Article written by Chloe Dowler.
On a gray afternoon in Midway, Kentucky, Machaiah Poynter leans back in her chair and laughs at the idea of her freshman self.
“She would be surprised that I spoke to people,” she says. “I did not talk to people my freshman year. Yeah, no. I didn’t like people.”
It is difficult to reconcile with the Poynter who now competes in national marketing championships, networks comfortably with professionals, runs a growing entrepreneurial venture, and has spent more than a decade commanding a volleyball court.
But that contrast between who she was and who she has become—is the story.
Small Classes, Big Expectations
If you ask Machaiah Poynter what she is majoring in, she answers plainly: “Marketing Communications and Sports Management, so two majors.”
She is twenty-two. A senior. She says this as if it is incidental, as if doubling up were simply a matter of filling out another form.
She played volleyball for fifteen years. Sports management, she explains, was “kind of a given.” Marketing came later, though in her telling it feels inevitable. She likes people. She likes talking. More precisely, she likes learning how to talk “a little more fluently.” Marketing, she decided, is a people business. It is a creative way to connect.
Midway University’s small class environment does not allow students to disappear into the back row. Participation is expected. Ideas are fostered.
Poynter credits two professors in particular: Jeb Gorham and Nikki Kowalski.
“Two of my hardest professors,” she says, smiling. “But they’ve given me the most real-world experience.”
Hard, in her vocabulary, is a compliment.
Representing Midway on a National Stage
The Entrepreneurship Club felt like a natural extension of that environment. It was something she and Professor Gorham had discussed before it formally existed.
“It’s great to be around people who are creative and have different goals, but fall into a similar category,” she says.
In the spring of 2026, the club sent its first team to the National Collegiate Business Championships. It was an inaugural moment. Not just for the organization, but for Midway’s growing presence in national business competitions.
Poynter describes the experience in one word.
“Wild.”
She says it twice, as if still processing it.
“Being an athlete, you’re always representing the school you’re going to,” she says. “This was different because you’re not playing a game. You’re using your brain.”
She ranked 29th out of more than one hundred competitors nationally in digital marketing and fifth in the Speed Sell Challenge. At the Novela Marketing Simulation Challenge, she placed second out of more than fifty competitors.
“I would like to say I was first for a whole hour,” she adds, smiling. “I was so happy.”
She had not expected to place that high. There so many amazing universities represented in the room. She assumed, without quite admitting it, that they would know more.
“And then I realized,” she says, “oh. I know a lot more than I did.”
Creativity Meets the Real World
Poynter is currently interning at VASCOR Logistics, a position she secured after Professor Kowalski mentioned the opportunity in class and later guided her through the résumé and interview process.
She creates content on their social media platforms, monitors performance, and tracks whether campaigns meet quotas within budget.
She speaks about audience segmentation the way an athlete might discuss defensive strategy. It is about awareness. Positioning. Precision.
“You can do a bunch of graphics,” she says, “but if nobody can look at them…”
She trails off, letting the logic complete itself.
“Know your audience,” she continues. “If I’m marketing Starbucks, that’s different than marketing to 40-plus-year-old men who are driving trucks.”
Building Something of Her Own
Entrepreneurship, in her life, is less a side project than a lineage.
Her mother runs businesses. That example lingered long before Poynter attempted her own. There was a clothing brand at first.
“Clothing is so hard to do,” she says, laughing.
Eventually, she shifted direction and realized something that felt more personal.
“My brand is myself.”
Now partnering with a larger company, Poynter offers an energy and focus drink under the brand name XS that comes in multiple, delicious flavors. She talks about filling needs and solving problems with her product. By combining energy with clarity, this energy drink is perfect for students like her who are balancing education and career.
When asked what personality she would assign her energy drinks, she pauses, thinking carefully. Then she brightens.
“You know what I’m thinking of? The bunny from Zootopia. Judy Hopps.”
Optimistic. Determined. Slightly underestimated.
The parallel is hard to miss.
For two of the three years she technically had her business, she admits she “wasn’t really doing much of anything.”
“I was scared,” she says simply.
“I think my biggest failure was not doing it.”
Now, when she offers advice to other students, it comes without hesitation.
“Do it. And keep your dream big.”
Growing With Purpose
Balancing athletics, internship, competition, entrepreneurship, and a full academic load sounds unsustainable. Poynter shrugs.
“I have my team,” she says.
Mentors. A calendar. Rest when necessary. Push when possible.
Her family remains central to her motivation.
“I started for my family,” she says. “I want to be able to give something back to them.”
Time, she has learned, does not slow down. It becomes busier, so she adjusts with it.
The girl who once “didn’t like people” now competes nationally. She networks at competitions. She excels in her internship. She builds a business around serving others like her.
The change did not happen all at once. It happened through mentors who handed her books. Through professors at Midway University who pushed her. Through rooms where she realized she knew more than she thought.
And if you ask her about ranking 29th nationally in digital marketing, she grins.
“That’s kind of cool,” she says. “Hey, I’ll take it.”
She always does.