Outstanding Alumni Award
Marketing and history may not seem to have a lot in common, but Kelly Tam has built a career in the former utilizing skills she developed studying the latter.
Tam, who majored in history at Upstate, is senior vice president of marketing and communication at Neel-Schaeffer, an engineering and construction firm in Columbia, South Carolina.
Though she never took any marketing classes as an undergraduate, and didn’t initially consider it as a career, she found herself seamlessly moving into that world after graduation.
“You do a lot of writing when you’re a history major, and there’s a lot of recognizing historical patterns and context and research,” she says. “Those are the kind of things I do every day in my job now.”
The relationship skills Tam developed at Upstate have served her well, too. Though she was a commuter student, she got involved on campus. Her friendships with her Delta Zeta sorority sisters remain a treasured part of her life today and taught her about leadership and good communication. She also met her husband, Tony, through a mutual friend group that played Spades at the Hodge between classes.
Education continues to be a priority for Tam. She credits her grandmother with inspiring her to always keep learning. “I think that’s why I am really attracted to marketing because you have to be willing to learn and to evolve,” she says. “You have to be committed to that continuing education.”