CEO and Founder, Unsworth Marketing Group, LLC

M.A., Professional Communication, Technical Writers for Engineers, 2005

What role do you play in the entrepreneurial ecosystem?

I am the CEO and Founder of Unsworth Marketing Group, LLC, a marketing agency and consulting firm focused on technology companies, restaurant groups, and practitioner groups seeking to grow their online presence. I also founded The Path Connection, Inc. in 2017, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that sponsors USA Track and Field programs for children in grades K–12. I help people grow businesses and non-profit organizations using a systematic approach that delivers unique and custom strategies for visibility that make them recognizably different and rank above their competition.

What are some of your best memories of your time at Clemson?

My first Clemson memory was the day I arrived on campus after moving here from Mississippi. I knew that when I drove through the "Clemson University" beautiful stone pillars that I was home and I would make a life in South Carolina.    

I also met my husband at Clemson. He worked at Aramark and later pioneered a food and nutrition system for gluten free and allergy labeling that led to his first position as a nutritionist in culinary science. He graduated with a Master of Science in Food and Nutrition.

What were the key inflection points in your career after you left Clemson?

First, (the late) Dr. Summer Smith Taylor required our graduate class for Technical Writing for Engineers (my secondary area of discipline) to find someone in the corporate workplace who held a position I might be interested in pursuing as a career. We read and researched an article in this graduate course, "How To Add Value As a Technical Communicator" (source here), and this established a direction for me. I wanted a career that would allow me to wear many hats and add enough value to be "recession proof." A key inflection point in the start of my career was being open to all types of opportunities because I was very uncertain about the opportunities out there and unsure about what a marketing career would actually look like.

I researched companies in the area and located Schlumberger (now Itron, Inc.), which had a Marketing Communications Director position. I reached out to the lady in that role, named JoAnne Poole, and received an apprenticeship.

I took an enormous amount of initiative once I began to intern and pursued a career in the utility space at Schlumberger. They actually ended up putting me on payroll in the midst of a hiring freeze because of my work ethic and tenacity to add value beyond the scope of the position. I do not believe that I would be as successful as an entrepreneur had I not invested ten years in this space as a marketing professional.

What are your personal and professional dreams?

Personally, I am truly living my dream now, which is to be a contributor and build a legacy as we grow the talent pipeline of marketing professionals for the future. For over 15 years, UMG has hired business and marketing students from Clemson University to give them internships, so they gain practical experience to enrich their classroom endeavors while earning their degrees.

In addition to this dream, my USATF track club for Oconee County is in its 5th year, and this is how I give back to my community by sponsoring a track and field club that gives every athlete K–12 the opportunity to experience, engage, and be equipped for the opportunities track and field provides that can change their futures. I am a certified USATF and SCHSL official as well, and I plan to do this full time after I retire.

Professionally, UMG is on a trajectory to grow our business valuation beyond the current $1.7M to 3–4x that and draw in private equity investors as we pioneer the AI marketing automation ecosystem to help businesses grow their online presence in a much faster time frame.

What would you recommend students do to maximize their remaining time at Clemson?

Get a mentor or two. Find someone in the disciplines you are drawn to and interested in working in, and shadow them so you can learn what you would and would not like to do. This will help you avoid wasting time working in just a job versus establishing a career that you are passionate about.

What else should we know about you?

Entrepreneurship has allowed me the freedom to prioritize and steward my time, talent, and treasure to have a successful marriage in its 19th year and be a very engaged mother to two amazing children, Savannah Lynne, 11, and James Malcolm, 16. Entrepreneurs never go to "work," and I truly never have a "bad" day. I love what we do at UMG, and I am grateful for the opportunities to continue to grow even bigger. Ephesians 3:20 and John 10:10 are the goal: "life to the full."