He is Cameroon’s only ‘DON’, a man who lives for his people, a man who wants his people to succeed, a man who puts himself out for his community, a TV Personality, Veteran Journalist, honorable USA Military personnel and a Gentleman of the first order, are just a few phrases that describe him.
He Joins two of Cameroon’s Female Role Models to Co-Chair the Miss Cameroon USA Pageant slated for Saturday April 5th 2014. His Table is Reserved, join Brother Julio on a mission to empower young Cameroonian Ladies through Mentorship, Leadership and Community Service.
~ Nfor Julio Barthson, (MBA)
Nfor Julio Barthson – affectionately known as “Don Julio” or “Brother Julio” by friends and family – is a long time journalist and public relations specialist from Cameroon. Don Julio was born in the small northwestern town of Nkambe, and grew up in Cameroon’s capital city, Yaounde. He graduated from the famous Catholic Sacred Heart College, Bamenda and Bilingual High School, Yaounde. He obtained his first degree in Public Law and Political Science from the University of Yaounde; then later completed graduate studies at the Advanced School of Mass Communication, where he obtained the Senior Journalist Diploma specialized in Public Relations and Political Analysis. Don is also a Master of Business Administration (MBA) graduate from Columbia Southern University, here in the USA.
Don Julio has lived or worked in 12 countries on 5 continents, beginning in his native Cameroon, where he worked as a political reporter in French for Challenge Hebdo, La Nouvelle Expression and Postwatch; then as Managing Editor of Cameroon Post – which was then the main private English language newspaper. Don Julio was also recommended to Voice of America as a local correspondent for the Voice of America (VOA) radio, a job he did in English and French so well that he was invited to Washington, DC, for internships and graduate level research opportunities at VOA with renowned Howard University professor and mentor, Ted Roberts. He also spent 3 years in Japan, during which time he worked as a regional correspondent for Japan Times, freelancing for BBC and Jeune Afrique Economie, and then as Managing Editor of the Japan Update newspaper based in Okinawa.
Don Julio currently lives in Los Angeles, California, where he first moved to work as Public Relations Coordinator and Business Development Manager for famous “Surgeon of the Stars” – Dr. Fobi of the Fobi Medical Clinic. He is currently the CEO of Barthson Global Communications (BGC), which specializes in online reputation design, strategic marketing, corporate communication and talent management on contract. He was a prominent early supporter, and strategic campaign team member of President Barack Obama in 2007, and helped set up the Obama movement as a pioneer in places like Las Vegas, Nevada, Texas, Colorado, Pennsylvania, etc. During the 2008 campaign, he was the founder and manager of “Real-Time Obama Active Response” (ROAR) – an online group that specialized in debunking myths and vicious lies about candidate Obama in real time on all media.
Don Julio is also a member of the California National Guard, and is very often on special duty assignments for the US government all over the world. He has served in the past in places like Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Korea, Kosovo, Burkina Faso, and Hawaii. Don Julio is currently working on one of such assignments with the Department of Defense, in the DC area, as a Governance and Staff Management Systems Specialist at the National Guard Bureau.
Don Julio is known to be a very friendly, open and sociable person, who takes his work very seriously, but also knows how to make time for fun social activities and supporting community events. You can find Don Julio on Facebook as “Don Julio Bats” (over 50,000 followers); on Twitter (over 26,000 followers) and Instagram (over 80,000 followers) as “@juliobats”. You can also LIKE his Facebook page for Barthson Global Communications (BGC) at www.facebook.com/bgcllc.