Staff Spotlight: Kayla McCoy

Kayla recently joined the TechChange team as a Program Coordinator, where she supports the online events team in creating fascinating virtual conferences. Kayla holds a B.A. in English Language and Literature from the University of Maryland, where she also minored in Technology Entrepreneurship. So excited to have you on the events team, Kayla!

Q: So, tell us more about yourself. How did you end up working in events?

For most of my life, I’ve always loved events. I really enjoy seeing groups of people come together and bond over something they have in common, no matter how different they all may be from one another. During my adolescence, I was obsessed with baby showers, birthday parties, barbecues, and other social events of that nature. It wasn’t until late high school and early college that I was introduced to new possibilities of events like conferences, conventions, weddings, and other formal, planned events. After changing my major twice, I decided to pursue a career in events, because I wanted to do something that I was truly passionate about. I knew that I did not want to spend 40+ hours of my life every week doing something that I didn’t care about, because life is way too short to be unhappy. 

Q: How did you first hear about TechChange?

I actually had never heard of TechChange until I applied for this job! I had been scrolling up and down LinkedIn for almost two months, filling out countless applications, when I stumbled upon this job [Program Coordinator]. As I began to look around the website, I really liked what I saw. The events team seemed new and exciting, and I really appreciated the company’s determination toward social change. Everything seemed so innovative, and the small size of the company was a major draw factor. After working here for a few months, I can attest that everything is still very new, innovative, and quite exciting.

Q: What are some of your favorite parts of working at TechChange so far?

One of my favorite parts about working at TechChange is seeing how passionate my colleagues are about their jobs. Every person I’ve worked with goes above and beyond for our partners [clients], and it’s important for me to work with others who have the same passion for their careers as I do. Another one of my favorite parts about working here is seeing how much the staff care about one another. Even while working remotely, people send one another virtual birthday cards, send packages to each other’s homes, and participate in virtual game nights. It’s a really nice feeling, a sense of comradery, even though I’ve never met most of the people I work with in-person.  

Q: What excites you about this role?

What excites me most about this role is that every day is drastically different. I could have a slow day doing desk work, or I could have to wake up at 3am to support a live virtual conference. 

Q: Anything you look forward to working on or learning at TechChange in the next year?

An inside joke that we have on the events team is that one day I’m going to transfer over to the tech team, though I actually have extremely limited knowledge of anything remotely useful needed to perform that job. I never expected myself to work for a technology company, but I’m really enjoying all there is to learn about building our platform, tracking data, and I’ve even dipped my toes into editing CSS and reading HTML a few times. Though I’m much more of an artistic person rather than a technical person, the tech we use has fascinated me more than anything. 

Q: Lastly, what’s something that not a lot of people know about you?

Something that not a lot of people know about me is how big of a heart I have. I care deeply about underserved people, specifically homeless people. One day, I would love to own a homeless shelter in the DMV area to aid and assist the overwhelming homeless population. It breaks my heart every day living in Baltimore to see at least one homeless person on every street, and I would love to be a part of the solution to help them.