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Meet Victoria Borges, Public Relations Professional in East Atlanta

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Victoria Borges.

Victoria, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
My story is not much different from most my age until two years ago. I grew up in great neighborhood in Atlanta, went to college to study PR and journalism, graduated during one of the toughest job markets in history, but ended up landing a job after graduate school in my field of study.

I’ve always taken my job seriously. When I was 12, I put an ad in the paper for babysitting services and made 1,000 that summer. So it came as no surprise that I was lucky enough to start my own PR practice for start-ups in tech, VKB PR. I absolutely love and thrive in advising clients and executives, pitching new creative public relations campaigns, building relationships with media.

Two years ago – when I was knee-deep in my career, I found out I was pregnant. News that my husband and I were thrilled to get. But news that would also change our life course, and put us on a new journey, with new challenges. They say being a mom is the most rewarding job of all time – and I think it’s because it requires the most sacrifice. Not just physically, and in your daily life, but also mentally and emotionally. At three weeks old, my son was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis.

Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a hereditary progressive disease that creates thicker mucus that normally exists in the lungs, digestive system, sinuses. This thicker mucus causes issues such as malabsorption, intense susceptibility to everyday germs, persistent lung infections and eventually limits the ability to breathe over time. (But the future is bright, and you can read about that at CFF.org)

Even now, 2.5 years later, I still get the chills remembering the day we found out. I remember how sad I was that the life I had imagined for myself had so quickly changed, and would be very different. Getting life-altering news is never easy – especially when it involves a child.

But I learned to pick myself back up, get very educated about CF and the new life both my son, my husband and I will have – and understand that I don’t’ have to sacrifice my passion for PR and I can balance both my son’s disease and my career, I just needed to get creative.

So sorry to hear about the CF, but it is inspiring to hear how you are taking charge, and doing the best you can for your son and your family. Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges?
Of course life is never supposed to be easy. And even if my son didn’t have CF, I know there’d be something else I’d have to deal with. If I’ve learned anything through this, it’s that my struggles are what make me stronger, they are what help me learn about myself, and help me become the person I’m supposed to be. Having a child with a disability has helped me look at everyone else in a different way – in that we are all the same, and we’ll all be facing hardship at some point in our life, but the key is to stay positive, and know it’s not all going to be doom and gloom.
That being said, having a career and dealing with a child with a disability does have many changes. I had to figure out how to keep my son out of daycare to avoid germs that kids get exposed to at an early age, as well as how to care for him when he gets sick (he must undergo treatments every 4 hours when he gets the common cold).

I had to create a totally new home routine to keep our house spotless at all times (even cleaning out our washing machine and dishwasher filters!), while still making time for work and spending time with my son. I also had to create an entire process for ordering medications each month, communicating with insurance and hospitals, keeping up with his regular doc appointments and his CF appointments every quarter, and keeping track of his health- from coughing to his sleep, eating habits, and general moods. It was a learning curve to say the least.
Me and my husband had to make sacrifices, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t have a career.

While I am still passionate about my freelance work and helping tech start-ups launch their brand, I now lead PR for a global market leader for financial management software, Sage. This has given me the work/life balance I really needed, so I don’t have to choose between my son and my career.

I’m proud I can manage both. I know my son will have the same challenges when he’s older, and I want to set an example for him. I want him to see that, despite any challenges or disadvantages, you can do anything you set your mind to.

Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about what you do and VKB PR – what should we know?
VKB PR was born out of my passion for helping start-ups and entrepreneurs, mostly in Atlanta, better tell their story – online, to the media, within their community. I love a good challenge and linking creative ideas to business objectives.

I specialize in media relations, thought leadership and message positioning for B2B tech companies, typically smaller or medium-sized brands. While it was once my full-time focus, it’s now my freelance business and PR blog. I call it my creative outlet. I love ideating campaigns from scratch that integrate social media, website, press and influencers and community relations.

My proudest professional moment was earlier this year at Sage, when I led the launch of a diversity & inclusion report in Atlanta. It was a partnership with some amazing, diverse consultants and companies. We hosted a series of dinners at the Woodruff Arts Center and brought together the biggest brands in Atlanta to discuss what’s working, what’s not working and what we need to do to make sure we’re creating a better future. When we launched the report at the Atlanta Hawks stadium, more than 80 community and business leaders came out to support. It was really powerful and I felt proud to help start the conversation.

As a proponent of diversity, not just from my experience as woman in business, but from the perspective of a mom to a child with a disability – it felt like my personal and professional world intersected. I’m really lucky to work for a company that cares about this important area, and has supported me as a professional as a mom, in navigating my son’s disability with a full time career.

Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?
Absolutely, a huge shout out to my husband, Caio Borges, and my parents. They have not only been huge supporters when Lucas was first born, but are part of his care team. My husband has been my biggest champion in ensuring I continue to do what I love in PR.

I would also say that Atlanta’s entrepreneurial community continues to motivate me, especially entrepreneurs who are also caretakers, like Candice Campbell, founder of Nimble.

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