Thursday, Aug. 27, 2009
Blakely Jennings
A Passion for Work and the Beach
Blakey Jenkins at the Myrtle Beach Chamber of Commerce. - photo by Scott Smallin, Weekly Surge staff.
There are really only two places to look for Blakely Jenkins if you need her. She’ll either be at work or sitting on the beach. She wouldn’t describe herself as a workaholic, but many others would consider her one of the hardest workers they know. She just does so much that it seems like she’s always at work. As she says, “I’m very passionate about what I do. Some people might say intense. I like passionate. It sounds better.”
Her passion right now revolves around her job as the Membership and Community Programs Manager for the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce. It’s an innocuous sounding job title that includes much more than it implies.
In her job she oversees various events including the Hurricane Expo, the small business council, and GS Scene, among other things. “I’d say at least 60 percent of my time is devoted to GS Scene activities,” she said. “GS Scene is a young professionals organization with the purpose of engaging and connecting both existing and future young professionals to advance their careers and impact the Grand Strand in a positive way.” She serves as the liaison between the quasi-Chamber organization and the Chamber itself. Under her leadership, it now boasts hundreds of members, almost weekly events, and an annual kickball tournament.
She also helps new members to the Chamber get acclimated. She does this by leading monthly classes and showing folks around the services the Chamber offers. For most portions of her job, she wears a petite skirt and heels. But sometimes she has to get down and dirty for the more interesting parts of her job. During last year’s Beach, Boogie, and BBQ Festival on the former Myrtle Beach Air Force Base, she worked on stage during the BBQ sandwich eating competition. There she worked beside the legendary Joey Chestnut as he set the record by eating 45 sandwiches in 10 minutes. She took it in stride as if being splattered with pieces of pork and bread was just another day at the office.
In addition to the regular portions of her Chamber job, she also heads up the Youth Leadership Academy. It’s now a regular event that started as a one-time thing during the Presidential debates that were held in Myrtle Beach in 2008. High-achieving tenth grade students from the surrounding counties are invited to Coastal Carolina University each March for a full day of leadership development activities.
Even her downtime activity might seem to revolve around work. The Chamber phone system always answers with “it’s a beautiful day in Myrtle Beach.” If she’s not in the office, she’ll be on the beach proving it. “It’s all I do, so don’t go with me to the beach unless you want to stay all day. I’ll even go before work sometimes.” Aside from just hanging out there, she also looks for sharks’ teeth. She’s become such a good teeth hunter that she’s gotten just a little picky. “I won’t even pick up the little ones anymore. I can do better.”
This Clemson marketing graduate can be seen all over the beach at various Chamber events or just at the beach sporting a bikini and a handful of Carcharius taurus (sand tiger shark) teeth.
She also has a dark side. “I love serial killer books and crime shows. I even have an encyclopedia of serial killers at home,” she admitted. To stoke her side interest even more, she started a book club with coworkers. “Right now we’re reading ‘The Devil in the White City’ by Erik Larson.” It’s a book about the man considered to be the first serial killer in America.
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