Hi, my name is Samantha Hendrix, but you can call me Sam. I was raised in a humble farm town in Northern California called Dixon. Known for its almonds, sheep, and great location. I have always been involved in sports and anything else related to the outdoors. My sports career included competitive swimming, volleyball, and equestrian. Growing up, I was also involved in FFA and 4H where I raised pigs, lambs, and rabbits for our local livestock shows. As I grew up I became more adventurous in my endeavors. Only two hours from the beach, two hours from Lake Tahoe, and just outside of Napa Valley, there was an abundance of places for me to explore. My love of exploration, and sports eventually led me across the country to the SEC. After touring a few colleges, I knew Ole Miss was the school for me.
During my freshman year, I decided to join Greek life and received a bid from the Alpha Delta chapter of Phi Mu. I know that Greek life receives a lot of criticism but I have never regretted my decision. My sorority has brought me my best friends, amazing memories, and unique leadership opportunities. While I have served on several committees in Phi Mu, my most prominent role was as the chapter’s banner chair. In this role, I was responsible for designing and creating banners for all of our chapter’s events. This included mastering Canva, Adobe Photoshop, and Procreate. I did not consider myself a particularly creative person but my eye for detail became an essential part of my role. I managed the chapter’s largest committee, worked with a tight budget, and had to balance this role with my other responsibilities such as classes and the equestrian team. I learned a tremendous amount about my leadership abilities and my time management skills. I am grateful for the experience because of how much I learned and I now have a much deeper appreciation for artists and graphic designers.
As my time at Ole Miss went on, I found some other incredible opportunities on campus. During my sophomore year, I joined the Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) at the recommendation of a co-worker from a previous internship. This organization is centered around introducing students to the world of public relations and providing opportunities to expand and develop their careers. I was inspired to seek out a writing internship on my campus and was lucky enough to land an internship with the Ole Miss School of Business Administration. In this internship, the marketing and communications team met monthly to discuss our story assignments and social media agenda. I have already written several stories including personality profiles and covered events. I can already see significant progress in my writing skills and am grateful that I will be able to grow in this opportunity until I graduate.
Most of my other experiences involve the sports industry. As an avid sports enthusiast, sports communications is what I am truly passionate about. I had the opportunity to work on the Ole Miss football team as a video operations intern for the 2021 regular season. This was an eye-opening experience because I had experience as an athlete but I had never been involved in the operations side of athletics programs. This experience opened the door to the rest of the sports world and I found an internship with Sonoma Raceway as a media and community relations intern. This was one of my favorite internships that I have had because there was so much for me to learn and there was always an exciting event taking place at the track. I was primarily responsible for the preparation and management of the track’s media center. This included the distribution of media credentials, preparing the seating chart for media personnel, and helping with press conferences. I was also given the opportunity to help write press releases for the track and I assisted the social media manager with content creation for the various social media accounts. I was sad when this internship came to a close at the end of that summer, but I was extended the opportunity to continue to work as a temporary intern for future races. In addition to working at Sonoma, I have the opportunity to provide other tracks assistance during their race weeks, including Las Vegas Motorspeedway. I was able to help Sonoma Raceway during their NASCAR race week in June 2023 and have plans to help other tracks this fall.
This summer, I decided to take a break from internships and follow my heart to explore the world. For the summer, I am living in Maui, HI working as a barista at a local cafe. I was a barista in high school and have always loved the artistic craft of making espresso drinks. However, this position has turned into so much more than making coffee. I am working for the recently opened, second location of a local cafe called Belle Surf Cafe. I have come to love this shop as if it were my own and the owners of the business have allowed me to help with their business strategies and marketing plans. It is commonly known that 20% of small businesses fail within the first year but I am determined to set this business up for success before I return to school. Currently, we are working on consolidating the menu, developing a new website page, and spreading the word about the new location. While it isn’t the experience that recruiters usually focus on, to me this summer has been invaluable to my work experience.
Next, I am planning on studying abroad on Semester at Sea in spring 2024. Over the course of 107 days, I will take classes while traveling to 10 different countries on three different continents. After my semester abroad, I am hoping to find an internship for the summer of 2024 in the field of communications.
Please enjoy looking around my site! While I was designing this site, I wanted to highlight my professional experiences and showcase my portfolio, but I also wanted this site to reflect me as a person. As someone who is passionate about travel, nature, and my friends, I hope you see a sneak peek into all the things that make me, me. I love discussing my professional and life experiences so please feel free to reach out. My inbox is always open: samanthahendrix19@gmail.com!