World Cup in KC One Year Out: What Are Brands Doing?

Yolanda Villegas is a Branding strategy consultant and owner of Villegas Marketing. Her extensive corporate career in international marketing, brand strategy, and advertising laid the foundation for her opening of the firm that helps brands elevate their market position.  In partnership with Segura Marketing, she sees the World Cup as a unique moment for Kansas City—an opportunity to empower Hispanic communities and businesses, deepen authentic connections, and advance shared prosperity across cultures, enriching the fabric of our city.

Jacqueline Camargo was born and raised in La Paz, Mexico. She has been a marketing strategist with 15 years of experience in Latino consumer engagement. She has worked in radio, print, broadcast, consumers live shows and social media. She is the lead “trans-creator” and copywriter for our websites, documents, marketing campaigns. Working with the young LatinX culture allows her to understand the broader Hispanic market and curate the right message for brands.

Steve Downing is the National Operations Director for SagamoreHill Broadcasting, overseeing Telemundo & Univision affiliate stations in eleven television markets, which include Kansas City-Missouri, Columbia/Jefferson City-Missouri, St. Louis-Missouri, Minneapolis/St. Paul-Minnesota, Rochester-Minnesota, Portland-Oregon, Euegen-Oregon, Spokane-Washington, Boise-Idaho, and Beaumont/Port Arthur-Texas, & Lake Charles-Louisiana.

Steve is based in Kansas City, where he also serves as Telemundo Kansas City’s General Manager. Since moving to the Midwest in December of 2019, he has joined the Greater Kansas City Regional Complete Count Committee, the LatinX Communities Sub-Committee for the Unified Government of Wyandotte County, the Diverse Business Committee and Welcoming KC Coalition with the Kansas City Chamber of Commerce, and the Kansas Hispanic & Latino American Affairs Commission with the State of Kansas.

Prior to Kansas City, Steve spent 4 years in Salt Lake City, Utah, functioning as Station Manager for Telemundo Utah, under Serestar Communications, and Sales Manager and acting Vice-President of Sales, for Telemundo/NBC Universal. Steve served on the Board of Directors of the Guadalupe School and the Suazo Center.  He was also a member of various committees, including Go Red/Por Tu Corazón with the American Heart Association, the State of Utah’s 2020 Census Complete Count Committee, and Salt Lake County’s Diversity and Inclusion Council.

Before Salt Lake City, Denver, Colorado was his home for 10 years, and worked in media sales for Telemundo/NBC Universal, Entravision Communications, and Dish Network.

Steve is passionate about serving the local community. His career in Spanish-language media has allowed him to support organizations in their efforts to connect, inform, and give back to the Hispanic community.

Steve was born and raised in San Pedro Sula, Honduras.  He studied Business Management at Universidad Nacional Autónoma of Honduras and Brigham Young University-Idaho. Steve and his wife Destre have 3 children, and they currently reside in Parkville, Missouri.