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Nobody personifies “do your part” better than Hencove alum, Gordon Wayne. Unhoused after high school, Gordon was applying to colleges out of his car and in between 10-hour shifts at a local amusement park. His dedication paid off by earning a full scholarship to Boston College, and later, a Hencove Marketing internship in the Summer of 2022. Before Gordon embarked on his next academic chapter at the University of Georgia School of Law, he shared what he's accomplished so far in the face of adversity and why he thinks marketing is essential in his life’s mission to end homelessness in America.

It sounds so simple: knowing who you are and what you do. But I think most people, and businesses, are on a continuous journey of self-discovery. And I’m not sure if it ever really ends. Certainly, as a brand, getting to know yourself—understanding how your product works, recognizing how to provide value to customers, and representing your own company values—is a dynamic, ever-evolving practice.

It was 2021, we’re deep in the pandemic and deep, deep in Zoom world, and I had an epiphany. The debrief was dead. There was no drive to and from the meeting. We didn’t even get the chance to walk down the hallway to the conference room together. We hurriedly clicked, joined, and started our on-screen conversations. And while I can’t bring back in-person meetings to the pre-pandemic level, I can encourage our team and others to see the value of the debrief. What went well? Where did we whiff? How did we fail? Yes, the f-word: Failure.