Social Media Site Manager

KAREN C. N. TAVARES

Orlando, FL 352-***-**** *******.******@*****.***

HIGHLIGHTS

Research and strategic management expertise: Skilled at leveraging complex research and data analysis for strategic decision-making by providing actionable insights and operational improvements from a multistakeholder perspective.

Expertise in tourism, hospitality, events, and attractions: experience in market research, destination development and management, visitor behavior analysis, strategic planning, and social media analysis.

Trilingual communication and cross-cultural expertise: Trilingual professional with a deep understanding of multicultural consumer markets, adept at developing management and marketing strategies, and enhancing brand visibility through domestic and international customer outreach.

Experience across corporate, non-profit, and academic sectors: consistently involved in building bridges between industry and academia through collaborative research projects, guest speaking engagements, partnerships with key stakeholders, conference engagement, and teaching.

EDUCATION

Doctor of Philosophy in Tourism (Ph.D.) ABD, 2025

University of Central Florida - Rosen College of Hospitality Management Orlando, FL

Dissertation: Digital influencers and sustainable tourism

Master in Tourism and Recreation Management December 2019

University of Florida - Department of Tourism, Hospitality and Event Management Gainesville, FL

Master of Science in Management May 2019

University of Florida - Warrington College of Business Gainesville, FL

Bachelor of Advertising December 2015

Anhembi Morumbi University Sao Paulo, Brazil

RECENT PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

UCF ROSEN COLLEGE OF HOSPITALITY MANAGEMENT

Research Assistant August 2021 – Present

Led and collaborated in all research project phases, including conceptualization, data collection, data analysis, and reporting. Projects focused on tourism marketing and communications, tourism planning and development, strategic management of destinations and attractions, consumer experience and behaviors, management and execution of events and entertainment, sustainability, and accessibility.

Teaching Assistant August 2021 – Present

Taught and assistant in curriculum development, lecturing, and assessment of courses in tourism, attractions, events, and hospitality.

EXPERIENCE KISSIMMEE

Research Intern – Summer 2023 May 2023 – July 2023

Cleaned, restructured, and analyzed data with Power Query and created Power BI dashboards for internal and external stakeholders of Experience Kissimmee, including members of the Board of Directors. Created three interactive and comprehensive dashboards within the 9-week part-time internship. Dashboards are fully updatable by the organization and will assist in the decision-making of markets to target, partnerships, etc.

International travel to Florida: from various markets, including analysis of historical data, comparisons among different destination airports, and top airlines.

Vacation homes: information about different sizes of vacation homes in Kissimmee (1-20 bedrooms) including occupancy rates, average rates, revenue.

Meeting sales: created a dashboard with information about lead and conversion for different sales managers, top markets, top industry sectors, meeting sizes, monthly and quarterly distributions, rates, booking windows.

UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA

Communications Coordinator May 2019 – May 2021

Managed communication efforts for the Department of Tourism, Hospitality and Event Management and the Eric Friedheim Tourism Research Institute.

Communications: Managed website content, published news articles, managed social media platforms

Events: Led the planning and execution of events such as research seminars, guest lectures, and advisory board meetings.

UF Disney Academic Experience: led recruitment, onboarding, immersion experience, academic components, and administrative tasks of the program in conjunction with Walt Disney World International Programs and four educational partner institutions in Canada. Expanded the program, adding two new partnerships and MOUs.

Recruitment: Developed communication collateral material and strategies for targeting and building relationships with 2-year colleges in the state.

OTHER PROJECTS

Future Partners / Experience Kissimmee

Field Interviewer – Contract May 2025

Translated Experience Kissimmee’s visitor profile survey from English to Portuguese, ensuring cultural and linguistic accuracy for effective data collection with Brazilian tourists.

Conducted in-person data collection using iPads, engaging with a diverse visitor population across tourism sites in English, Portuguese, and Spanish. This contributed to a large-scale destination research project used to inform marketing strategy and visitor experience planning.

OTHER SKILLS

Tools

Mac and Windows OS

Software & Tools: Microsoft Office suite, Google Workspace, Canva

Data analysis & visualization: Excel, Power BI, Google Looker Studio, SPSS, Stata

Survey and Communication: Qualtrics, social media and email marketing (Constant Contact, Hootsuite), content management systems (WordPress, Wix, Squarespace)

Project Management and Collaboration: Skilled at managing industry and academic projects using collaborative tools for planning, execution, and reporting (Trello, Asana, Slack, Teams )

Languages

Portuguese (Native Language)

English (Fluent)

Spanish (Intermediate Working Proficiency)

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