Kiera Haynes

I've been working in marketing for about 9 years now, and my journey has been really dynamic. When I first started out, I was working as a brand manager and social media manager, helping with content creation, and I was kind of the first to develop an influencer strategy at the company I was at. From there, I went on into media buying and becoming a little bit of an entrepreneur, still keeping my foundation in digital media and storytelling. I would say that I started out with more social media strategy, and now I've pivoted into more paid advertising. I just completed my master's degree in digital media management from USC, and I'm graduating next month, which is very exciting. I was also inducted into the Honor Society Phi Kappa Phi, and I'll be having that ceremony as well during graduation week. Within that program, I focused on digital analytics, segmentation, and learning a lot of new AI technologies. That's kind of where my focus is now - implementing AI into different companies and trying new strategies. With graduation, I'm launching my capstone project, which is a website and informational tool for women called The Dating Detective, a digital platform I'm launching this summer. It's designed to help people, particularly women but also open for men, navigate modern dating more safely using strategic technology, background checks, reverse image searches, and different tools to investigate and make sure that they're not being catfished or romance scammed. A billion dollars was lost last year just in romance scams alone, so there's definitely a huge market there for people who just don't know what they don't know. This was something I was naturally good at, especially in college and undergrad - I was at the forefront of always figuring things out, and my friends knew me for that. I would teach my friends what to look for and how to use common sense, and I built a little community and tested the market. A few years ago, I was called the digital detective at that time, and I started doing one-on-one consultations and built a little community of women. Now I've rebranded it and I'm doing it the right way, strategically, with the help of my professors and all the knowledge I've learned in my program. Looking ahead, in 5 years I see myself growing my platform, The Dating Detective, and also being a consultant for companies on how to strategically use AI tools to grow their business.