ASPIRING KENNEDY By Toria Parrett While many Harding students participated in an international program, few went on to direct one. Alumnus Lauren Bryan Knight spent four years working in public relations and marketing in the U.S. before moving to England when her husband and Harding graduate, Tyler Knight, was accepted into the Master of Business Administration Program at Oxford University. Upon moving to London, Knight began helping with the Harding University in England program as a way to feel connected. She was soon offered the full-time role of overseeing not just the HUE program, but also Harding University in Paris. Knight said it was a dream opportunity. "When I initially offered my time to help out, I never expected that it would eventually become a full-time role with overseeing both the UK and France programs," Knight said. "It was the dream job that I never dreamed I could have actually gotten." Knight also stayed connected to her friends and family through blogging. Her website and Instagram account acquired thousands offollowers as Knight assumed her role as "Aspiting Kennedy," her travel blog and Instagram handle. Knight later gave birth to their daughter, Viola, in 2013 and their son, Harrison, in 2015, prominent features of both accounts. "London and my kids are definitely the attractive part of my online presence," Knight said. "I want to be a voice that talks to people traveling to Europe in a way that they can understand. I try to be relatable with London as an awesome background." While focusing on her blog, being a mother and directing an international program sounded like a full load, Ashel Parsons, international programs administrator, who visited Knight with the HUE program in Iceland in 2015, said Knight did an impressive job balancing it all with a flexible attitude. "She really did a great job of balancing both work and family life," Parsons said. "It was really cool to see how she integrates those. All of the students loved hanging out with the kids, but she was so good at being present with the students, too. She was really easygoing. Everyone around her was always very calm, which I think was very key because so many things could go wrong with these programs." Parsons said it was not Knight's impressive 18,100 Instagram followers but her ability and willingness to do everything alongside them that impressed students. Junior Suzannah Thompson, a HUE student in fall 2015, said Knight made everyone feel welcomed and involved. "She is one of the most relatable people," Thompson said. "She is super easy to talk to and be around. She is one of those rare people that can inspire you without making you feel inferior." At the end of the day and despite her social media fame, Knight said her first priority was giving everything she had to those around her. "Each night I like to lay in bed and feel completely drained," Knight said. "I want to feel like I poured myself out that day in all that I did. If I feel that way, I know it was a worthwhile day."
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