Her Story
About Kailyn
Kailyn Kirkman serves as Sales and Operations Manager at Luxury Yacht Party, a yacht charter company in Chicago, Illinois. In this role, she manages the crew, daily operations, customer experience, and fleet management for five vessels. She grew up in Chicago on Lake Michigan and entered the maritime industry after graduating high school early and earning her Master U.S. Coast Guard License at Chicago Maritime School. She uses her Captain's License during the summer season and has built the company's onboarding and SOP system. Kirkman is a junior pursuing a marketing degree in the Honors College at North Carolina A&T, where she maintains a 4.0 GPA after transferring from Illinois State University. She is a member of the Society of Women in Business, Service Spree, Midwest Aggies, and participated in the WBENC entrepreneurship incubator. She is co-founding Scylla, a group home for intellectually disabled adults, and serves as Miss Aggie Adulting, the community service chair at her school.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Kailyn
01What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Stop waiting for an invitation. Show up, get credentialized, put in the work and make yourself impossible to ignore. Use your credentials and go to school. Find the thing that is undeniable like getting my captain's license - nobody can argue with the federal credential. To my younger self: keep pushing and do not shrink myself.
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