Barracuda PR closes business after 15 years in El Paso

by Robert Moore

March 27, 2025

Fifteen years ago, Marina Monsisvais founded Barracuda Public Relations with a simple idea – help people connect with all the interesting things happening in El Paso.

“We’ve always been a city with a lot of potential. People would say that we have so much potential, we have so much potential. But at that time, I could see us stepping into that potential,” Monsisvais said. “And I thought, the way for me to be able to participate is to be the person that publicizes or gets the word out about all these great things.”

Since 2010, Barracuda has helped El Paso connect with advancements such as the Texas Tech Health El Paso campus, the Montecillo development, Alamo Drafthouse, designation of Castner Range as a national monument, and major road projects. But this week, Barracuda Public Relations closed its doors and filed for bankruptcy protection.

The company employed 17 people who are now out of work. The company’s Chapter 7 bankruptcy filing listed less than $50,000 in both assets and liabilities.

Monsisvais and Barracuda’s chief operating officer, Ana Gaby Becerra, said a significant disruption in funding for government projects and other economic uncertainty made continuing the business untenable.

The city government paused some work because of uncertainty over future federal funding under the Trump administration, and the Texas Department of Transportation slowed some of its highway projects in West Texas, Monsisvais said.

“But even outside of city and governmental work, people froze somehow. They were very reluctant to start projects,” she said.

Monsisvais said Barracuda strove to have about half its work in the private sector and half with government contracts. But over time, about 70% of the work was tied to government contracts. Much of Barracuda’s work was as a subcontractor to engineering companies working on major government infrastructure projects.

“Usually, you think government work is pretty safe, and it’s where the big bucks are, too, if you’re working independently and as a consultant in this town,” Monsisvais said. “So, we got really good at doing government work and knowing the systems and knowing how to connect with folks, how to get them to connect with their projects. So, we kind of became that company of choice.”

As the company began struggling financially, Monsisvais said she and Becerra looked at multiple options to salvage the business.

“We looked through every single scenario. What if we sell ourselves? What if we skeleton crew? And then in every scenario, either the quality of work suffered or we still couldn’t make it. The healthiest decision is to close. We didn’t want to fizzle out either or deliver bad work for folks,” Monsisvais said.

Over the years, Barracuda was instrumental in a number of nonprofit efforts such as El Paso Giving Day and Buy El Paso Initiative.

But much of the company’s work was in the government sector to communicate to the public about major projects. Barracuda often organized public meetings to connect government officials with key stakeholders.

Barracuda was hired by project engineers to keep the public informed on multi-year traffic disruption caused by the I-10 Connect Project, a massive rebuild of Interstate 10, U.S. 54 and Loop 375 in the heart of El Paso.

The company also assisted Texas Tech Health El Paso as it expanded to a four-year medical school and added a nursing school and dental school.

“Marina and her team have done an amazing job showcasing the best of El Paso. Her creativity, passion and talent are evident in every project she undertakes.  She has completed many important projects for Texas Tech Health El Paso, so we are incredibly sad her public relations company is dissolving. But we’re certain Marina will reinvent herself in a way that continues to share her joy, optimism and enthusiasm for El Paso,” said Dr. Richard Lange, president of Texas Tech Health El Paso and dean of the Paul L. Foster School of Medicine. 

Monsisvais and Becerra said Barracuda’s most challenging and rewarding work came between 2019 and 2021, when El Paso was in a constant state of crisis. A gunman massacred 23 people at an El Paso Walmart on Aug. 3, 2019, and the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted life in 2020 and 2021.

Barracuda provided communications assistance for organizations providing assistance in those crises. For example, the company helped El Paso’s Univision affiliate organize a telethon for the families most directly affected by the Walmart shooting.

“I’ll never forget a boy with a big jar of pennies, and he’s, like, ‘This is my savings.’ And he just gave me a jar, and I’m, like, wow,” said Becerra, who joined Barracuda as a graphic designer and later became chief operating officer and part owner of the company.

Becerra said she plans to stay in El Paso and continue her creative work.

“When I started at Barracuda, it was 11 years ago. And the mentality was, you’ve got to leave El Paso. If you’re a creative, especially, you need to leave El Paso. There’s nothing to do here. There’s nothing for you,” she said. 

“And as Marina kept giving me room for growth and opportunities, I kept saying, ‘Why am I going to go to a bigger city?’ Why not do it here from my own city where I’m given the opportunity and probably advance faster than if I go fight it in bigger cities?”

Monsisvais said she would like to pursue a doctoral degree to expand her ability to promote the arts. She will continue to host “State of the Arts,” a weekly program on KTEP-FM public radio.

She’ll initially focus on helping her displaced employees find work.

Despite having to close a business she founded 15 years ago, Monsisvais remains bullish on El Paso.

“We have so many creative people, and I think more to come. They’re so smart. They’re thinkers, they’re creators. And folks are looking at communities like us. I really think because of our makeup and our positioning, we are what the future of the arts look like. We’re this little microcosm here right now, but we’re what the rest of the country is going to look like,” she said.

Disclosure: Barracuda Public Relations has done consulting work for El Paso Matters, including designing the nonprofit organization’s logo. Marina Monsisvais is a financial supporter of El Paso Matters. Financial supporters play no role in El Paso Matters’ journalism. The news organization’s policy on editorial independence can be found here.