The best public relations practitioners are flexible, curious, and bold individuals.
My dear friend and fellow young professional Camille Mola, a suburban Springfield, Pa., native turned chic Philly gal, fits these adjectives flawlessly.
Camille has the role of PR and Communications Manager for the Academy of Vocal Arts (AVA) in Philadelphia. The tuition-free institution is over eighty-five years old and is dedicated to professionally training singers to share their gifts with the world.
Unprecedented Change
Mid-March 2020, the coronavirus pandemic began changing life as we knew it. The global health emergency imposed stay-at-home orders and banned social gatherings forcing everyone to pivot and strategize how to move forward in the new normal. All performances planned for academy were cancelled and classes were suspended indefinitely.
“AVA was founded on ensuring singers can hone their gifts, I knew we could still do that. We just needed to adjust.”
Camille Mola on how COVID-19 impacted AVA
Camille has successfully headed the launch of AVA’s newly designed website in December 2020, an entirely virtual fall season of performances for 2021, and helped the academy adjust offerings while maintaining focus on students training.
The website redesign for AVA spanned from September to December and required a lot of brainstorming, collaboration, and precision.
“The new website is modern style with a classic, timeless accent,” she said. “The older design was not very user-friendly. I wanted to make sure the story and mission of AVA is crystal clear to all visitors.”
** UPDATE: Camille launched her own Philly inspired graphic print Italian slang poster. **
Outside of the semi-structured 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. work week, Camille manages Positive Publicity, a lifestyle blog she established in 2012 during her sophomore year at Penn State University. Her mission is to imagine and create beauty in all forms and share positivity with the world.
Camille’s physical and virtual presence embody her self-proclaimed pursuit. Her solo apartment in the Spring Garden area of the city is decorated with funky wall art and eclectic decor from local artisan shops.
My favorite piece in her home is a Philly-esque Pantone palette from South Fellini. The piece features colors such as burnt orange and canary yellow, labeled ‘broad street line’ and ‘whiz wit’ respectively.
As always with Camille, our conversation took many detours ranging from her new living situation, woes of living as a young woman, recent work and life achievements, and aspirations for the future. Camille shared that she is excited to continue her real job and working to build her personal brand by staying active on her blog, social media accounts, and networking.
Follow Camille on Instagram to keep up with her latest content!
She also launched a free weekly newsletter, ‘why don’t you cry about it?’ You can subscribe via substack here.
ALEXANDRA SWANSON 
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