Kayla Porter Email and Phone Number

Starting my final year of college, I would have never imagined I would be where I am today. As an advertising major at the University of Oregon, it is ingrained into your brain that the end-all-be-all after graduation is working in an ad agency. As a strategist at UO’s campus agency, I had no doubt that’s where my career path would steer. But what I didn’t see coming: a global pandemic. Despite the canceled internships, restricted traveling and plummeting job market, I managed to secure a position as a content strategist for a small tech start-up. Working in a start-up is intimidating. The risk is high, but I’ve learned that the reward is higher. Starting as a content strategist, my main contribution to our team was copywriting, content strategy, and branding. I knew these were skills I was passionate about, but hearing the genuinely positive feedback from my team gave me the confidence to continue enhancing enhancing them. The real reward though was learning more about myself. In an autonomous, malleable role, I have been able to uncover some of my hidden strengths and interests that I didn’t know existed. Conducting meetings, managing campaigns, hiring new members, building reports and communicating with clients easily became responsibilities I was enthused to take on. Within the first year of my role, I was promoted to content manager. In addition to my previous duties, I now manage a team of strategists and track metrics across all social platforms. I’m a naturally curious yet analytical person. My mind is constantly pulling issues and ideas apart to invent new ways of piecing them back together. As I decide each path to take while building my future, I am focused on being a part of a community that puts people first and is willing to take a chance on its intuition. I have learned so much from my time in the start-up world, and I am ready to share that experience with companies and agencies aligned with similar sentiments.