You Heard It Here First!
Hi everyone. I’m Kylie. I’m sure what everyone needs in their life right now is a confused 21-year-old girl navigating her senior year of college and posting about it on the Internet. Lucky for you, I’m here to do just that!
One thing I’ve been repeatedly forced to do in the three years since I left my hometown of Gaithersburg, Maryland to attend college in North Carolina is figure out who the heck I am. While I am a firm believer that people can change, some things stay the same. And I am nothing if I am not an honest person.
So, I would be going against everything I stand for if I didn’t tell you this blog was not born from a stroke of creative genius that hit me one night while lying awake, but rather a semester-long assignment.
The UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media is a tight-knit community of passionate, brilliant, and creative professors and students. Being a member of that community comes with the great privilege of taking classes offered at no other schools in the nation. One of these particularly famous classes on campus is Professor Gary Kayye’s “The Branding of Me.” Throughout the semester our job is to build a personal brand with the ultimate goal of differentiating ourselves from the hundreds of thousands of other students receiving their diplomas in only eight short months.
The opening assignment for class this semester was to text my friends and ask them what they say about me behind my back. Fun homework, right? The point of this somewhat scary task was to figure out your brand. The truth is people can, and will, say whatever they want about you to your face. However, the real insight into how you're perceived comes from what is said when you’re not around. My friends gave a range of answers, sharing they see me as everything from hardworking and dedicated to a “girl boss” who is good at eyeliner (thanks guys, I try).
In all honesty, I’ve spent much of my life downplaying my accomplishments or toning down certain aspects of my personality to make those around me feel better. But, one thing I’ve learned in Chapel Hill is that you’ll only get so far if you’re not willing to toot your own horn every once in a while.
So, here goes. I am a talented and passionate individual. I am fiercely loyal and incredibly true to my word. If someone asks me to do something, whether it’s a friend needing a big favor or a boss looking for support on a new project, I will get it done. No ifs, ands, or buts about it (which can sometimes be a problem in itself - more to come in a future blog). I make the people around me laugh and I pride myself on that. If you’re having a bad day it will become my personal mission to get a giggle out of you. I am an unapologetic fan of the Dallas Cowboys and am tired of being called a bandwagon for it - we’ve had four playoff wins in my lifetime.
What I’m getting at is that after three years at the best school in the nation surrounded by the most incredible friends, classmates, and professors, I’ve finally grown the confidence to be proud of who I am and what I bring to the table. I’m anxiously excited to add this corner of the Internet as another learning opportunity while the time toward graduation ticks by far too fast.
With that being said, I am here to officially welcome you to “You Heard It Here First” - a come-as-you-are place to sit back and watch the chaos unfold. The fun thing is you will hear it here first - unless you are my roommate, mother, or best friend, who are inevitably cursed to hear my thoughts before they are even done being formed.
Well, you heard it here first!
Talk soon,
Kylie
