Ellis Woodbridge providing example of what HTM + Spears Business looks like
Wednesday, April 26, 2023
The Spears School of Business is proud to have a pair of Oklahoma State University Alumni Association Outstanding Seniors in 2023 – Kimberly Burns and Kyla Ellis Woodbridge.
An Edmond, Oklahoma native, Ellis Woodbridge served as vice president and merchandise chair for the Business Student Council and inaugural state president for Oklahoma Collegiate DECA. Woodbridge was public relations and marketing chair for Eta Sigma Delta Honor Society and wine manager for the Distinguished Chef Series.
Ellis Woodbridge will earn her bachelor’s degree in Hospitality and Tourism Management (HTM) and was recognized as a 2022 Senior of Significance and received the Richard L. Tourtellotte Family Entrepreneurship Scholarship. She won the 2022 OSU Business Plan competition as well as the 2022 and 2023 Pitch and Business Plan competitions at the Riata Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. She also placed first at the Collegiate DECA International Career Development Conference and was the recipient of the Oklahoma Collegiate DECA Vision Award.
After graduating in just three years, Ellis Woodbridge will start her own company, Events Unboxed, which delivers high quality, pre-themed and packaged parties directly to the customer’s door.
Q: Tell us about your journey to OSU?
Ellis Woodbridge: Initially, I was thinking that I wanted to go far, far away for college, and I was looking at a couple of other schools. But when I came down to it, Oklahoma State was the one place that felt like I could go and do really big things and get to do stuff that I was interested in. And as soon as HTM moved over to the Spears School of Business in 2019, it sold me. I knew I wanted a solid business foundation, but the HTM part of my degree let me do event planning and the things I’m interested in.
I'll be one of the first Spears grads that was only HTM, which is really cool. I think I’ve been able to show what an HTM/Spears student looks like, and how people can be involved in both. It's been a really cool opportunity to get both sides of it.
Q: You seem like a goal driven person. Where does that come from?
Ellis Woodbridge: I always was a person that I gave 110% in anything I did, but I just liked being involved. I like being busy. I think part of that comes from being a planner. I like having a busy schedule and planning my things. I live by my planner. But also, I'm not going to do something just to do it – I’m going to make it worth my time.
I had a professor my freshman year tell me to go deep and not wide, but I really think Oklahoma State allowed me to do both. I was able to start a student organization, I was able to work my way up into BSC and do a lot of just really cool things. Over in HTM, I was the wine manager for Chef Event. So, I didn't just get into those organizations, I found the ones I loved and I worked my way up and got to be a leader in them.
Q: Tell us about the student organization you started, and where the inspiration came from?
Ellis Woodbridge: I started OSU DECA, which is a worldwide business student organization that was mostly for high schoolers in this state. I actually was the one that started it at the collegiate level in Oklahoma. I was the first collegiate DECA state president, and I got to lead the first council. We went on to start five collegiate chapters across the state. I led the OSU chapter, and now I’m handing it off to an HTM student that is going to continue it after I leave.
DECA prepares emerging leaders and entrepreneurs in business principles like finance, marketing, entrepreneurship and management. It’s actually how I became a hospitality major. I competed in a hospitality event in high school and fell in love with it. I had the opportunity last April to go and compete at collegiate nationals and actually won first place. We hadn’t had anyone from Oklahoma win in 35 years, so it was big to get to come back with that giant trophy. DECA has been a big part of helping me become the leader I am today.
Q: How much have these awards helped to validate all of your hard work and preparation?
Ellis Woodbridge: It's kind of a weird phenomenon when the things you’re passionate
about get you recognized. You're still getting to do something you love, but then
other people start to take notice. It’s really cool.
Seniors of Significance was something I had worked for since my freshman year. I'm not saying I was trying to build my resume just for that. I did things I still wanted to do, but the fact that it paid off and I was chosen made it an amazing honor. Outstanding Seniors was the next round, and going into that process I felt like if I get it - great. If not - I've already won big and I feel good about myself. Then being chosen for that honor was unbelievable. It’s amazing to see my face on the wall in the Alumni Association.
On the flip side, being recognized by Spears as one of their Outstanding Seniors and a top-five HTM student was really satisfying, because they recognized that my skills added to their program. I just think it's been a really sweet time to send off Spears and OSU in a really good way. I love that I'm connected to the school, and I plan to stay connected. I want to come back and encourage future students to do this.
Q: How did the organizations you were a part of help you personally?
Ellis Woodbridge: I think everything was a tool to get me towards my future. At the Riata Center I competed in their Business Plan competition and worked toward starting my own company. HTM taught me event planning. I think I was able to take these skills that I was learning and apply them for my future.
I think I was able to come in with a really unique mindset of take everything you can out of it, but also give a lot of yourself to it because it pays off both ways. My dad always says to give 60 percent and take 40 percent, which is exactly what I did here.
Q: What do you plan on doing after graduation?
Ellis Woodbridge: I started my own company, Events Unboxed, and we launch on June 1. We're about 35 days away from launch right now, which is crazy. Events Unboxed is a party-in-a-box company. We deliver high-quality, pre-themed and packaged parties directly to your door. I've been working on it since my freshman year.
I really want people to have the opportunity to celebrate without feeling like it was a burden to get everything ready. So, they can go to our website and pick the occasion they're celebrating. We do everything from birthdays, holidays, graduations, bachelorettes, baby showers and everything in between. Then, they pick one of our many themes and tell us how many people they're celebrating with. Then it ships to their door and they set it up with our instructions. It's gotten a lot of interest.
It's been a really fun thing to build and grow. I did my first pitch and poster with the Riata Center, and my company has totally grown up and developed ever since. I had some opportunities to compete with the Riata Center and we won several of the competitions, which earned me some funding and scholarships. In fact, that paid for my last semester of school, so I was able to take that money and put it toward my company.
Story By: Stephen Howard | stephen.howard@okstate.edu