Jerry Valencia

Backstory:

Jerry attended the University of Texas at San Antonio and got his Bachelors of Business in Marketing. It wasn’t until his senior year that he fell in love with Advertising thanks to his Advertising 101 professor. Eager to learn more, he went off to Richmond, Virginia to get his Master’s in Creative Brand Management at the VCU Brandcenter. He then moved to Denver, CO where he’s worked at multiple agencies on brands such as Infiniti, Vrbo, Mike’s Hard Lemonade, and Potatoes USA. Yes, he was just as surprised as you to learn there are advertising needs for potatoes.

Jerry grew up watching his dad and grandpa donning their bright red H-E-B shirts, and it was actually a dream of his to one day be a store manager. H-E-B was his first job, and helped pay his way through college, so when he decided to make a career change it was a shock to his family. Now, after 7 years away, he’s glad to be back in Texas working on the business that was a big part of his younger life. Needless to say, his dad is the most excited. He can’t wait to give Jerry a Partner Perks card to use at the Allen H-E-B.

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Professional Not-So-Humble Brags:

During his time at Potatoes USA, Jerry helped develop and lead the first year of their TikTok campaign. He searched, contacted, and negotiated contracts with the creators. The account saw a massive increase in engagement, and is now part of their future marketing plans. He made potatoes trend!

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Interesting Cocktail Party Tidbits:

Will do anything and everything that puts him in the great outdoors: Hiking, trail running, paddle boarding. He won’t let the Texas heat take that away from him. He apologizes in advance for the sweat.

Drank a different beer every day for an entire year in 2018. Learned two things: 1) He loves Amber Ales. 2) No beer should be flavored with bananas.

Loves playing both video games and board games, and turns into the most evil person alive in a game of Catan.

Has completed one 14er (a hike up a mountain taller than 14,000 feet), and hopes to tackle one more before moving to Dallas.

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Best plot twist (so far):

Being an H-E-B store manager was always his goal growing up until his Advertising 101 class his senior year of college. Eight years later, the same professor that made him fall in love with the ad world, passed along this opportunity to join the H-E-B team at Plot Twist. Complete full circle.

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