Meet Natasha Miñoso | Senior Marketing Manager at Penguin Random House and @bookbaristas

We had the good fortune of connecting with Natasha Miñoso and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Natasha, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
I knew that I wanted to get into book publishing, but because I was studying psychology, I wanted to create an online space that catered to both readers and publishers alike. Having a book blog gave me a unique position of being able to market and create conversations around books that I was reading and excited about.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I am a senior marketing manager for Penguin Random House, managing the corporate social media channels and working on the digital marketing strategy across our consumer marketing team. I’m super proud to work on social channels that allow conversations amongst readers and create content that is inclusive and diverse.

To get to where I am today, I put in years of blogging to build credibility and network my way into conversations with other publishing professionals. A huge challenge I faced was knowing that book publishing was mainly located in New York City, with no remote capability, and I was living in Florida, trying to build a platform that showcased my marketing skills. I learned a lot about the power of social media during this time period, seeing how conversations online could create meaningful connections offline.

If there is one takeaway from my personal road-to-publishing experience, it’s that every road looks different, but starts with a conversation between two people who love books. Reaching out to others in the industry helped me get to where I am today; the book world is filled with readers who are welcoming, warm and willing to lend a helping hand.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I currently live in Portland, working fully remote, so if anyone was looking to visit, I’d recommend the below: Good Coffee has a great matcha lavender iced latte; Pine State Biscuits has the best hash browns, ever; Miami Nice is an amazing vegan spot that will hit all of your Latinx cravings; Powell’s Books is an experience that needs at least 2 hours of appreciation; Multnomah Falls is the perfect city escape, especially if you’re in the mood to feel like Twilight is real.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I’d credit a ton of my success to the book community as a whole—readers who shared my content, authors who interacted with my reviews, and marketers who were kind enough to send me early copies of books to review. Would also love to shout out my friends who spent hours with me in coffee shops helping photograph for Instagram. They are the true MVPs!

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bookbaristas/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/natasha-minoso-343ba1aa/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/tinytashhxo