Mentor Interview with Elisa Siedlinska
“Public service is often overlooked as a career path, especially in the marketing communications world. I’m just very excited to share a little bit of insight as to how you could still be creative and innovative in the public sector.”
Karolina: Could you briefly introduce yourself and then give a few key things of like information you’d like our readers to know about you?
Elisa: Absolutely. My name is Elisa. I am the Deputy Commissioner of Communications and Outreach for the city of Chicago Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection. I was born and raised in Chicago. I’m a first generation American. My parents immigrated from Poland. Public service is often overlooked as a career path, especially in the marketing communications world. I’m just very excited to share a little bit of insight as to how you could still be creative and innovative in the public sector.
Karolina: Could you provide an overview of your current position? What does a “typical” day at work look like?
Elisa: I’ve been with the city of Chicago for 11 years. I worked at the Aviation Department during the pandemic. I was detailed to the Chicago Department of Public Health, where I worked on COVID vaccine communications. And for the past eight years, I’ve been with the business affairs department, also known as BCP, and really kind of rose through the ranks. I began as a project coordinator within the department, then as a Director of Public Affairs, and my current title is Deputy Commissioner of Communications and Outreach. And you know, day to day is very different, which may be cliche to say, but we’re constantly working on programs, services and events for the businesses, workers and consumers for the city of Chicago. So underneath my purview is all internal and external communications, which does include digital as well, and then programs. We host webinars twice a week. We do small business expos in person and remote. This year, we hosted our first ever youth business expo with Chicago public schools. We have a certificate program which we help entrepreneurs receive access to capital and information on how to run a business. And you know, my work also supports not only the division I’m speaking about, but the entire department as a whole. So we oversee around 60 neighborhood business development centers which are like your chambers of commerce. So working to stand up awareness around that program, so I worked on producing videos for that division. We just launched. It’s called behind the business license, and it’s basically a video series that airs on cable 25 and is available on our. YouTube channel that shows the collaboration between business service organizations, a business owner, and the city of Chicago. So all that to say, I truly think that like the work that I do and that the department does, really impacts every Chicagoan. Because whether you’re a business owner or worker and consumer, you fall into one of those categories. So anytime that a new ordinance comes out, I work on creating a marketing communications plan to let people become aware of that new change.
Karolina: How did you choose your field of study and profession?
Elisa: That’s a fantastic question. And I think a lot of things kind of fell into place for me to get here in high school, I took an AP government class. And during that class, we also had to, not had to. We were given the opportunity to work at a voting center on one of the election days.
And I just kind of got like a glimpse into local government through that class. And I was just so interested as to the amount of impact at the local level that could happen. Government impact happens at all levels, but like at the local level, you kind of like see it instantly. And I’m a person who likes instant gratification. So for me, it kind of made sense. I went to Bradley University for
my undergrad, and then DePaul for my master’s of public service. But while at Bradley, I went in as a marketing major, and then changed it to Criminal Justice and sociology, which is what I graduated in. And then always knew I wanted to work in public service. I worked at a chamber
of commerce, and then at a development corporation in the suburbs, and then finally for the city of Chicago, where I kind of really grew into communications and marketing as my expertise. And I say all that because all these different shifts occurred. And when you think about me going into college with a marketing major, and then kind of shifting it, I’m back doing
what I thought I always would do, so you really just, like, don’t know where things will take you. And I feel people kind of fall into place with what they’re really passionate about, and where like their skill set is, you know, you can build on skills. But I feel like if you don’t have passion for your job and the work that you’re doing, it kind of shows, right? So it’s really important to in as cliche as it sounds, of you know, you need to find a job that doesn’t feel like a job.
Karolina: So you are saying if there are any college students reading this who are unsure of what career they want to pursue they shouldn’t worry?
Elisa: Not at all. No, I think, you know, part of the college’s experience is truly like finding yourself, kind of recognizing what makes you happy, what are you good at, and thinking about that like long term goals. And you know, going into college, you’re still relatively young, so that may shift. It changed for me. It changed for many of my friends, but it’s truly like an opportunity to really learn about yourself and think about what you wanted your career to be.
Karolina: What is some advice that you would give to women who want to pursue a career like yours, who want to work in the public sector?
