THE FULL STORY

  Hi! My name is Katie Fox. I was born in Orlando, Florida, only 20 minutes from Disney World! When I was four years old, my parents moved me away from my magical town to a suburb in Atlanta called Roswell. I lived in the same butter yellow house for six years, and because of my parents, I had a movie-like life up until fifth grade, when they decided to move again. The next chapter in my life was middle school.

Luckily my parents moved my family and I to my favorite place in the world, the lush and classic Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. Even though Hilton Head is beautiful and astounding, middle school was not all rainbows and sunshine like I was used to. It was full of a lot of hardships and learning experiences. I was not getting the education that I thought I deserved, and I didn’t have many friends like I did in Georgia. Like everyone else, middle school was awkward, and I needed a change, and so did my family. So again, we packed up and moved back to Georgia, but we drove 20 minutes away from my childhood home and were welcomed with open arms to Milton, Georgia. By this time, I was used to being the new kid, but being the new kid in high school was a different story. I was terrified, but luckily, I moved right before going into my freshman year, so there were a lot of new people to bond with. I loved high school. I focused on making new friends and being very involved in school. I joined the broadcast news team, and by my sophomore year, I was the sports anchor for the morning news, which continued until my last day in high school. I learned how to write scripts, record stats, and edit. This made me realize that whatever I’m passionate about, I go for it and succeed. 

 

  During my junior year of high school, I decided that the University of Alabama was the school for me. I fell in love with the culture, the school spirit, and all the opportunities I would receive. When I first came in as a freshman, I was oddly comfortable being away from home. Probably because this was my fifth move in my life, but the university felt like home from the second I moved in. I became passionate about news media and was set on becoming a sports reporter. As I went through the introduction classes while finishing my general education classes, I realized that maybe I wasn’t in love with wasn'ta sports reporter. Even though I still loved the classes I was taking and the knowledge I gained, I wasn’t obsessed. I wwasn'tinning to feel lost; all the goals that I was aspiring to achieve suddenly came to a halt. I didn’t know what I wdidn'tsionate about. Then COVID-19 hit, something no one in this world would expect to happen. I didn’t know what to didn'th myself. I woke up staring at the same popcorn ceiling every morning. There would be days when I had no reason to get out of bed. Because of this, I was by myself with my own thoughts. I pondered all of the quarantine of what my passion could be. I watched different Ted Talks and lecture videos to see if anything sparked my brain. While doing this, I also took pictures of things I loved, like my dog and family. I would try to make them as aesthetically pleasing to the eye as I could. I would post on my Instagram and try to showcase my life in a way that I wanted it to look like. It helped me get through quarantine because it made me realize the beauty that can come in small things. So small that my white plain lamp beside my bed suddenly was beautiful to me. I found it, my passion. I realized that I could make anything look beautiful to anyone by just knowing how to showcase it. I didn’t know if this wasn't something I could really have done in life. However, after COVID cases declined and people started to leave their homes again, it seemed like many people were getting jobs on social media. My passion was starting to become clear. I knew I didn’t want to do it myself, but I wanted to help others realize their lives were beautiful, just like I did. When I got back to school, I still felt a little lost. I didn’t know if I woudidn'tly succeed in the PR world. I didn’t want to changdidn'tajor and start all over, but I knew I wasn’t interested anwasn't Then, my advisor told me that news media would help me in the PR world, which made me excited again. I started researching different PR clubs that the school provided and fell in love. When you go to the University of Alabama, you feel unstoppable. We are praised for being legends the second we get accepted. I went in thinking I was already a legend. I soon realized that this wasn’t the case. I lewasn'tthat the University of Alabama doesn’t accept peopledoesn'tre already legends, you become one during your four years here. 

​

I graduated and had a job lined up, which was my goal, and I achieved and knew I could all along. I got a job with the mecca of power tools, Techtronic Industries (TTI). TTI owns big-name brands like Milwaukee, Ryobi, Ridgid, Hoover, and Dirt Devil. I've loved learning aI've the power tools, but this job is more than that. While working, you learn leadership, negotiating, self-discipline, assertiveness, and many more skills. It was the perfect job right out of college. You are performing hands-on marketing and sales and really understanding what the customer's want, and customer's I think this job was pivatol for the rest of my career in marketing because I was there with the people we were marketing towards. Many people, when they are in marketing, only ever get the chance to do it from afar and forecast what they think the customers will want, but this job gave me the opportunity to be there and know what will work with marketing the customers.

 

My goal is to take this knowledge and apply it to the rest of my marketing career because I'm not stopping here! I can't wait to see what the future holds for me, and I hope it's with you.