Meet This Year’s Marketing RoundTable Scholarship Recipients

The Robinson College of Business has hosted the MAX Awards for nearly three decades. Georgia-based companies submit their marketing innovations from the past year, and are celebrated and recognized at the event. Ticket proceeds fund the Marketing RoundTable Outstanding Student Scholarship, a one-time $1,000 award available to undergraduate marketing majors. Criteria include exceptional academic performance during the previous academic year, sound character, a strong work ethic, and high aspirations for a marketing career.

This year’s recipients will be honored at the Future of Marketing Conference and 28th annual MAX Awards on Thursday, February 29 at the Georgia Aquarium. Learn more about them below.

When Dayerlise Carvajal was in high school, she traveled to Atlanta for a volleyball tournament, where she competed against athletes who looked like her. Carvajal is Dominican and Haitian. Her classmates in Pembroke Pines, Florida, were predominantly Hispanic.

“I wanted to be around people who understand what it’s like to be a person of color,” she said.

Carvajal decided to apply to Georgia State and followed through on it. Moving alone to a major city forced her out of her comfort zone and strengthened her networking and social skills. She developed a strong sense of self in the WomenLead program, toured West Coast startups and tech firms as part of Panthers in the Valley, and acted as a consultant for a real company through the Panthers Accelerated Career Experience.

Carvajal has worked as a product marketing intern at Mercedes-Benz since last summer and hopes to land a full-time position upon graduation.

“I want to help companies understand their customers,” she said. “By keeping their needs in mind, I can bring products to market and make people’s lives easier.”

Charles Floyd

Charles Floyd attended a performing arts magnet school east of Atlanta and has always been creative. But through a part-time job as a teller at Wells Fargo, he realized he also enjoys the operations side of business. His ideal career would merge his artistic and analytical abilities, such as a role in entertainment or fashion marketing. He participated in Infinite Appeal, a student organization at Georgia State that allows members to direct their own fashion show and learn about the modeling industry.

“Toward the end of my senior year, I realized how much information I’ve absorbed,” he said. “I understand mathematical concepts and underlying processes that will launch my career.”

In his Strategic Management class, Floyd is playing “Business Strategy Game.” Through the online simulation, students break into teams and run a global athletic footwear company in competition with rival brands managed by their peers. Each week, Floyd’s group makes decisions regarding manufacturing, warehouse operations, workforce compensation, marketing, and sales, ultimately impacting the company’s marketplace share.

“Through the game, I’m hearing things that are repeated by management at Wells Fargo, so I can apply my knowledge at work,” Floyd said. “They’ll say, ‘Where are you learning this?’ It’s really lovely.”

Nya Jefferson

When Nya Jefferson started as a part-time marketing agent at Wyndham Hotels, she was surprised by how much she enjoys sales. Her current Principles of Professional Sales class has helped her better understand the strategy behind lead generation; conversely, her job at Wyndham has enabled her to quickly absorb the course material.

“I like the autonomy that comes along with sales. You can determine your paycheck because the more you sell, the more you make,” Jefferson said. “Also, the qualities necessary to be good at sales, like communication skills, are useful in everyday life.”

Jefferson is also interested in digital and social media marketing. Through Georgia State’s Spotlight Programs Board, she promoted campus events such as a fall festival, haunted house, and talent show.

“I plan to experiment in different functions of marketing to find out what I truly like,” she said. “I’m confident that I’m setting myself up for success.”

Hamaya Milhouse

The summer before her junior year, Hamaya Milhouse worked as a retail vendor manager intern for Amazon. She negotiated terms with, uploaded products for, and executed promotions on behalf of a small business that sells licensed products with Disney, Star Wars, and other popular branding. Through that experience with a profit-driven organization, she decided she derives the most satisfaction from purpose-driven work. She currently works in the infant classroom of an early learning center attached to a Jewish temple.

“I love my job more than I thought I would,” Milhouse said. “Every morning I feel motivated to get out of bed because I’m making a difference. I have to take care of those children until their parents pick them up.”

Milhouse aspires to move into a digital marketing role for a nonprofit or university. She’s taken the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator countless times in college, but part-time instructor Dave Paule helped her use the results to figure out what she wants to do. In his Managing People in Organizations class, Paule explained the science behind different personality types and how they are best suited for certain career paths.

“I’ve always gotten the same results: Advocate. But the context from Dave Paule’s class helped me understand myself on another level,” Milhouse said. “I’ll remember him forever.”