Elisa: I mean, definitely patience. I think, you know, I mentioned this before, it’s very different to be doing marketing communications in the public sector versus in the private sector, especially within my department, we’re first and foremost a regulatory agency, and there’s just different restrictions that we have that potentially, like the private sector doesn’t need to abide by. You need to have consumer awareness, right? You need to have a sensitivity to the campaigns that you’re launching, and they need to be city wide. So I think patience and understanding and really knowing like your audience within the public sector for marketing communications is really important, but specifically for women. And you know, I this isn’t a quote of mine, but somewhere that I heard. You know, if you if there isn’t a seat at the table, bring your own chair. And I just really like that. Make your presence known, you know, show up, do your work. Make people know that you’re someone that they could count on. Accountability, I think, is super important in the public sector sometimes gets like the bad reputation of things move slowly. It’s bureaucratic. It’s not an enjoyable process. And I think when you show up with like, a good attitude and put in the hard work that gets recognized, and I think that’s just something really important.
Karolina: I like how you said to bring your own seat and kind of make a position for yourself. Is there any other advice you would offer to young women who are apprehensive about pursuing a career in an environment that is male dominated. What advice would you give to someone like me or any other women who are apprehensive about pursuing a career in a male dominated environment?
Elisa: Yeah, totally honestly, it happens across every industry. Right as much as we think women are breaking through industries, I think we’re definitely still very far behind. I think we’ve made huge strides in progress over the past couple of decades, but we’re still not represented at that sea level as much as our male counterparts. So I think it’s super important to like, not treat other women as competitors, right? The more representation at the top, we kind of like build the ship up, right? So I think it’s really important to find mentors within your field and find networking events, find your network and kind of let it work for you. You know it’s I’m not saying it’s easy, because it definitely isn’t, but my hope and goal is always that, like the work gets recognized by male counterparts, and they start to realize that, like, you know, there’s a benefit to having, you know, more women represented. And I think you know, not even outside of women themselves. I think you know, for Polish people as well, especially in like, the public sector, there’s not a lot of Polish representation. And you know, it truly, like, warms my heart when, like, someone comes to City Hall looking for a Polish speaker, and I could help them, And I think there’s something about, like, a binding experience, whether it’s around cultures or
ethnicities or, you know, genders. It’s just important to keep that kind of network and connections and just make sure that we’re all like working together
Karolina: What is your favorite thing about your job?
Elisa: I get to see the impact of my work across Chicago. I hear a business owner mention they attended one of our webinars and learned about marketing, or a business owner applied for a grant after learning about it in our newsletter or a seeing a campaign on a highway digital board or newspaper. It’s rewarding to hear first-hand how the programs and services I work on are shaping Chicago’s small businesses.
Karolina: Being a first generation polish, polish woman in your family. How do you think that’s contributed to your work, other than being able to help other polish like members in the community?
Elisa: I think 100% it is shaped me into who I am, for you know, better or worse, to be honestly, I think as a first generation, whether it’s polish or any other ethnicity, we kind of want to be working harder and be more successful because we are grateful for the sacrifices of our ancestors, whether it’s, you know, grandparents or just closest parents. I think we have this additional, I suppose, like structure to strive and be better. But with that, I do caution boundaries. You know, when I was growing up, I would take on a lot, a lot. We kind of fall into this, like caregiver. I could do anything. Don’t worry about me, and it could take, like your a toll on you. So I think it’s super important to recognize like signs of when you need help, and just check in with, you know, your family members, your friends. Because I’ve seen you know, for me firsthand, especially during the pandemic, our department was like Instrumental with rolling out the different, you know, guidelines that were happening for businesses, the vaccines for businesses, I’m sorry for, like, residents. You know, it was a time period where, like, I was working very, very late all the time, and it kind of takes a toll on you. And unless you, like, wave the white flag, people don’t really know that. Sorry, my light just turned off. But, you know, I think there’s pluses and minuses with it. I think people start to recognize that, like, we can do a lot of work, but at the same time, it kind of ends up being like the curse of the competent, where we get more and more work. So I just there’s two sides to that coin.
Karolina: What are your hobbies and what is your ideal way to spend a day off work?
Elisa: I like all things outdoors. So I do enjoy like biking. I have a dog that I absolutely. Am in love with so anytime I could go on walks with him or for the Forest Preserve. But I also really like going and exploring the city. You know, we’re a city of 77 communities, and it’s kind of cool that, like, you could travel the world within Chicago, all these different neighborhoods, all these different cultures, like you can go to Bond Street and have Indian food, you know, check out DeSalvo museum on the south side and get history there. So I really do enjoy just bouncing around the city and seeing what we have to offer
Karolina: Funny that you mentioned travel, because my final question is, If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go?
Elisa: I would love to travel to all seven continents. But if I had to pick on destination I would do Argentina, because there is a strong Polish population there. And I recently heard that a lot of Polish engineers went there to build bridges in Argentina not too long ago. So I think it’d be kind of cool to see like the Polish community and South America in general.
Interviewer: Karolina Tomasik