Influential Woman · Marketing

Keila Perry

Marketing Manager, Fluid Solutions

Birmingham, AL 35212

Certifications · Degrees · Memberships

Degree Bachelor's of Arts in Graphic Design Degree University of Alabama at Birmingham Degree 2016

Her Story

About Keila

My journey into marketing and design started when I was very young. My mom was a photographer, so we always had access to Adobe on our home computer. I kind of thought it was just built into computers and that everybody had it. I started learning Adobe and teaching myself when I was very young, and I enjoyed it a lot. I've always been into design and creativity, but I didn't go to school until 2014. I graduated in 2016 from the University of Alabama at Birmingham with a Bachelor's of Arts degree in graphic design. I was the oldest one in my class, and I'm the first person in my whole family to get a bachelor's degree, so it was a really big accomplishment. I had to do my whole last year online because I had to work to pay for my apartment. I never got to do the dorm experience, and I turned down internships because I had to work. After graduation, my first job was with Hibbett Sports as a Senior Creative Designer. After that, I worked at Dave & Buster's as their marketing consultant. Currently, I'm working at Fluid Solutions as their Marketing Manager. It's a construction company, and I am a one-person marketing department here. I do everything from apparel design to managing conferences, creating booth setups for conferences, creating all internal flyers and marketing materials, and I've even learned how to laser engrave while being here. I manage all the inventory, create logos for embroidery, and maintain consistency across the brand. I never create something that I'm not proud of, that I wouldn't want to put my name on. I value producing high-quality and timely assets, being a hard worker, learning as much as I can, staying on top of trends, and being grateful that we get to get paid to be creative.

Her Interview

Ten minutes with Keila

01What do you attribute your success to?

I'm most proud of myself for pursuing this career and finishing my degree. I graduated high school, and no one ever encouraged me to go to college. My mom didn't encourage me to get scholarships, and I had to fend for myself. It took me until I was about [AGE] to realize I really was a creative person and wanted to pursue this. I went to the college tour, and I was the only person there that didn't have their parents with them. I was by myself. I did my whole last year online because I had to work to pay for my apartment. I never got to do the dorm experience, and I turned down internships because I had to work. I'm just so proud of myself for pursuing this, and for finishing, and graduating. For a lot of people, it's just a bachelor's degree, but for me, being here, doing creative work and getting paid for it and having a degree is something I never thought that I would do. So I would say I attribute my success to myself and my own determination to make it happen.

02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?

A couple of things that really helped me. Number one would be, if you're doing design, go ahead and start making your portfolio and mock-ups as soon as you can. Even if you're in school and you're not going to have clients or jobs yet, you can create fake assets and make mock-ups for fake companies. Start building your portfolio, because that's how you're going to get an internship. You have to have a portfolio in this field. And then also, once you start getting into careers and your job, I find a lot of people in this field don't want to do a lot of different roles. They just want to be a marketing manager or a web designer. I think you should learn as much as you can. I think you should be open to learning a lot of different things. Don't be offended if your boss wants you to learn how to video edit and post on social media. I don't think that's a bad thing. Broadening your skill set is always a good thing, and we should always be learning. You never know how that's going to come into play down the line.

03What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?

In marketing and design, the effect of AI is huge. I think it's better to utilize AI and learn it, because the people that learn AI are just going to be more successful and they're going to progress in their career. If you're defiant against it and say you hate AI and you're not going to use it at all, the others that know it are always going to be one step ahead of you. So I think you should utilize it and learn it, learn ChatGPT and use it to your advantage. I don't think it's taking over design completely. I think there's still something about a human creating something that's special. But being on top of AI and embracing it gives you that advantage over those that don't embrace it.

04What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?

As far as work, I value producing high-quality and timely assets for whoever I'm working for or whatever client I'm serving. I never create something that I'm not proud of, that I wouldn't want to put my name on it. So definitely just creating things that I'm proud of. And obviously just being a hard worker and learning as much as I can, learning as many different programs as I can. Things are changing so fast in marketing, so just kind of staying on top of the trends and working hard and learning and being grateful that we get to get paid to be creative. In my personal life, I just value every day and being happy. It sounds cheesy, but just going to bed being grateful for the day. I think that's so important, to look back over your day and be proud of what you've accomplished and also being grateful for what we have.

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