A BIT ABOUT ME
My name is Mykala Reynolds and I am a graduate of East Tennessee State University. I double majored in Media & Communication, with a concentration in Advertising and Public Relations, and was an Honors-in-Discipline scholar for Communication Studies, and now hold two baccalaureate degrees in these fields, after graduating Magna Cum Laude.
I am from the small town of Loudon, Tennessee. I grew up on a gentleman’s farm with many chores and responsibilities that taught me discipline, the value of hard work, and finishing the task at hand, no matter what. It also taught me how to be driven, but patient, how to handle my frustrations, and how to be gentle and kind through everything life brings your way.
While I have always loved small town and country life, I’ve always been fascinated by big cities and the sheer number of people in them. I have always wanted to go out and explore all that the world has to offer, listening to all the stories hidden within its mountains, valleys, deserts, and streets, and the people living in them.
My entire life I have loved stories; whether they were in a book, on a television, projected onto a screen at the movie theater, or told to me by an individual. I have always known that I wanted a career where I told stories. I wanted to tell the stories of what I saw around me. I have always loved to write anything and everything, and always wanted to find the best way to tell stories that would positively impact people.
In my career overall, I have only ever had one goal: to make a positive change or impact in someone’s life through a story, no matter what that story is. I cannot count the number of stories that have impacted my life, or my own story, that have come from every place imaginable. If I could have even a minuscule impact on someone’s story because of something I wrote, said, photographed, filmed, or an action I took, that would be the most incredible result.
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Experience
In my time at East Tennessee State University, I had two professional internships. My first one was from October of 2016 to May of 2018 at Eastman Chemical Company. I worked on the AVRA, Naia, and Vestera worldwide marketing communications teams, where I wrote copy for and helped design their websites, managed their marketing inventory, created and distributed marketing materials, and managed their invoices.
I obtained my second internship in the summer of 2018 at American Bedding Manufacturers, Inc. and maintained this internship until August 2019, when I was promoted to Sales and Marketing Specialist. During my internship, I worked on the sales and marketing team, and focused primarily on directly interacting with and aiding prospective customers. I assisted in email marketing, kept track of lead reports, and designed product information sheets for customers. Through all of this, I learned how to better communicate with customers to meet their needs on an individual level. Both of my internships made me love the career I have chosen even more. They have enriched my skills and allowed me to learn as much as possible from the great mentors embedded in the companies.
In my classes at East Tennessee State University, I learned valuable, real-world skills from the campaigns I have created for the real-world clients in our classes. In many of my classes, I gained leadership experience by frequently being the group coordinator in charge of ensuring we met our deadlines with the best quality of work.
In the fall of 2017, I lead a multiphasic qualitative research project on perceptions of marriage and their effects on dating practices in college students. Though the process was long and sometimes exhausting, I found that I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it. I have always been a curious person, and doing this research ignited a spark that is now making me see research possibilities everywhere I look.
I continued leading multiple research projects again in the fall of 2018, when I lead a qualitative marketing research project for Cox Automotive in my second research course. I also was co-lead researcher for my school's team for the National Student Advertising Competition for Wienerschnitzel, in which my team placed third in the district competition. In May 2019, I submitted my Honors undergraduate thesis on the discourse around gender and pregnancy, and how it applies to the Canadian television series Wynonna Earp. These experiences taught me how to focus and the patience needed to succeed in long, taxing projects.
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Immediately after college I began working full-time at American Bedding Manufacturers, Inc. as a Sales and Marketing Specialist. My focus was primarily on marketing to and assisting our prospective customers, in order to best gauge their needs and interest in our products. I also provided customer service, ensuring they got the product that best met their needs. Additionally, I assisted in the creation, design, and execution of email and print marketing campaigns for our leads. I then gathered data and reported successes and results, which allowed my team to better strategize for future campaigns.
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Currently, I am working as a Scalehouse Attendant at Huber Engineered Woods, LLC (HEW) in Spring City, TN. While this is technically outside my field, I am gaining valuable experience in customer service and public relations every day, as I am the face of HEW to everyone who comes into the plant. My job is extremely fast-paced, as I check in and out every visitor, as well as the 190+ trucks we get into the plant every day. My multi-tasking ability has increased exponentially since joining HEW in July 2021. I enjoy talking with the drivers and visitors, and facilitating wonderful relationships that help further HEW's connection to the communities it works with.