Major: 
Integrated Strategic Communication
Year Graduated: 
2009
Hometown: 
Shelbyville, KY
Current City: 
Lexington, KY
Current Employer: 
Chief Strategy Officer at PepperPointe Partnerships
Top played song on your playlist?: 
With a toddler at home, I’m a little embarrassed to admit that my top played song right now is “The Wheels on the Bus”. It’s his absolute favorite!
Where has your CI degree taken you?: 

I've spent a lot of my career in the health care and non-profit space, and my degree has taken me all over the world, and to a three-year stint in Atlanta where I worked as a Director of Communications Strategy Planning for the American Cancer Society. I've loved every aspect of my professional journey and I've been really blessed to work with some amazing and talented individuals!

What is your favorite thing about your job?: 

I love the strategic planning aspect of my job at PepperPointe Partnerships. It's exciting to help shape and develop the direction of an organization, ensuring we're actively measuring the right things and evaluating our progress to meet both our short-term and long-term goals. I'm also a big believer in the power of our staff as brand ambassadors. Empowering and supporting staff members is so important! And to that end, I enjoy working with our team to ensure our staff have all the tools, resources and support they need to be successful.

What¹s the most valuable thing you learned in CI?: 

I really appreciated all of the different ways our professors tried to provide real-life applications to what we were learning. Whether it was through our campaign work, studying abroad in London for the winter session and learning from individuals at real agencies, or the great internships I was part of, I learned so much about life in the “real world”. I also learned a lot about collaboration and teamwork - critical keys to success.

What advice would you give to current CI students?: 

Take advantage of every opportunity and soak up every minute at UK! When it comes to work life after college, my advice would be to work hard - arrive early, stay late, ask questions and do what you say you're going to do when you say you're going to do it. Be humble, hungry and smart!