After growing up in Fayetteville, NC, Kayla moved to Raleigh in 2017 to attend NCSU as a first-generation student. While an undergraduate student, Kayla was a reading tutor with Helping Education. Being able to see firsthand the effect Helps can have on individual students’ learning and confidence deepened her passion for the organization. 

Throughout her undergraduate studies, Kayla took classes centered around communication, TEFL, and socio-linguistics, and was also able to work with students in an ESL class at a local middle-school. These hands-on experiences strengthened her desire to support students’ learning.

Kayla became a Gilman scholar in 2021 when she completed her last semester of college abroad at Seoul National University. In December 2021, she graduated from NCSU with a BA in Communication with a media concentration and a Linguistics minor. Upon graduating, she worked as a translation project coordinator with a team spread throughout multiple countries which expanded her global mindset through daily communication and collaboration. 

Kayla currently lives in Raleigh, NC. In her free time, she loves spending time with friends and family, traveling, going on nature walks/runs, shopping, and listening to music.