Member Spotlight: Sydney Loyed

Roots:
I grew up in Crested Butte, Colorado, and came to Austin in August of 2010 to attend the University of Texas at Austin. I graduated in May of 2014 and have been here ever since, so I’m going on 6 years of loving this city!

Family Life:
I am an only child, and my parents now live in Las Vegas, NV, so if you ever want to go to sin city, they love company! I have a boyfriend, Cameron, who works in the urban planning sector of Austin at RCLCO. We’ve been together for over 2 years now, and he is a good motivator for me to stay in shape because he loves to run and workout!

Work Life:
After graduation, I began working at JHL Company and have been here since January 2014 when I interned for the Mack, Jack & McConaughey event. We do a broad spectrum of public affairs, marketing, communications, event planning and fundraising. My role as Account Manager focuses on overall strategic communications, event logistics and execution for both private and non-profit clients, which I absolutely love!

The biggest lesson I’ve learned through my iGnite experience:
While I’ve only been at iGnite for 2 months, I’ve loved every second of it from meeting tons of new friends to getting in better shape! The biggest lesson I’ve learned thus far is that hard workouts go hand-in-hand with personal improvement including making the time I work count so that I can have more time to relax and digitally disconnect, which is a challenge for me!

I’m most inspired by…
As cliche as this sounds, I am most inspired by my parents. They found a way to do something they love for a living – they have incorporated sports and their passion for giving back to the community into a career – all while managing to be wonderful parents and do things that they enjoy on a daily basis like playing tennis and grilling out!

In my free time…
I love to cook, take cooking classes, and I obsess over the Food Network, but more than that, I love to travel! My goal is to visit every state in the US, every country in Europe, and every continent at least once (although Antarctica might be a stretch!).

My guilty pleasure…
My guilty pleasure is definitely watching reality TV. I know it is a horrible habit, but I am a sucker for The Bachelorette and any/all Oxygen and Bravo shows like Below Deck and The Real Housewives!