#SheDrivesCochran: Sarah Loera

Sarah Loera may be our new Social & Community Specialist, but she isn’t new to much else here. Before she started her new role, she worked at #1 Cochran as an Integrated Marketing Specialist, and before that, she had a history of communication and social expertise in all her previous experiences. She has always loved the intersection of public relations and marketing, stating, “I love being able to resolve an issue with a good outcome. It’s satisfying being able to help someone that just wants to be heard. Something else I enjoy is being able to attend events and meeting the community face-to-face to personally connect”.

A Pittsburgh native, Sarah graduated from McKeesport Area High School before moving on to Edinboro University of Pennsylvania and getting her degree in Journalism and Mass Communications. But her passion for writing started long before. “I always wanted to be a journalist. I wrote for my middle school newspaper. In 9^th grade I was chosen to be my city newspaper’s junior journalist and wrote articles monthly. My senior year of high school I had a journalism and public relations apprenticeship at Point Park University and fell more in love with the field. I attended Edinboro for my BA and I specialized in Public Relations. My junior year, I started to focus more on Public Relations and Mass Communications, realizing journalism was not the route I truly wanted to take. I had an internship with Erie’s Public School District where I helped with their social media, advertising, and community relations. Since college I have had experience in the health field and helping with social media and building my communication skills. I also worked with a different automotive dealership in their marketing department. Now, I’m on the best team in the Pittsburgh area!” Sarah didn’t expect to pivot into the automotive world, but has learned a lot since.

By the time she joined #1 Cochran last year, Sarah already knew the ins and outs of the automotive market in Pittsburgh. Before transitioning to her current role here, Sarah served as an internal field rep for 8 of our rooftops, meeting with managers every month to evaluate advertising performance, tweak operations, and optimize campaigns, big and small. Bringing back feedback from the stores on what they want to see helped our growing marketing department stay in line with the interests of our team members – what makes us run! But when the social and community specialist position opened, everyone knew that Sarah was the perfect fit.

Sarah is ready to make a splash right away in her new role: “I would love to be able to help the community as much as I can. I’m going to try my best to answer every review or questions a customer may have on social media. I would also like to see #1 Cochran out in the community more than ever before!” She credits the environment at #1 Cochran with why she enjoys working here: “I truly appreciate the atmosphere in which I work. I know every day, that even if it does end up being a stressful day, everything will be okay.” Above all, she is excited to show what she can do as a woman in automotive marketing: “Being a woman in automotive is challenging sometimes, but more importantly, empowering. Anything on the topic of vehicles is still widely considered an interest of mostly men. I still experience not always being taken seriously when I’m the only “young woman” in the conversation, but it gives me the motivation to show them what I know and what I can do. One of my favorite quotes by writer/filmmaker, Nora Ephron is, “Above all, be the heroine of your life, not the victim.”