Q&A with Micah Carroll, Account Executive

We’re thrilled to wel­come Mic­ah Car­roll as our newest team mem­ber and Account Exec­u­tive! Mic­ah comes to Bell­mont Part­ners with a strong writ­ing and media rela­tions back­ground, a thought­ful and cre­ative client approach, and a col­lab­o­ra­tive atti­tude. He recent­ly land­ed cov­er­age with NPR, Huff­Post, CBS News and many indus­try trade pub­li­ca­tions that our clients fre­quent­ly tar­get. He’s already putting his skillset to work and soak­ing up all kinds of new indus­try knowl­edge for clients in our Tech­nol­o­gy & Man­u­fac­tur­ing prac­tice group.

Recent­ly, I inter­viewed Mic­ah to learn more about his expe­ri­ence, why he enjoys agency life, how he likes to spend his time out­side of work, and his first impres­sions of Bell­mont Partners.

Wel­come, Mic­ah! Please tell us a bit about yourself.

I’m a Michi­gan native and Duluth trans­plant who has called the shore­line of Lake Supe­ri­or home for sev­en years and count­ing. My wife and I moved to Duluth for the unique cul­ture and lifestyle that it offers us. We enjoy numer­ous trips to the Bound­ary Waters Canoe Area Wilder­ness each year and take full advan­tage of the world-class trail net­work that Duluth offers us.

On any giv­en week­night, you can find us jam­ming out at a local con­cert or read­ing books and spin­ning records in our hill­side home. On week­ends, we enjoy road trips up the north shore any chance we can and love pitch­ing our tent along the Supe­ri­or Hik­ing Trail for a night under the stars.

What drew you to pub­lic relations? 

I’ve always been inter­est­ed in sto­ry­telling. My ear­li­est mem­o­ries are of my grand­fa­ther telling his famous sto­ries – from the time his plane was on a crash course with Sky­lab to when he had to debug his hotel phone while trav­el­ing through Rus­sia. His “back pock­et” sto­ries made a real impact on me.

From a young age, I gained con­fi­dence in pub­lic speak­ing, and as I moved through my edu­ca­tion, I found that writ­ing was my strong suit. I am incred­i­bly for­tu­nate to have found two men­tors who worked in the pub­lic rela­tions indus­try dur­ing my senior year of high school. Their insight and guid­ance gave me the con­fi­dence to dive into the indus­try – I began pitch­ing media and land­ing sto­ries at the young age of 18 and nev­er looked back.

What is it about PR agency life that you love?

At an agency, no day is ever the same. My nat­ur­al curios­i­ty and thrill-seek­er ten­den­cies have made my career in pub­lic rela­tions an obvi­ous and sat­is­fy­ing choice. I always have a fat stack of books on my desk and enjoy jump­ing between dif­fer­ent sub­ject mat­ters and gen­res. Com­mon­ly, I use this read­ing habit of mine as a metaphor to describe agency life to non-PR folk. Work­ing for clients spread across dif­fer­ent indus­tries feeds my curios­i­ty and keeps me on the tips of my toes.

As part of our Tech and Man­u­fac­tur­ing prac­tice group, what appeals to you about work­ing with clients in this space?

Inno­va­tors are all around us. I began my career on a stu­dent team sup­port­ing rur­al inven­tors and entre­pre­neurs in Michigan’s Upper Penin­su­la – help­ing to bring their high-tech, low-tech, and “no-tech” prod­ucts to life – from nap­kin draw­ing to phys­i­cal prod­ucts. As I began my career in PR after grad­u­at­ing from North­ern Michi­gan Uni­ver­si­ty, I was for­tu­nate to sup­port numer­ous health tech, ed tech, and man­u­fac­tur­er clients across the coun­try. I am thrilled to apply what I have learned to key tech & man­u­fac­tur­ing play­ers here in Min­neso­ta and beyond.

What drew you to Bell­mont Partners?

When I first moved to Min­neso­ta and inves­ti­gat­ed the PR agen­cies in the region – I found Bell­mont Part­ners as #1 on my list. It’s an hon­or to now be a mem­ber of the Bell­mont team.

What are your ini­tial impres­sions now that you’re dig­ging in?

The Bell­mont team is incred­i­bly impres­sive. With­out hes­i­ta­tion, each mem­ber of our team can ring off a slew of excit­ing client devel­op­ments and wins. This team is pas­sion­ate, sharp, and wel­com­ing – the pos­i­tive ener­gy and enthu­si­asm I expe­ri­ence in the office are contagious.

What are you most excit­ed about in your new role?

I look for­ward to build­ing rela­tion­ships with our clients and help­ing them refine their unique sto­ries to reach their busi­ness objec­tives. It’s always excit­ing to join a new set of clients and to apply my cre­ativ­i­ty and PR expe­ri­ence to new busi­ness land­scapes. The Bell­mont team is full of rock stars, and I feel for­tu­nate to learn and work along­side them.

What can clients and col­leagues expect when they work with you?

I bring can­dor and curios­i­ty to every client I meet. I’m a peo­ple per­son and look for­ward to build­ing long-last­ing rela­tion­ships with our client part­ners. Beyond accom­plish­ing great work togeth­er, I’ll always be up for chat­ting about my favorite cof­fee brews, the lat­est book I’m read­ing, or my cur­rent out­door sport­ing adventures!

 

Wel­come, Mic­ah! We are so glad to have you on the team.