LaunchSquad

As an account coordinator at Launch Squad, I managed three client teams’ internal and external activities, projects and meetings from week to week. I was also in charge of drafting , editing, and submitting clients for speaking roles and awards.

My drafted submission placed Coursera on the 2019 CNBC Disruptor 50 list. I also saw clients through a CEO change, two funding announcements, and a nationwide launch.

My former clients: Jobvite, Shipt, and Coursera

Blend

I sit on the external communications team within the marketing department at Blend. I joined Blend officially in August 2020 but had contracted with the company since December 2019.

In 2020, at the beginning of the pandemic, I helped plan an incredibly successful, fully-digital event, Blend Forward. Alongside assisting in building out speaking tracks for our executives, I also led internal communications for Blend Forward, relaying milestones and updates to the entire company as we garnered top-tier customer speakers for the event and registered over 2,000 viewers. The success of the event led to two more renditions of Blend Forward, expanding the content to cover a wider array of content (Fall 2020, Spring 2021). We also developed the video thought leadership series, The Benchmark, and managed the content for our CEO, President, and guests.

In 2021, I assisted in the announcement of a Series G in January 2021, Blend’s acquisition of Title365 in March 2021, and the company’s debut on the New York Stock Exchange in July 2021. I led the announcement of our company’s ESG program — Blend Impact — and the development of our customer-product program, the Equitable Ecosystem Initiative. This was also served by two bylines from our Head of Legal, Crystal Sumner, and Head of Product, Erik Wrobel. I also developed content for Blend’s customer retreat, Forum, which brings together top executives across Blend’s customer base to discuss the future of banking. This is where we announced the company’s coined phrase and concept “Proactive Finance.”

The University of Alabama — English Department

During my time as a student in the English department, I wrote for two different university publications, The Crimson Fried and The Chambered Nautilus.

The Crimson Fried:

The Chambered Nautilus:

Alabama Public Radio

I was a student reporter for NPR affiliate Alabama Public Radio from the summer of 2016 to December of 2017. In my tenure with APR, I produced five feature pieces, four of which were recorded and played on air.

My feature, Alabama Students and Louisiana Recovery, won first place in the Associated Press Awards for Best Student Feature. I attended a cat show in Birmingham and reported on the intricacies of cat shows and stories of different contestants. Huntsville’s “Eggbeater Jesus” began reconstruction in 2017, and I spoke with the church’s pastor and attendee about the project. My final feature with APR was interviewing Tuscaloosa and Birmingham specialist about a SANE nurse project coming to Tuscaloosa after the tragic suicide of a former University of Alabama student.

NPR also used clips from an interview I conducted with the prosecutor for the 1963 Baptist Church Bombing in Birmingham, AL that killed four black girls in the church. These clips can be found among 96 other pieces of work I did while at APR.

A Food Fair to Remember

Using historic recipes (mine was from 1910!) my food blogging class created a food fair for display in the UA English department.

Of course, I had my cake and I ate it too, bringing together an old recipe with my own family’s icing recipe. I also got to learn a little bit about the beginning of the advertising industry, which advertisements in cookbooks for products helped spur.

DiversityPolicy

I was hired as an intern for Diversity Policy founder Brandon Chicotsky to aid in the collection of various diversity policies at top universities across the United States. The project launched in 2019.

During my time on this team, I lead three other interns in the collection process, while also assisting the engineering team building the code for the website. We provided weekly updates on progress. I collected over 2,000 diversity policies in my time as Brandon’s intern. Below is a letter of recommendation I received from Dr. Chicotsky in referral for a Master’s degree from the University of Alabama.

Country Music Association Foundation

August 2017, my Integrated Marketing Campaigns class was hired by the CMA Foundation to help build an awareness campaign for the foundations initiative in part with the 2018 Country Music Fest. I helped lead my team as Vice President of Content and presentation lead.

The goal was to get the festival goers to recognize that their attendance to the festival was directly contributing to music education programs nationwide, and that country music stars preforming were doing so completely free, for the sake of music education.

Out of our campaign came several initiatives, including the “It Starts With M.E.” campaign, a live performance in Nissan Stadium of a elementary school choir benefiting from the event, and several other plans.

A PDF of my team’s campaign book is linked below.

Nissan North America

On August 2016, my class was hired on by Nissan North America to look into Millennial trends, especially in brand loyalty, social media trends and buying habits.

My team of four was chosen by the company, out of eight other groups, to present at the headquarters in Nashville, TN to the executive board.

Some key findings our group found after research:

  • The company had a need to refocus on visibility for college aged/Millennial buyers
  • Social media is used primarily for social reasons, and most Millennials do not go on social media in order to directly interact with a brand
  • Due to the vast innovation present in a Millennial’s upbringing, the concept of being innovative is expected of a company, and is not considered something revolutionary. In order to capture a Millennial audience, brands had to offer something more