A Purpose-Driven Career: Kayla Watanabe’s Experience with Girls on the Run

By Emma Lee

Kayla Watanabe has made big strides in the nonprofit world since her 2017 graduation from Utah State University with a degree in public relations. 

Directly after graduation, Watanabe donated a year of service to the Northern Utah YMCA through AmeriCorps. She volunteered in a position she was interested in, which was marketing and events. After this experience, she moved to marketing and communications director for the Utah chapter of national nonprofit organization Girls on the Run.

Girls on the Run, with chapters across the country, designs programming that strengthens third- to eighth-grade girls’ social, emotional, physical and behavioral skills to successfully navigate life experiences. The program’s intentional curriculum places an emphasis on developing competence, confidence, connection, character, caring and contribution in young girls through lessons that incorporate running and other physical activities.

In her role, Watanabe’s responsibilities vary each day and include tasks, such as planning social media campaigns, sending weekly communications, reaching out to Title-One schools and event planning. This is one of the things that initially drew her to nonprofit work: getting to do a little bit of everything. 

Another aspect of nonprofit work she loves is the connection to a purpose. “Working with a large corporation, you don't always get to see the day-to-day impact,” Watanabe says. “And here, it's definitely seen every day, whether it's a coach coming in to pick up materials for the five girls she's coaching or a parent coming in to get new shoes.” 

Throughout college, Watanabe gained experience in the PR world through internships, PR for different on campus organizations and taking PR classes. 

JCOM professors Matthew LaPlante and Candi Carter Olson connected her with opportunities to do PR and social media for organizations like the Sustainability Club and the Center for Women and Gender. 

“I love the journalism department for that,” Watanabe says. “They are always willing to connect you to things you are passionate about.”

The classes she thinks gave her the necessary skills for her work in marketing and public relations were writing classes with LaPlante, social media classes with Carter Olson and multimedia bootcamp with Brian Champagne. Watanabe notes that LaPlante’s writing classes gave her important foundational knowledge and Carter Olson’s classes helped her think outside of the box. 

Multimedia Bootcamp, she said, was her least favorite class, but it ended up giving her the most important skill she needed in her career. As a PR student, the last thing she wanted to do was learn to film. However, now that Watanabe is in marketing, she doesn’t feel she is completely out of water when she is behind a camera or making a video for donors. 

“It's something that I have a grasp on and can direct videographers in a way that's meaningful and impactful, even though I'm not the one necessarily doing it,” Watanabe says.

Knowing a little bit about things you aren’t necessarily going into is immensely helpful in the nonprofit world when hiring for positions like photographers or videographers, she said. 

Even after college, Watanabe recommends trying new things and putting yourself outside the box.  

“I try to take a new course quarterly in something that I'd like to learn more about,” she said. “And I think that's important. Learning never stops.”

Watanabe’s biggest piece of advice for students who want to work in nonprofit is to learn as many skills as possible. The nonprofit world is a whole other ballpark. 

“You don't have one discipline you're supposed to be focusing on. It's a little bit of everything,” Watanabe says. “Which is why I love it, but also why you really need to, you can't just be good at one thing.”