Master of Arts | Liberal Studies in Communications and Digital Marketing
Bachelor of Arts | Journalism, Public Relations, minor in Sociology Ms. Lauren Byrd grew up in the small town of Wartburg, Tennessee located in East Tennessee. She attended the University of Memphis and was awarded a Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism with a concentration in Public Relations and minor in Sociology in May 2013. She was also a recipient of the Emerging Leader scholarship program. Lauren continued her education at the U of M and received her Master of Arts in Liberal Studies degree concentrating in communications and digital marketing in May 2015.
During her undergraduate career at the University of Memphis, she was a member of the Memphis Pom Squad for 5 years and a captain for 2 of those years. Lauren has been dancing since she was 3 and is trained in Ballet, Pointe, Tap, Jazz, Lyrical, and Hip Hop. Lauren was also a dance instructor for Universal Dance Association for 5 years. While working for UDA, Lauren was a head instructor, assistant head instructor, traveled internationally teaching dance camps, worked various National Dance Team championships and competitions, filmed summer camp routine choreography videos, danced in the UDA NDTC Opening Number, and worked as an instructor for various College Camps in 2012 and 2013. Lauren was recently the Junior Varsity dance team coach at Arlington High School from 2013-2014. Her team placed first in the TSSAA state dance championship in both pom and hip hop divisions and earned the titles of NDA National Champion in both pom and hip hop divisions, and also the title of Junior Grand Champion. Ms. Byrd enjoyed coaching the girls to their greatest potential. Ms. Byrd has worked in several different environments involving sports and the public relations field. Some of her recent positions include working with the Memphis International Raceway and the Memphis Grizzlies. It has been fun for her to combine two things she loves - public relations and sports. Her position at Cocoabeens Communications has given her a chance to experience what it would be like to work in a communications firm with different projects and test her ability to manage different accounts and multi-task. Ms. Byrd has a love for experiencing new and diverse things, traveling, and meeting new people along the way. She is very passionate about dance and hopes to continue dancing after she completes her master's degree. She loves sharing her passion for dance through coaching and teaching dance and hopes to continue to share that passion with others for many years. Ms. Byrd loves connecting with others through social media, and she looks forward to working in marketing where she can put her communications and public relations skills to use. |