“Be afraid and do it anyway” — Isabella Shackelford is focusing on her bright future in marketing
By: Curtis Venetta
Isabella Shackelford is the first of her five siblings to attend a university. Motivated by her little brother and her opportunity to inspire him through her accomplishments, Shackelford is forging ahead, ready to prove the skeptics in her life wrong.
Shackelford grew up in an underprivileged family, a circumstance that presented its own complications alongside her working multiple jobs throughout high school while simultaneously being a dual athlete.
Her leadership experience began early on in her life. Not only was Shackelford named captain of the basketball and softball teams all four years of high school, but she also took on many leadership roles in clubs and at church.
Shackelford also co-founded a nonprofit organization in high school called Another Direction Designs, from which all its proceeds were donated to To Write Love on Her Arms, a Florida-based nonprofit that provides treatment and recovery to people struggling with addiction, depression and suicidal thoughts.
As she began to choose her ideal career path, Shackelford found her interests lay in marketing. “Planning events is so fun for me and to see an empty space become a beautiful place with people laughing and making memories is something I will never get tired of being a part of,” she says.
In 2021, Shackelford attended Shelton State Community College (SSCC) in Tuscaloosa, where she received an award for “Excellence in Economics” and graduated with an associate degree in business, management, marketing and related supported services.
Shackelford transferred to The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) in 2023. In a relatively short time, she has embraced several roles in leadership. She is currently the vice president of events and programming for Kappa Delta, a Student Government Association (SGA) senator and the marketing chair for Alpha Kappa Psi.
Shackelford is also a member of the Women in Business and Leadership (WBL) club at UAH, which provides students with numerous networking, skill development and personal growth opportunities with a mission to promote inclusivity in the business world.
Outside school, she has volunteered with the animal shelter and the local food distribution program Manna House.
Shackelford took note of UAH’s assistance in achieving a corporate marketing internship with Davidson Homes in Madison during her fall 2023 semester.
“UAH has helped me gain great interview skills through the many class projects I have done,” Shackelford says. “Through mock interviews, class presentations and learning about resumes, I was able to gain good questions to ask, feedback on what I could do better and get comfortable with the interview process.”
Shackelford is motivated by her little brother to continue pushing forward. Now that she is the first of her siblings to attend a university, she has taken on a unique responsibility to show her little brother that success is attainable even when it seems impossible.
“More so than we all realize, what we achieve is in our own hands, we just have to have the courage to go for it,” Shackelford says. “I want (my little brother) to have the courage to go for everything he desires in life even if he could fail. I want to succeed in college so that he can.”
Shackelford stays optimistic in the face of those in her life who do not believe in her dreams. With every accomplishment she makes, she can prove those people wrong.
Shackelford no longer sees her goals as out-of-reach; instead, she embraces her worries and says to “be afraid and do it anyway.”
“My family was on food stamps at one point in time, and now I am in college achieving something none of my siblings have,” Shackelford says. “I have also chosen to partake in many opportunities on campus with only being here a short time and I am looking forward to the greater impact I can make in my continued time here.”
Now, Shackelford is working toward obtaining her Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) in marketing with a concentration in supply chain marketing. She also says she’d like to pursue a Master of Business Administration.
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