“Life doesn’t always happen how you want it to, and that’s okay,” says Jarryd Boyd (’14, B.S. Public Relations). An odd quote from someone who just accepted an amazing new position as the Public Relations Manager at Hinge, but like most people, Jarryd had to pay his dues before finally landing his dream job.
During his time in CCI, Jarryd was initially denied acceptance to the public relations major within the School of Communication. He recalls being accepted later based on the “heart and passion” in his application essay. Within the major, Jarryd learned from some of CCI’s best, including Dr. Rayburn (Intro to PR and PR Pro-seminar) and Dr. Merle (as a teaching assistant). “They both brought such different but needed viewpoints to the communications program, and they continue to be great cheerleaders,” Jarryd says.
Once in the major, Jarryd wasted no time getting involved with the FPRA Student Capital Chapter which led to his first job at a local Tallahassee company, The Zimmerman Agency. While there, he worked his way up to Lead Junior Account Coordinator of the Party City PR team. Outside of work, Jarryd found his on-campus home within the Pride Student Union of which he was Assistant Director. “Overall, FSU gave me the tribe of people and opportunities I needed to start my career,” he explains.
During his time at FSU, Jarryd also developed his professional skills. His best advice to current students is to “be willing to continuously put yourself out there and be willing to ask for help. You never know what question, person, phone call, email, text, DM or tweet will be the one to change your life,” he says. “And you sleep better at night knowing you did everything you could to achieve the outcome you wanted.” As a bonus tip, he emphasizes the importance of thank you notes. “It’s better for a thank you note to show up late rather than never showing up.”
After graduation, Jarryd moved to Atlanta to be an Assistant Account Executive for Weber Shandwick. “I didn’t expect to start my career in Atlanta,” he explains, “but that led to me having the opportunity to work at Edelman in New York.” Although Jarryd never pictured himself living in New York, he embraced the opportunity at Edelman and worked with Starbucks as a client. “When an opportunity shows up or doesn’t show up, be grateful. All moments are lessons you were meant to go through,” he wisely adds. From Edelman, he moved to Praytell, an award-winning creative communications agency.
Named one of PRWeek’s “Best Places to Work” for six years in a row, Praytell landed the cover photo of PRWeek’s latest publication. “In all the years publishing PRWeek U.S., we have never featured one PR firm exclusively on the front cover. Until now,” says PRWeek Editorial Director, Steve Barrett. Founded in 2013 by Andy Pray, Praytell is now shortlisted for Midsize Agency of the Year in the 2020 awards.
Jarryd began working for Praytell in 2017 when the company was less than 70 employees strong. “To be a part of it growing to more than 150 employees, while still retaining the best part of its culture, was a huge honor,” says Jarryd who is pictured on PRWeek’s cover alongside his Praytell coworkers. “Praytell is special in a way that you can’t understand until you’ve been a part of the magic,” he explains. “I’m grateful to be in the record books alongside every other employee who has contributed to it being a special place over the past seven years.”
Working at the agency gave Jarryd the skills he needed to land a role he describes as “meant-to-be” because he gets to turn his passion also into paychecks. Working at Hinge almost feels nostalgic for him since he used to blog about his dating life during his college and post-grad years. “At the end of the day, I simply want to help people around the globe find love…or at least feel like they’re a little closer than they were yesterday.”