Mary-Kate Reid Finds Joy in the Unique Combo of Creativity, Adventure, and Connection
Written by Meg Seitz · Photography by Julia Fay
Mary-Kate Reid is young, yet wise beyond her years. That’s a great combination, right? Yes. {Continued below}
Reid started with Skipper in May 2018; the dog walking company was in the process of a rebrand after a stint at Techstars in Austin. She was one of a handful of new people who joined the company at the time. A dive-right-in team member from the get-go, Reid came to her role as Social Media and Content Manager with a simple and powerful philosophy.
“I really just wanted to learn,” she recalls with joy. “And do everything.”
That unique drive and wonder comes from having seen the other side of the working world.
“I really just wanted to learn,” she recalls with joy. “And do everything.”
Born and raised in Charlotte, she attended Belmont Abbey, majoring in Business Marketing, and minoring in Theology. Immediately following graduation, she went to Colorado to work for several months at Camp Wojityla, a faith-based outdoor program for kids. She lived outside in a hammock at the base of the Rocky Mountains. She rafted. She climbed big rocks.
The experience was not only a professional, outdoor adventure – but also a daily practice in creativity which she had never fully explored studying Business Marketing in college.
She returned home to Charlotte, cut out her dreadlock, and got a desk job in a cubicle at a textile company. The adventurous and creative spirit she had tapped into at the base of the Rocky Mountains was now wearing business casual and designing on-brand PPTs.
“I had this insight that, ‘Well, I’m an adult now – so, I guess it’s not supposed to be fun,’” she said.
She felt stuck. There was something missing.
Then, she met Walter. Better yet, she adopted Walter, a sweet, fluffy Golden Retriever puppy.
“I was really lucky to have happened upon him,” she said. “He changed a lot about my life.”
“Joy is just really important to me; I think that’s what was missing,” she says. “I used to be in a place where I needed to find joy, and now I’m in it. My dog brings me joy, my job brings me joy, the people I work with bring me joy. I’m in it now.”
As a new pet parent, Reid did what a lot of pet parents do – she started taking pictures of him. Fully aware that she didn’t want to flood friends’ feed with pictures of the puppy, Reid started an IG page just for Walter.
Walter’s IG became not only a place for Reid to document her golden boy’s growth, but also an outlet for Reid’s own creativity. She writes the content for the IG page from Walter’s perspective.
Not long after getting Walter, Reid saw a job posting on the Charlotte Agenda for a role with Skipper. She connected with it immediately. “It just sounded like so much fun,” she says.
Today, Reid manages content for Skipper. She lights up when she talks about feeling empowered to be creative, try new things, and learn as much as she can.
So, from a hammock in Colorado to a cubicle at a textile company to Hygge’s Third Ward, what’s Reid’s take on all the recent change in her life and what’s most important to her now?
“Joy is just really important to me; I think that’s what was missing,” she says. “I used to be in a place where I needed to find joy, and now I’m in it. My dog brings me joy, my job brings me joy, the people I work with bring me joy. I’m in it now.”
She hesitates, and then laughs.
“And jeans,” she says. “Jeans – and not a business casual pencil skirt – bring me joy.”
Meet the Author: Meg Seitz is the Founder and Managing Creative Partner of toth shop, an agency with one goal: Elevate your brand’s content through powerful writing, creativity, and strategy. She also serves as an Adjunct Professor with Queens University and Founding Partner of the children’s book series, “Bea is for Business”.
She’s an English major with an MBA, so she can talk Homer’s “The Odyssey” just as well as she can talk sunk costs – though she’d much prefer the former.
Meet the photographer: Julia Murray, owner of Julia Fay Photography, feels most at home behind a camera with a story to tell on the other side. Her business began during her sophomore year of college, while majoring in radio and tv broadcasting. Now residing in Charlotte NC, she primarily shoots weddings and other local small businesses like her own. Her favorite part about her job is the connection it brings between art and people.
