Showing Up Is the Brand

By Mayte Sera Weitzman, Public Relations Manager, Goya Foods of Texas

I have spent more than 25 years in public relations at global agencies, leading communications for multinational brands, and now overseeing communications in Texas for one of the world’s most culturally beloved
food companies.

Yet the work that has impacted me most has never happened in a boardroom. It happens in a Houston classroom where backpacks are handed to children who arrive on the first day of school without supplies. It happens at a food distribution where families stand quietly in line, grateful but uncertain about tomorrow.

That is where I learned the true meaning of public relations: not managing reputations, but building relationships, trust, and community.

The Goya School: Community Is the Brand

At Goya Foods of Texas, community engagement is not a campaign — it is a core value. Goya was founded by a family of immigrants who understood that business success and community responsibility go hand in hand, and those values have guided the company for nearly a century.

When we launched Goya Gives, the focus was never impressions or headlines. It was feeding families and investing in the communities that have supported Goya for more than 90 years. When COVID-19 brought the world to a standstill, we mobilized food distributions with no strategy for recognition, simply a need, and a responsibility to respond. When war displaced millions of families in Ukraine, we provided meals at the border, because a company grounded in service defines community by humanity, not geography.

The true measure of a brand is not what it says about itself, but how it shows up when people need it most.

A Seat at the Table

As a former Board Member and President of the Institute of Hispanic Culture of Houston, I learned that credibility is not built through titles, it is built through consistency and showing up long before anyone is watching. Credibility is what people say about you when you’re not in the room, and it’s built one interaction at a time.

What Showing Up Actually Looks Like

At the Tapia Center Summer Camps
at Rice University, where lessons on STEAM for talented young students were provided.

I have stood alongside students and teachers at back-to-school events, and helped coordinate food distributions that bring nonprofits, businesses, and volunteers together for families facing
food insecurity.

Meant To Soar, founded by Charles and Elsa Ezell, creates healing experiences for children impacted by parental addiction and human
trafficking. Goya proudly supports its annual Britta’s Chase 5K — some causes simply require us to show up.

Support for veterans and law enforcement has been part of this commitment from the beginning. Through Tailgate with a Hero, we’ve honored the men and women who served our country. And I’ve watched firsthand how something as simple as a cookie, offered by an officer to a child in a classroom,  can make a uniform feel less intimidating and open a conversation. Our work with Crime Stoppers and its Million for Million campaign, educating a million children on how to stay safe, is exactly that kind of work: it rarely makes headlines, but it changes lives one classroom at a time.

I’ve also supported the Latino Learning Center, founded in 1979 in Houston’s East End, providing English instruction, vocational training, and senior services for over four decades, quietly, without ever seeking recognition. And I’ve watched the Genuine Cup grow from a bold vision in Houston into an international soccer tournament at Rice University for athletes with intellectual and developmental disabilities. I was there when it was still a dream, and that is exactly where I want to be. Show up early. Don’t wait for a cause to be popular before you support it.

Mayte with Grace Olivares from Univision at Goya Gives Day in Brookshire TEXAS where we donated 1 million lbs. of food across the country in one day.

The Nonprofit Visibility Challenge

Nonprofits compete every day for attention, donations, and trust. Visibility isn’t vanity, it’s survival. My framework for building it:

• Be present before you need something. Build relationships year-round, not just fundraising season.

• Use partnerships to multiply impact. The strongest moments happen when organizations collaborate instead of compete.

• Put a human face on your mission. A real person telling a real story costs nothing but intention.

• Teach your board to be ambassadors. Visibility is part of the job, not a footnote to it.

• Answer every call. Accessibility builds trust — the foundation of every lasting relationship.

On AI, Innovation, and the Shoulders We Stand On

I have always been energized by new ideas. AI, predictive analytics, real-time engagement platforms — these are opening doors unimaginable when I began my career, and we should embrace them.

But technology amplifies what already exists. If the foundation is authentic relationships and earned trust, technology expands that impact exponentially. A press release cannot replace a handshake. A digital campaign cannot replace a meal delivered to a family in crisis.

To Those Who Opened Doors

I am a woman who built a business, rooted in a family from Latin America, and I know the seat at the table is not always offered. To every client and mentor who believed in a woman-owned business and said yes when they didn’t have to — thank you. I carry those open doors with me into every room I enter now, and try to leave each one a little wider for the person coming behind me.

A Word to the Next Generation

Your most valuable credential will never appear in your résumé. It is your reputation — the trust you earn and the impact you make when no one is keeping score.

In 2024, I was honored to be inducted into the Texas Women’s Hall of Fame. I have never viewed it as a personal achievement. It belongs to every family who stood beside me at a food distribution, every teacher whose classroom we helped equip, and every mentor who shared their wisdom along the way.

Relevance is not given. It is earned — through consistency, through service, through showing up long after the spotlight has moved on. Show up for the schools, the food drives, the veterans, the officers building trust one classroom at a time. Leave every door a little wider for those coming behind you.

Because people remember who showed up. And that is what creates lasting impact.