackle everything at once because it's just going to get really like watered down. Bland.
And what's your best piece of overall business advice? So not necessarily industry-specific.
Overall business advice. Um, seek out mentors and never give up.
And if you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would that be?
Stop pigeonholing yourself with the one industry that you're so determined to work in. You never know where opportunities may lie. And you never know if you haven't experienced an industry, it might be actually cooler and more profitable than the one industry you've been trying to break into for the last 10 years.
Yeah. And in your opinion, what is the key to happiness?
Oof. I can't say that— I mean, I feel like it's a myth. Work-life balance. Doesn't really exist. It's more like if you can achieve work life, personal life, everything, and sleep harmony, then you will— you can probably be happy. As long as your personal life, your work life, your spirit, your brain, your physical, everything is at least working together in some way, shape, or form, you can achieve harmony, and it'll— happiness will just come to you.
Yes, I like that word. The next one I have for you is what is the best book that you've read? And what was the number one thing you learned from that?
Oh, wow, this one is old. Probably The Ten People You Meet in Heaven. That one just stuck to me. Mostly because there's like so many different lessons to be learned in that one book. And I think I was a big reader, so I read all the Harry Potter books, all of the— all those like nerdy, nerdy kid books all through high school and stuff like that. So for such a short book to make such a big impact on me and on my life, I still have it on my nightstand every night. I still— I mean, I open it every once in a while just to reread a chapter or two that I loved. And it's just so many life lessons to like not take advantage of what you have and always be appreciative and always be humble.
And what is your favorite quote and why?
Probably very closely to do with that, it would be, work hard, stay humble.
And thank you so much for coming on. The last question that I have for you before we let you go is, where is the best place for people to find and/or connect with you online?
So this one might come as a surprise, but Instagram. My My handle, my Instagram handle is @blf.communications with an S at the end.
Perfect. I will put that in the show notes for everybody. And thank you so much again for coming on.
Thank you so much, Tyler. It was great to be here.
