Sage U Fireside Chat: Ayleah Hanton

Sage is an organization filled with outstanding communications professionals who bring a diverse background of experience and expertise. We leverage this depth of knowledge through our Sage U program, an all-learn, all-teach model, to assist our team’s continued growth.

Our latest Sage U Fireside Chat Q&A series features Ayleah Hanton, Ayleah is a senior marketing account executive at Sage Communications. Ayleah has been at Sage for more than a year and discussed her entry into the marketing world, as well as her important learning experiences here at Sage.

Q&A highlights:

Can you tell us about your roots and what drew you to marketing?

I was born in Brooklyn, New York, but I never say I'm from New York because when I was two, I moved to Chesterfield, Virginia, which is about 30 minutes away from Richmond. I was raised there until I went to George Mason University, and that's where I decided to major in marketing.

Why did I choose marketing? As you know, when we're growing up as kids, we all have different ideas of what we want to do. I think at one point I wanted to be a singer, and at another point I wanted to own a bakery and or daycare. It wasn’t until high school that I did a news broadcasting class. Every Friday we put on a live news broadcast for the entire school, full of different stories. Sometimes we did funny skits. In that class, I really loved the video editing behind the scenes and realized I wanted to do something with communications or marketing.

When it came to selecting a major, I took marketing and communication classes my first semester and ended up choosing marketing because it felt like there was more structure in the program and it allowed me to be creative at the same time.

You shared that you took on several internships and they were quite formative in shaping how you’ve led your career so far; can you tell us about those early experiences and what you took from them?

Going into the summer of my junior year I had my first internship with a small ad agency in Richmond as an account management intern. I loved that internship — it was the first time that I gained real-life experience and got to see what marketing was about. They gave us a small nonprofit to work with and I led the charge. I wrote creative briefs and was client-facing. That really solidified that this was what I wanted to do and that I was on the right path.

It was also the internship where I decided to pursue my graphic design minor. I was working with the graphic design intern and their team and saw the value of being able to speak the graphic design language and being able to communicate not only with the design team, but also with the client.

The summer before my senior year, I interned at the Truth Initiative (if you’ve ever seen the non-smoking truth PSAs that’s them!) That experience solidified my interest in branding. I spent a lot of time looking at the brand’s creative efforts and evaluating them. That was also the first time I got to see black women in higher positions, as directors, managers, etc. and for me that was a very formative experience in shaping how I would bring myself into the work world.

The last experience wasn’t an internship, but I'm really proud of what I accomplished in school. I was the leader of a literary magazine called Volition, and when I received that role, it was small and relatively unknown. I was able to grow the magazine, and by the time I left we had about 200 subscriptions and were more well-known on campus. We expanded how we were marketing ourselves, and I love the fact that I was able to leave that legacy.

Can you give us an example of a client you are most proud of? And what is something you learned from that account?

One of my favorite clients and I think one of the clients I've learned the most from is SpyCloud. When I first started, SpyCloud was also just brought onboard. They were revamping their messaging and branding, and I got to see that whole process from start to finish. Going through the messaging sessions and seeing how that process works and then how those messaging sessions turn into the visual aspect. I love branding, so that was very exciting. I think one of the things I took away from that is just how powerful words can be and the impact they can have when creating an identity.

What are you most excited for professionally or personally in the coming year?

It might sound cliche, but I am very excited to continue to learn. I just passed one year at the agency, but it’s felt like I've been at Sage for a lot longer because of how much I've learned in such a short period of time. When I was at my previous position, I was there for two years, and I don't think I learned as much as I'm learning now. So, I'm excited to see what the next steps are going to be learning-wise.

Having the opportunity to work alongside people who have been doing this for years (and decades) before I was even born in some cases is definitely an amazing experience.

What advice do you have for rising marketers?

I would say to stay consistent, stay confident and curious in your work, not everything you do will be a success. Failure is important, but not being held down by those failures and dwelling on them for too long is most important. It's vital to learn from them and to keep pushing because those failures are the building blocks to your next big thing.

I'm only a couple of years into my career, but I’d remind people that there's still value in your perspective, who you are, and the things you can bring to the table. Staying confident in the fact that you know there's value in making sure that even though there may be people with stronger opinions, your perspective is still very important.

Lastly, stay curious, most of the things I know have come from me saying, “I wonder if I can do this,” or “I wonder if I can automate that.” That curiosity and constant idea of trying to figure out how something works and how to improve is invaluable.

What is something surprising that others might not know about you?

Something I'm very proud and that is near and dear to my heart is that I’m a member of a historically black, greek organization, Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Incorporated.

I also make an amazing banana pudding and do some graphic work for a nonprofit called Clean Fairfax. I've designed a couple of logos graphics and flyers for them.

Ayleah Hanton is a senior marketing account executive at Sage Communications.