Meet Elizabeth Sosa Bailey, NSPR's New Underwriting Associate
This fall, NSPR was pleased to welcome Elizabeth Sosa Bailey to its staff as an underwriting associate, a position focused on cultivating corporate support for the station.
Born and raised in inner-city Houston, Bailey got her start in radio at KUHF Houston Public Radio (now Houston Public Media, the city's NPR & PBS affiliates). A self-described public radio backseat kid, she grew up listening in her parents' cars, and later realized she was tuning in to hear classical music and NPR news and storytelling shows even when on her own.
Bailey attended the University of Houston where she received her BA in sociology, minoring in English with a focus on creative writing.
Working through school, at 19, Elizabeth left her job with the Houston Symphony where she assistant-managed telemarketing subscription sales and accepted a position at Houston Public Radio as a communications assistant after an internship.
For nearly seven years, she evolved through positions there, eventually becoming community engagement manager. Her work included overseeing the PBS-affiliated Independent Lens outreach series, Community Cinema, and Artful Thursday's at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston; collaborating on events such as the KUHF Silent Film Concert Series; and assisting with meet-and-greets when public radio productions came to town like A Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor, Wait, Wait... Don't Tell Me!, Radiolab, and evenings with Ira Glass and Paula Poundstone. She also played an integral role in getting the Moth StorySLAM series started in Houston where she served as the local producer for over four years.
Bailey then took a few years off from working at a member station, and had stints running events at Saint Arnold Brewing Company, acting as house manager for the Houston Cinema Arts Festival, and even dabbling as a regional publicist for major motion picture companies where her clients included A24, IFC, and Open Road Films.
Ultimately, Elizabeth was destined to go back to public radio, and made her way to the Public Media Development and Marketers Conference held in San Francisco over the summer, where she learned of the opening at NSPR.
Since arriving from Houston, people often ask what brought her to the North State.
"First thing I say of course is the job!" Elizabeth says. "It's funny, though. When I think about it, it all kind of made sense that I would end up here. Some of my best friends in the world own a restaurant in Dunsmuir, and I was spending a lot of time there over the summer. The station [NSPR] pretty much served as the soundtrack to most of my summer, driving back and forth from the airport to my friends."
When asked about what attracted her to the underwriting sales position here, she says that she had explicitly set out to find a position in public radio where she could focus on fundraising.
“I did sales with the Houston Symphony," she says. "Most of my experience in public radio has been with public relations, marketing, and events producing. I'm really excited to learn my new home and the region through underwriting and connecting with businesses and organizations. Seems like a fun way to get to do that."
Bailey is enjoying getting to know Chico, Redding, and other towns in the region. Her favorite thing to do on weekends is travel around the North State, find trails, see mountains, and meet new people. She also loves any chance to see live music and performing and visual arts.
To learn more about underwriting at North State Public Radio, visit our website or contact Elizabeth Sosa Bailey at esbailey@csuchico.edu.