Throughout my career, I’ve discovered the best way for me to do great work is through hospitality, inspirational environments, & authentic care. And with 20 years of hospitality experience, 15 years of event hosting & project management, and 10 years of marketing work, I’ve had the chance to do all of this through various opportunities.
I started at Chick-fil-A in 2004 at the age of 16. After 2 separate stints as a manager in restaurant operations, I stepped away after a few years to pursue working with different types of people in other fields that interested me - things like events, social media marketing, community-building, & consulting. Pursuing these interests lead me to jobs in co-working, event planning, coaching, & social media. During this time I also co-founded ‘HiveATL’ alongside some of my best friends. Hive was a non-profit that built support systems for young leaders & visionaries as they launched creative pursuits. While hustling on Hive as a side gig, I spent 5 years between The Rocket Company, ROAM Atlanta, & SandboxATL as a Director of Community Engagement - creating experiences that fostered success of students & business leaders of all ages. Later, I spent 3 years with Elevate Experiences as a project manager, training coordinator, event specialist, & emcee. There, I worked alongside world-class brands like The Home Depot, Coca-Cola, The NFL, & Columbia Sportswear. All of which allowed me to create experiences & environments centered on hospitality, inspiration, & extreme care.
The bottom line: I fully believe the magic happens in community with others.
Because of this belief, In 2018 I returned to my first job - Chick-fil-A - in order to discover even more of what makes them so successful. First, I worked as an Assistant General Manager at 2 of 3 locations in the Chick-fil-A Canton organization. Then in late 2020 I packed everything into a U-Haul to become the Chief of Strategy at Chick-fil-A Uptown Houston - the umbrella organization responsible for 2 locations, $18 million in sales, & 175+ team members in Houston, Texas. And after gaining as much experience within Chick-fil-A as I could around operations, hospitality, & team culture, I headed back to Atlanta in May of 2023. Now, I get to utilize all of my experience & put it into practice in my work at Switchyards - the world's first neighborhood work club. I serve our field team as Head of People Operations.
Lastly - craft beer is a huge passion of mine - so I started an Instagram account in 2018 to connect with other craft beer drinkers, creatively share what I’m drinking, & to discover breweries. You can follow my account here: @jakesbeeroftheday
I’m 35, I cheer loudly for the Braves and the Dawgs, and I live in Smyrna, Ga. with my wife Rebecca, our dog Ellie, & our cat Rory (yes, she’s named after Rory Gilmore - ifykyk).
Cheers, y’all! I hope to see you around the club.🤙