• Job: Public relations and promotions manager, CARE, Atlanta

Karl W. Ritzler/Special (ENLARGE)

Photo courtesy of CARE (ENLARGE)

Allen Clinton (at left and above, center) snaps a photo with Yoselin Abigail Azanon Rivas (left), 14, and Glendy Marili Perez, 15, at an educational center in Guatemala. Clinton accompanies celebrities on trips to CARE's global projects.

• What I do: Allen Clinton has hobnobbed with celebrities as well as with some of the poorest people on Earth — at the same time.

As manager of public relations and promotions for CARE, the international development and relief agency, Clinton, 37, often accompanies celebrities as they bring help and attention to struggling people worldwide.

"I travel with celebrity ambassadors who want to see our work," he said. "They come back to the States and talk about it."

Among those he has accompanied are actress Sarah Michelle Gellar; Shelia Johnson, co-founder of cable's BET network; and actress Meg Ryan.

Clinton told of a visit to India with Ryan. In a remote desert community, students at a girls school sang "We Shall Overcome" for the visitors. In turn, they asked the visitors to sing something for them.

At Ryan's prodding, Clinton offered a rendition of "Ring of Fire."

"It's the only song I knew all the words to," he said.

When not singing for Indian schoolgirls, Clinton said his job at CARE is "working with the media to tell compelling stories . . . to generate money to support our work."

Most of CARE's work is long-term development, he said, such as establishing schools or health care services or getting people started in businesses. About 25 percent of the organization's work is responding to emergencies, such as natural disasters and political upheaval.

He said CARE works especially with women, who are denied access to education more often, suffer more from lack of health care services and are the most affected by poverty. They also are the key to raising a community out of poverty, he said.

Clinton has been to 30 countries in his nine years at CARE.

He spends more than a third of his time traveling. When in Atlanta, CARE's U.S. headquarters, he writes articles and speeches, attends strategy sessions, works on marketing campaigns, communicates with the media, sets up interviews, coordinates with CARE offices in other countries, attends events and fund-raisers, and prepares for trips with celebrity ambassadors.

He said he isn't limited to promotional duties. In Peru, he helped deliver supplies after an earthquake, and in Iraq he helped CARE's in-country staff run a refugee camp.

Clinton said his job "marries all my passions. I love to write and take pictures. I like being part of helping others improve their lives. I not only love my job — I'm proud of it."

• What got me interested in this: Clinton said he hadn't traveled much until after college.

"On a whim, I applied to the Peace Corps after college," he said. "I wanted to get out and see the world. It opened my eyes."

He worked with CARE staffers while in the Peace Corps.

"When I returned, I knew I wanted to work for CARE. It worked out, and I've never looked back since," he said.

• Best part of my job: "Being able to go out and visit the communities where we work," Clinton said. "We go way off the beaten path. That's where you see the heartbeat of our work."

• Most challenging part: "It's hard for Americans to understand our work," he said. CARE's work seems very foreign to people who don't know what it's like to live on $1 a day.

"How do you get people to understand? Why should people in America care about a woman in Sudan? I'm building that bridge," he said.

• What people don't know about my job: "This work isn't charity," he said. "It's a business. We're in the business of reducing poverty."

• What keeps me going: "Knowing I'm part of something bigger, continuing to make the world a better place," Clinton said. "Getting out in the field and seeing the difference we can make."

• Preparation needed for this job: An open mind — "you are going to see things you can hardly imagine" — and a big heart, Clinton said.

Patience is important.

"You can't push a button to change things. It takes years to change the state of poverty," he said.

CARE requires job candidates to have bachelor's degrees and prefers that they have master's degrees in addition to proficiency in a second language.

Clinton has a bachelor's degree in journalism from St. Bonaventure University in New York and a master's degree in international development from Ohio University. He also speaks Spanish.

In addition to working for the Peace Corps, he did public relations work for Delaware and was a freelance writer in Costa Rica.

- By Karl W. Ritzler, for ajcjobs. Got an interesting job that you love? E-mail your story to jobseditor@ajc.com.