Cory O'Born Email & Phone Number

Seattle, Washington, United States

In some ways, this role is a major departure from what I've done before - I've moved almost as far as you can get from my original home of Orlando. However, my skillset working at a DMO transfers perfectly, and I am once again promoting a destination I love. Focusing on the domestic and Canadian markets, I earn positive press coverage for Seattle and support local cultural and artistic events. I really enjoy the focus on uplifting small businesses, preserving authentic people-driven experiences and the natural beauty surrounding the city on all sides. I look forward to learning even more about the destination and sharing all the hidden gems I discover with incoming media.

Orlando, Florida Area

I loved my job at Visit Orlando. I learned so much working to position the destination as a leading travel hotspot to local, regional and national media. The range of duties under that umbrella was wide and varied, providing new learning experiences every day. I rarely had a boring hour in the week. My main focus was assisting domestic press and the Florida market especially. I pitched our members to host media, arranged press trips and maintained the company press kit as well as our media website. I also wrote and distributed press releases, invitations and other correspondence to the media, along with industry and community leaders. Best of all, I worked to promote my hometown, and frequently saw the results of my efforts come to fruition in media coverage, leading to increased visitation numbers.

Longwood, Fl

Starting a professional career at an agency forced me to learn quickly. I think of my time at Wellons as marketing boot camp, providing a fast-paced, unforgiving environment to sharpen my communications skills. Every minute of the day was applied to delivering prime public relations results to clients via targeted releases, social media and media relations. I was chiefly responsible for proofreading, sending releases, organizing event calendars and working with media to promote both local and national clientele. The demanding office atmosphere, while challenging, taught me the value of time applied to getting results for a client, and toughened me against negativity.

Deagu, South Korea

My grand adventure as a middle school English Teacher & Cultural Ambassador in South Korea served to make me more self-sufficient and definitely better at thinking on my feet. I often had to get creative to communicate across language and even culture barriers, while adapting to living in a very foreign country. I loved it. It was challenging and eye-opening, while at the same time, a lot of fun. I can't say teaching is something I felt a calling toward, but the experience and memories were amazing.

As in intern at Visit Orlando, I joined the PR team to assist and learn how to promote a destination. Unlike other marketing or PR companies, Visit Orlando's communications department functions as both an agency for local attractions, dining and other venues, as well as a news source for media and a useful tool for consumers. During my time as an intern, I wrote blog post and press release copy, researched members, assisted with leading press trips, organized press trip itineraries, developed social media content and clipped media hits. This experience gave me a strong foundation and flexibility moving forward in my career.

College Of Arts & Humanities

While outside the realm of marketing or PR, this position was surprisingly useful to hone my people skills. College advisers handle a wide spectrum of people needing help, but most of them have at least one thing in common: they are dissatisfied with their current class load, program rules or requirements to graduate. Consequently, I frequently assisted students mid-crisis, learning to overcome any shyness with awkward situations and keeping calm and focused even in the midst of panicking students. This was also my first, but not my last, experience having two supervisors who did not always agree on what or how I should be doing things. Learning to prioritize work and avoid office drama might be the most valuable lessons I learned in the nearly two years I spent here.

As a PR baby, I was lucky to get immediate experience in my first professional role. At Style Network, I wrote press releases daily for multiple clients, and created customized media kits. I also published blog posts to marketing blogs promoting products and companies. Toward the end of my internship, I worked on contacting magazine editors to inquire about their editorial calendars for product submissions, aiming to get our client's products into the eye of the media.