Meet Kristen Hayes: Penn State Brand Ambassador
Kristen Hayes loves coffee. I mean, like, really loves it. She and her mom even visited all the coffee shops in her town of Boiling Springs, Pa., and then created a spreadsheet comparing the positives and negatives of each. We know a fellow coffee lover when we see one, so we partnered with Kristen to be a Saxbys brand ambassador at Penn State. Be sure to check out her Instagram for some super-cool content. Here’s a bit more about Kristen:
What’s your major?
Advertising with a minor in digital media trends and analytics. It’s a new minor at Penn State about learning social media, reading insights and gathering data and analytics.
How does working with Saxbys give you real-world experience?
It’s really neat because I’m applying the stuff I’m learning in my courses to the brand interactions I’m doing everyday. With Saxbys, I can view my insights — how many likes or comments I get on a post — and learn from it. I really enjoy opportunities like this. I get cool perks out of it — and I like the product anyway so it’s easy on my end.
What does the Saxbys mission mean to you?
To me, Saxbys means opportunity. It’s not very often that you see a business on a college campus that is run solely by students. Being a student leader myself, this is so encouraging and I am so humbled that I have the opportunity to be part of it (even if it’s just posting on social media about Saxbys!). Their mission is to “Make Life Better” and they truly do! Everytime I walk into the cafe I just feel happy. I don’t know if it’s the bubbly team members or the fact that I know I will soon be enjoying a nice cup of cold brew in the next few minutes. Going to Saxbys has almost become a part of my weekly schedule. I go there every Tuesday and Thursday and just hangout, de-stress, and catch up with my younger sister (which essentially does make my life better!). Saxbys has been the perfect addition to Penn State and I’m so pumped that I have this unique opportunity to promote their brand and products to other students!
What do you hope to achieve with the Saxbys brand ambassador partnership?
I hope to just promote Saxbys to more people. I think a lot of people know about Saxbys already because it’s located at the business school — which is a main hub on campus. I plan on getting the word out with social media, and word-of-mouth to direct people there. I’ll be posting pics on my native feed as well as three to four Instagram Stories per month. The requirement is only one to two but I’m there so often that I’ll be posting much more.
What are your career aspirations and how will the Saxbys brand ambassadorship help?
I definitely want to get involved with doing social media for a company. Maybe it’s a food-and-beverage company like Saxbys. Maybe it’s something in fashion. Either way I want to be in digital marketing and content creation. Having opportunities to do brand ambassadorships really helps. I’m working with Express right now too. Every opportunity I’m given opens the door for further opportunities. When you are applying for digital marketing and social media internships, companies ask for your social handles. Hopefully they’ll say “if she can maintain a good personal Instagram account, we trust her to do our company account.”
What is your favorite Saxbys drink?
Vanilla Bean Cold Brew all the way!