(Becki Barabas, far left)
For many HARMAN employees, it’s been a lifelong love of rock ‘n’ roll that led them to working at the company. Surely, Marketing Specialist Becki Barabas epitomizes this path. With generations of singers and instrumentalists in her family, music is literally in Becki’s DNA. And, while she’s been known to contribute backup vocals to friends’ recordings, says Becki, “I’ve just always loved helping other people to make music. At HARMAN, we provide the tools they need to make art. What can be better than that?”
D
uring her nearly eight years at HARMAN, Becki’s role has grown to encompass a vast, nearly indefinable range of marketing duties. While most of her efforts have been focused on JBL, since October, Becki has been involved with each of the Pro entertainment brands, with responsibilities that extend from media buying and facilitating equipment loans to tracking public relations outreach and spearheading a new Ambassador Program that fosters relationships with popular artists, such as Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Wiz Khalifa, Chuck D and The Chimps.
Becki was born in Delaware but, by the time she was one year old, moved with her young mother, grandmother and four aunts to Venice Beach, where she grew up with musicians playing in the living room, poets reading at the kitchen table and painters showing their works. It was a rich and colorful environment that ignited Becki’s love of music, art and, perhaps most personally, writing poetry.
By the time she turned nine, Becki’s mother had married and the family moved to the San Fernando Valley. Becki missed the Bohemian beach scene but, after high school, while attending college, she began her own foray into the arts. She surrounded herself with a creative community of musicians, writers and artists while working in recording studios, clubs, and with installed sound, retail and equipment reps. Before long, she married a musician and gave birth to a son. Eventually Becki decided that she wanted to work in marketing and turned to HARMAN, where she had developed close relationships while working as a rep.
Still immersed in the arts, Becki goes to as many music shows as possible, participates in writers groups, publishes her poetry, is an avid reader of biographies and spends her free time hiking in the local mountains and canyons.
Nearest to Becki’s heart, though, is her commitment to volunteerism. Besides serving as a co-chair of the HARMAN Volunteer Committee, she participates in the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life, with the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and is part of Compassionate Souls of Southern California, an organization dedicated to aiding the homeless. “Helping people who can’t help themselves is a tremendous service,” says Becki. “Volunteering is 
so important, and I’m especially passionate about helping kids.”
Becki has also hosted a series of benefits—Artists for Haiti, Artists for Katrina and Artists for Autism—in which she brought musicians and artists together to raise funds for vital causes. “Who says that a bunch of misfits can’t have a great time and help people at the same time? I’m all about that!” says Becki.
As her son begins to find his own way in the world, Becki has set her sights on returning to college to complete her marketing degree while continuing to serve the music and charitable communities she loves.
Many thanks to Becki for sharing her HARMAN story and being such a generous and enthusiastic part of our community.
