In this Alumni Spotlight Q&A, Andre shares his journey from UCSB student to an entrepreneur and leader in the communications industry. He reflects on the experiences and pivotal moments that shaped his path, including his early passion for social media and digital media. Andre discusses how his UCSB education, involvement in Greek Life and hands-on internships helped guide him toward his career in public relations. He emphasizes the importance of creativity, networking and adaptability in his role as the founder of AK Lively, a creative communications agency. Andre’s story highlights how his UCSB experience laid the foundation for a career defined by brand development, storytelling and building lasting relationships in a dynamic industry.
What drew you to study Communications at UC Santa Barbara?
I’ve always loved digital media. I knew from a young age, when we were all teenagers. When we were thirteen, Instagram became a thing, and all these social media platforms were booming, like Vine and Instagram. I always had an interest in technology, and I always had an interest specifically in social media. It was just something I really enjoyed navigating, and I think that’s what was kind of my passion.
Generally speaking, Isabella, I’m sure you could tell, I’m a talker. I consider myself like a very social, outgoing, extroverted individual, and I knew combining elements of strategic communications was going to be something, more than any other major, that was me. I knew I could find a career within communications because it is so general. I like to say it’s niche but yet general. There’s a lot of jobs under communication. So all those things together very much allowed me to see that it was perfect for me, and I have zero regrets!
How did your time at UCSB shape your passion for PR? How did you further this passion through clubs, classes, etc.
I would say my time at UCSB had, evidently, a direct correlation to me pursuing a career in PR for a few reasons. A, I really loved, speaking of Communications at UCSB, the major, and my minor in Professional Writing, I really felt like it was an amazing theoretical approach. And I knew through the classes that I was taking, learning about a lot of incredible theory around digital media, social media, general research around the world of media, I knew there was more for me to learn.
And what I realized that was, was taking that theory and applying it to real-world campaigns in an instance like PR. I was a junior at Santa Barbara when I made the decision that I was going to pursue a Master’s Degree in PR. It took some digging honestly—Google searches, speaking to colleagues and speaking to friends that were older than me that I knew were in the marketing/PR/advertising field respectively—and just kind of picking their brains about what the world was. I was not privy to all of it because I was working in marketing/PR capacities, but really understanding that PR was what I’d like to do.
It was brand development, brand storytelling, building relationships with the public in many different ways, and using the media to do that. So my time at Santa Barbara really allowed me to see that that was what I was looking for post-graduation. Not to mention the incredible faculty. They truly taught me at Santa Barbara in such an amazing way that it was very clear as to what my passion was moving forward and what kind of swimlane in Communications was right for me.
During my time at UCSB I was very involved. I was in Greek Life, and I was on IFC. I was the VP of Public Relations on the IFC Board with an incredible exec board with me—they were all fantastic! Being VP of PR, I was handling a lot of elements of social media, a lot of multimedia assets that were going on, things like websites, a lot of larger press-related topics, which was incredible.
Also, through my individual fraternity, I was our social media manager for, I believe, a year and half. So that was incredible. I always had an interest in wanting to stay involved with that. I also worked for the Office of Student Life, and I was our social media lead for two years at the SEAL office. So I was handling social media for SEAL. I always was involved, and I think all those roles and extracurriculars definitely shaped my interest in wanting to pursue PR further.
What do you love most about UCSB?
Oh my gosh, this question I could answer in literally an hour alone! Like what is there not to love, right? I would say what I love most about UCSB is the culture. And I feel like that can be thrown around a lot, but what I mean by culture is I love the laid-back, fun environment of UCSB. You’re on the beach. I love that everyone is so happy, go-lucky. There’s smiles on their faces, they’re happy to be on the beach, they’re happy to be by the water.
But there’s also a very driven student community. Everybody is extremely motivated in different avenues and that was very inspiring to me during my four years there, and it still continues to be inspiring to me as an alum. My favorite thing in the culture is the “work hard, play hard.” And I think UCSB is the perfect example of that. You have students that are so fun, that can have a good time, so friendly, they’re so fun to hangout with! They can go out with you, have the most incredible time and then at the same time they’re baller professionals. They’re working in really amazing industries, with incredible jobs and really cool titles.
For me, that balance was something you don’t always find. I felt like at Santa Barbara, we are very lucky to have that balance because, as an alum now, that balance is very key. Because the social side of things has allowed most Gauchos to have an incredible network of people, because they’re fun and they have a great personality. I very much see that in my daily life, with my own career. And I think, nonetheless, the professional side of things is just very inspiring because it motivates you to work harder, be better and strive for that amazing internship that’s top-notch or that job—whatever it may be.
I love that environment. So I would have to say the culture, for sure, and that “work hard, play hard” mentality is just one of my favorite things. And then, I mean, obviously there’s a million other things—I love the beach, love the sunshine, love it all!
You were a part of the Kappa Sigma Fraternity—what led you to join, and what was your experience like in the fraternity?
I have a sister who is older than me by one year. She went to Cal Poly SLO, was not in Greek Life, but I just knew when I was in high school looking at her college experience and just all the fun social experiences, I knew Greek Life was something I wanted to do and it was a great opportunity for me to meet an incredible group of friends right off the gate. I had a lot of friends that I knew also in my class at UCSB that were going to rush. I was familiar with the process, and I definitely wanted to give it a go.
I was in a triple in FT. One of my roommates was rushing—he was in Sigma Chi—and so I knew it was something that I wanted to do just from a social perspective: just to meet friends and get to attend things that a lot of students don’t get to do through Greek Life. It’s just a fun experience!
Oh gosh, it was an incredible experience! Yeah, I was in Greek Life all four years. I joined my freshman fall quarter, and I cannot just say enough incredible things about it! First of all, all my fraternity brothers are seriously my best friends to this day. I’m still so close to all of them. I literally saw them all over this weekend—we’re all from all over but we still make an effort to stay in contact and it’s incredible.
I would just say the experience was really great. I mean, socially, it was a blast. I met incredible friends through other fraternities and sororities that, once again, are just my best friends to this day. It’s just an incredible network of people.
I would also just say I really enjoyed, as I mentioned earlier, the leadership roles I was able to pursue through Greek Life. Being on the executive board through IFC, I felt like that really pushed me as a leader. I was in front of the whole Greek community, at least through the IFC side of things and the sorority side, but it was just a really awesome experience.
I honestly had the best, best four years with the most incredible events! Parents’ Weekend was always so much fun. There was always something to do in Greek Life—that’s probably what I could say to summarize it. There’s always something going on, I loved that aspect. I’m a very go-go-go person, and I feel like in Greek Life I always had something to do with friends. So, that was awesome.