Jerry ZurekCabrini College welcomes a new addition to the staff. Gene Castellano has been named to the newly created position of Vice President of Marketing and Communications at Cabrini College. His position will include being the senior administrative officer for the college’s marketing initiatives, including branding and positioning, publications, advertising and the website. He has more than 25 years of experience in Philadelphia.
Castellano didn’t always know he wanted to be a communications major. “My major was actually English Literature,” Castellano said. “It wasn’t until my senior year that I found out I really wanted to write. It was over the Christmas break of my senior year that I traveled to Europe for the first time. I traveled into the desperate areas of East Berlin, met East Germans and was accosted by East German border guards carrying submachine guns when I approached the wall too closely from the East. When I came back to the U.S., I wrote about my experiences in East Berlin, and about Vietnam War protestors I met in Amsterdam, and I knew I loved to write. And I wrote, or worked with words, for the next 20 years.” Staying involved in your major in college is a very important thing to do, and also very necessary if you want to become successful in your field. I took a feature writing course when I was in college,” Castellano said. “We would go into the city and find stories to write about every week.” Also, he explained that staying involved in your hometown is very beneficial too.
There is no doubt that Cabrini College is known for its tight knit, family oriented community, but when Castellano was asked why he chose Cabrini, all he had to say were positive things about the college. “I met Dr. Iadarola, interviewed with her and with members of her cabinet. I saw a place that was not afraid to change, and I met people who are dedicated to their work, and dedicated to the students they serve.” Castellano went on to say, “When I first interviewed here, I knew that Cabrini was a place that cared about its students, and a place where they trained young people to respect themselves and to care about those less fortunate than they are! Even before I knew about ‘10,000 hearts Comprehensive Campaign,’ I saw Cabrini as a place with a soul, a heart at its core… and that’s the kind of place where I wanted to be.”
Castellano also knew a lot of people who were willing to push him into the man he is today, but there was one person standing out in particular. Castellano to this day still looks up to his inspiration. “I met a man nearly 30 years ago who helped me when I was producing a half-hour TV documentary.” He continued to speak about his mentor, “Every business we visited, every TV station we entered, he knew everyone from the janitor to the station manager by their first names. And everybody liked him. Everybody wanted to help him, and I knew I wanted to be like him. About 15 years after I first met him, he called me and asked me to volunteer for a charity he cared about deeply. I couldn’t say ‘no,’ I’ve been involved with the charity ever since, and it has been hugely rewarding. I still watch this man for cues on how to behave in an ethical, strong decision manner that people honor.”
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Posted to the web by Shane Evans
