Live Mascot Coordinator
Alexis Camarillo is a Fresno State alumni who graduated in 2021 with a degree in Communications and a minor in Media, Communications, and Journalism. After she graduated from Fresno State, she launched her own business doing nails where she quickly fell in love with marketing and branding. In another previous job, she gained more experience with social media and community outreach and had a lot of fun doing it. Her love of dogs and previous experiences is what made her want the job as the live mascot coordinator the most.
“Victor E. Bulldog is such like an icon for Fresno State and all of his social media is run as if he has a human voice so I felt like that was so cute and so unique and so special because when you are managing a lot of brand identities they don’t really have that like if its an organization you are talking to that organization and it doesn’t have the fun and playfulness of a dog, so I thought that I was going to be a really cool challenge for me. And in addition, I would get to come back to Fresno State, which I was super excited about because since I graduated in 2021, two of my years were cut short by COVID, so I was really excited about, like, the prospect of coming back. So that’s ultimately what pushed me to apply for this position.” Camarillo said.
In the month of April, Victor E. Bulldog has his own annual crowdfunding campaign called Mascot Mania to keep the program going.
“It’s unique for a few different reasons, one of which being, it is fully funded by friends and fans. So, we get a small portion from the university of course, but everything else we do have to fundraise, so with Mascot Mania, we dedicate a full month where we set a goal and we try to achieve that goal through different campaigns, interacting through the community and just really reaching out to the people who love Victor E. the most. I don’t know if many people know, but he is the only live mascot in all 23 of the CSU’s and 10 of the UC’s, so it’s just really unique and we’re trying to push that out there more because a lot of people like to see him in the community and see him at events and he’s just such a fun figure to see around campus, and the reason why we’re able to do that from the funding that comes from our friends and fans.” Camarillo said.
Being the live mascot coordinator means spending a large amount of time with Victor E. Bulldog. The relationship between the two is something that’s very important to Camarillo.
“When I came in my first day, we actually were doing an overnight trip to Sacramento, so I was spending a full 48 hours with him. Four of those hours were just him and I in the back seat of a car together, so he’s a friendly dog. He doesn’t necessarily dislike anyone I would say. So, that was a really big plus for me, but since we had that time together and like they allowed me to be in a space with him like so closely, I think that that kind of started the trust initially, and then we got back to the office it was a little less jarring to have like another person in his space. So now I do like to say that we’re besties I think that we’re besties I always say that he’s my work dog and I’m his work mom you know because he’s with me Monday through Friday eight to five and then some, so I think as of right now we’re in a pretty good place. We’ve been doing our one-on-one trainings our group trainings together, so that’s given us an opportunity to build a lot of trust, so I think we’re on a good track.” Camarillo said.
Other than taking Victor E. Bulldog to events, there are many things Camarillo does behind the scenes for her job.
“You have to strike a balance between not wanting to overwork him but also wanting him to be as present and in the community as possible so that’s one of the big chunks of time that I have to do throughout the day, but of course I’m also managing his social media. We’re brainstorming content. The rest of the alumni association are great partners for me, so we’re brainstorming all this fun content for engaging in his audience and we’re also looking at fun branding opportunities.” Camarillo said.
With everything she does, Camarillo says the best part of her job is getting to put a smile on people’s face.
“Being able to facilitate these memories for them, you know, it’s so great I think in any aspect when you’re with any dog to like see someone enjoy your dog, but it’s just I know that it’s adding an enriching to their student experience and that’s ultimately what you know he was created for, so to just go out and to see that and to see them love him and want to take pictures with him and want to just represent him, you know, that’s such like it’s probably one of my favorite parts of the job.” Camarillo said.
Like every job there is always something new to learn and adapt to every day.
It comes with its challenges mostly just trying to kind of adapt to the needs of the day because every day is so different. I just have to be able to balance all of my tasks and all my responsibilities, but ultimately I think with this position I am hoping to grow the Victor E. Bulldog program. I want to create new long-standing traditions for the students that involve Victor E. Bulldog because I don’t think we have a lot of those yet. I think that everyone knows him. He’s a known name. A known face on campus, but there isn’t really any traditions that are like tying the students to him so that’s one of the things that I really want to grow in this position.” Camarillo said.
With this job and experience, Camarillo has one goal on her mind.
I just want to look back at all of the work that I’ve done, and I want the one thing that stands out is just like how much love I put into it. I think that this job in particular like it is a labor of love and I think that that is what really pushes Victor and like makes him so appealing to the students at Fresno State and the Central Valley as a whole. So, that’s why this is such a great starting point for me, but throughout everything that I do in my career I think I just want to have an impact in one way or another and I just want it to be loving.” Camarillo said.
Camarillo is enjoying her time that she has in making every day count.