EPIC SPOTLIGHT: MELODIE HAYS
Melodie Hays, University of Arkansas senior with a major in English and a minor in Supply Chain from Fort Worth, is graduating in just a couple days from now. This is quite a different path that she thought she would be taking when she entered her freshmen year. She came to college thinking that she wanted to be a teacher, but shortly after starting her own candle business, she realized that she had an interest in the business field.
She started her company, Fayetteville Vintage, successfully in her sophomore year of college. Her products, handmade candles and bath bombs, were featured in 5 locations around the Northwest Arkansas area and a subscription service. Unfortunately, with her time commitments between school and work, the business will have to wait until she graduates.
Melodie is working full time and going to school full time, so her schedule is usually very full. When she does have some free time, she loves to travel and backpack. She visited nine U.S. cities last year and will visit London, Paris, and Madrid in the upcoming year.
Working at SupplyPike, a software company in Fayetteville that specializes in developing products to help with supply chain problems, has helped her gain a more in-depth understanding of supply chain.
The introduction to the company started on campus with someone who was holding a sign that said, “Free High Fives”, so she thought, “might as well.” After the high-five, he asked if she would put her email address on their contact list, and from there, they started a line of communication. Two weeks later they offered her a job. She was not looking for a job at the time, but she learned that you may never know when there might be an opportunity. What started as a high five ended up as a full-time job.
“Have courage and be kind…you can be both.” – Melodie Hays
She started her career there as a marketing intern, but since has been promoted to a project manager. Currently she is working on a couple different projects, such as helping the EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) team complete documentation and analyze their processes. She also worked on the social marketing and social media for the Nowhere Developers Conference, an event SupplyPike hosted in Bentonville, Arkansas for developers all over the country. Melodie has been working with SupplyPike since October of 2017, and in February of 2018 she was made an official full-time employee.
During her time at the U of A, she has been able to work with unique groups of people with different backgrounds, learning about different cultures from around the world and drawing insight from other students’ work experiences. She enjoyed the case studies and real-work application processes in her classes, because she could practice and learn valuable skills without the risk of causing problems for a real business or individuals. Professors Sebastian Garcia-Dastugue, Jonathan Phares, and Lissette Lopez Szwydky-Davis have been a few of the key teachers whose classes have help prepped her for a career in supply chain. She really looks forward to seeing where her career path takes her now. With her experiences, she feels more confident in her ability to adapt and try new things.
Sabeen Ali, one of the speakers at The Nowhere Developers Conference and CEO of AngelHack, is one of the people Melodie admires in business. Sabeen identified a need, built a woman-owned business, and runs that business alongside other women. Melodie looks up to strong women leaders in business, and she feels it is important to have more women at executive levels.