Success Finds Shelby Baldwin

photos by Megan Bean

FALL 2018 | DIVIDENDS

Success Finds Shelby Baldwin

By Emily Daniels

“Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it.” HENRY DAVID THOREAU

Senior marketing major Shelby Baldwin has certainly been busy during her time at Mississippi

State. From directing a week-long camp for nearly 1,000 excited new Bulldogs and co-founding a rapidly growing student organization on campus, to serving as an Ambassador and the recruitment intern for the College of Business and creating business plans for not one but two startup companies, it’s no wonder that with all her success she was named 2018’s Miss MSU.

But the third generation Bulldog from Ridgeland, MS, says she was not always sure she would go to Mississippi State for college.

“When I was in high school, I thought I wanted to move somewhere far away for school. I had lived in Mississippi my whole life and wanted a change of scenery,” Baldwin remarks. “I toured a bunch of other schools in the Southeast before visiting MSU – mostly to please my dad – but when I finally did, I fell in love! The atmosphere at Mississippi State just seemed so different from anywhere else. Everyone was so friendly, and you immediately felt accepted.”

Baldwin made her decision, and her excitement grew as she imagined the new chapter that awaited her at MSU. The week before her first semester, the eager freshman dove headfirst into New Maroon Camp, a weeklong student-led retreat which prepares first year students for campus life. New Maroon Camp helped Baldwin network and learn about the many programs and organizations that her new school had to offer.

“It definitely helped in jump-starting my involvement. Everything I have been involved in and have succeeded in since I was a freshman can be traced back to a connection or experience I had during New Maroon Camp,” says Baldwin.

She continues, “The program has been my biggest passion at State since I got here. I’ve been a participant, and as a counselor, I’ve held different leadership positions, including overseeing the camp as Executive Director this year.”

As her first fall semester began, Baldwin decided to make the most of her college experience. She was selected by the Student Association to serve as a counselor on Freshman Forum, a small

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Baldwin was named 2018's Miss MSU.

photo by Beth Wynn

leadership conference which educates high school juniors and seniors about collegiate leadership and involvement. She also joined a sorority, where she met Kaylie Mitchell, a marketing student who had recently co-founded a quickly growing startup company through the MSU Center for Entrepreneurship and Outreach (E-Center).

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MISSISSIPPI STATE UNIVERSITY | COLLEGE OF BUSINESS

Baldwin began college majoring in secondary education, but by her sophomore year, she was leaning toward business. So when Mitchell offered Baldwin a marketing internship with her company Glo – which makes liquid-activated lighted drink enhancers – she jumped at the opportunity.

“I loved the fast-paced environment, helping with a startup,” says Baldwin. “I

was in charge of social media and assisted in sales, outreach and ad designs. I really never knew that I had a passion for digital marketing until I started interning for Glo, and now I use it in almost everything that I do. After a couple of weeks working there, I officially changed my major from secondary education to business administration with a minor in marketing.”

Interning for the student-run startup company also helped her get plugged into the E-Center, which later led to her creation of two new companies with business partners Calvin Waddy and Brandon Johns. The first, Thrive Island, is an online women’s clothing company.

“The startups kind of happened on a whim,” Baldwin says. “It was spring break, and Calvin and I were broke college students trying to come up with ways to make money. We brainstormed, and through our research we discovered that online shopping, especially women’s clothing, was really lucrative. We both had strong backgrounds in digital marketing, so we created a website and Instagram account and both really took off. We’ve gotten nearly 70,000 followers on Instagram in just a matter of months!”

After the success of their first startup, they also created a digital marketing agency, Rocketing Media, where Johns joined them.

“With this company, we assist companies with website building, ad design, content creation, social media strategy and search engine optimization,” says Baldwin.

They are now working with three restaurants in the Memphis area, and they hope to eventually work with clients in other areas as well.

“That’s really what I love about the College of Business – it will set you up for anything you could possibly want to do with your life,” she says. “A business degree is extremely versatile, especially at Mississippi State. You can literally start your own business and be set for life before you even graduate.”

Baldwin has also kept busy through her work as President of MSU’s Undergraduate Women in Business (UWIB) organization, which she co-founded in fall 2017 with former College of Business student Feifei Zeng.

Modeled after Harvard University’s founding chapter, Baldwin says the organization is designed for women students to “hold each other accountable and push each other to be successful, so when we graduate, we can succeed in the careers that we’re all pursuing.”

DIVIDENDS | FALL 2018

FALL 2018 | DIVIDENDS

In two years, UWIB membership has grown to 175 “business-minded women” from various academic disciplines across campus. The organization meets bi-weekly, hosting guest speakers, Q & A sessions and various workshops such as résumé reviews, internship advice and proper business etiquette. Most recently, MSU’s UWIB worked with the College of Business to co-host women’s equality activist, public speaker and author Lilly Ledbetter, who shared the inspirational story of her fight for pay equity in the workplace and how her determination became a victory for the nation.

And if Baldwin were not busy enough, she manages to find time to volunteer as a COB Ambassador, where she promotes the College of Business by helping to coordinate special events, recruit prospective students, meet and greet parents and visit with alumni. Through the Ambassador program, she met Kelsey Waters, Assistant Director of Recruiting and Events, who was impressed by Baldwin’s work ethic and knowledge about all the events and programs in the College of Business. With the help of Dr. Melissa Moore – Head of the Department of Marketing, Quantitative Analysis and Business Law – a position was created in January for Baldwin to work as Waters’ recruitment intern. She assists Waters with the campus visit presentations, COB brochures, email campaigns, photos and graphics for Preview Days and Academic Insight.

“I’m really passionate about all the things that the College has to offer, and it’s a privilege to be able to help showcase that to students,” she says. “And it’s just really fun being able to connect my job and doing something I love.”

Baldwin recently changed her major to marketing and is set to graduate in May 2019. When asked if she has a dream job in mind, Baldwin stops, carefully reflecting about the various roles she has held during her time on campus.

“I honestly think there’s no one dream job, just dream job characteristics,” she muses. “I know that I eventually want to work in a big city – I’d be fine with Atlanta or somewhere more northern like Boston, New Haven, Hartford. A good company culture supporting diversity is really important to me. I want to be working around people who are different than me – men and women from all different races and different backgrounds. I’ve interacted with several companies through networking and career fairs on campus that are really big on that, so I don’t think that’ll be hard to find.”

She adds, “I do like being able to come up with my own deadlines and decide what I want to do on which days and working at my own pace, though. So for right now, I think my ‘dream job’ would probably be to continue working on the startups.”

Baldwin is not sure what the future holds, but she has plenty of options. In a matter of just four short years, she has already racked up a quite impressive résumé. One could argue that success has already found Shelby Baldwin.

And she’s just getting started.

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