A few months ago, when she visited Hanahan High, Kelsi Brewer noticed a message on the hallway walls of the school:
Once a Hawk, Always a Hawk.
It was something that really resonated with Brewer, who has fond memories of growing up in Hanahan.
“I’m proud of where I’m from,” she said. “I think ‘Once a Hawk, Always a Hawk’ pretty much sums it up for our family.”
This September, Brewer will celebrate eight years working with the South Carolina Ports Authority (SCPA). She is SCPA’s Director of Corporate Communications and Community Giving, a role she has filled for just under a year now.
A background in journalism, mixed with a desire to always be learning and growing, brought her to where she is now in her career – and within the community. She is a graduate of Leadership Charleston, and was featured in the Charleston Regional Business Journal’s 40 Under 40 class in 2020.
Before that, she was a part of Hanahan High’s graduating class of 2010, and she attributes the strides she has made in her career to having a strong foundation provided by her alma mater.
Strong support
Brewer describes her experience with the Hanahan area as being generational: her father is also a Hanahan native who attended the high school. Brewer and her sister lived in the house their dad grew up in.
Brewer also attended Hanahan Elementary and Hanahan Middle and, through her sister, now has two nieces who are enrolled in the schools.
Her biggest passion in high school was being a part of Hanahan High’s broadcast journalism program. Brewer credits the high school for giving her a true hands-on experience with directing, producing and filming through the “Hawk’s Eye View” news show.
After she graduated, Brewer went on to study journalism at the University of South Carolina.
“That’s what I love about Hanahan so much; in college, you don’t touch a video camera until your junior year,” she said. “I started interning my freshman year of college, so I was doing it on my own, trying to get out there and learn more, but had I not gone to Hanahan, I would have never really known what I wanted to do with my career until further along in college.”
Brewer said Hanahan is home to so many great teachers, and a lot of the teachers she had still work in the school system. One of them is the high school’s now-principal, Thomas Gallus, who was a P.E. teacher at the time Brewer attended.
“It’s been neat to see him grow in the role as principal,” Brewer said.
Gallus remembers Brewer as having a positive influence on her peers when he had her as a student.
“She was a great kid and people gravitated toward her,” he said. “She was a leader in a positive way.’
Brewer also named Dr. Karin Roberts as an influential teacher she had. Roberts was her ninth grade honors geometry teacher and she also still works at the school.
“She really pushed us,” Brewer said. “Freshman year is not always the easiest year. She made you think a lot about what you wanted to do after ninth grade. She really pushed you personally and educationally…She was one who really stood out in that way.”
Roberts very much remembers Brewer and speaks very highly of her, saying she remembers Brewer as being just as amazing then as she is now. She particularly alluded to a time when Brewer was a student and she brought an entire care basket of items for her then science teacher, who had been diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer and was losing her hair from the treatment.
“I think this memory just truly shows how empathetic and just honestly kind-hearted Kelsi is,” Roberts said.
Roberts was also active in helping Brewer with the Miss Hanahan pageant when she competed.
“She has always had an upbeat personality that allows those around her to always feel comfortable,” Roberts said. “Her love for her community knows no bounds and is shown both in her work and personal life.”
Seizing opportunities
As a college student at USC, Brewer was shooting to become “the next Erin Andrews.” She had a minor in sport and entertainment management, and interned with USC’s Athletics Department, creating content for "Gamecock Productions,” which featured the school’s football, soccer and baseball teams.
After about two years of doing that, Brewer switched gears, realizing she enjoyed covering news more than sports. She interned at Channel 4 News in Charleston and then landed a great opportunity to intern with ABC News in New York City. Brewer took a semester off from college, moved to New York, and interned at ABC Nightline with television journalist Juju Chang.
“That was probably the most formative experience of my college career,” Brewer said.
Brewer told herself she would come back to New York if she got her dream job, which at the time was to work as a production assistant for Fox News. She was offered that opportunity shortly before she graduated in December 2014.
Brewer stayed and worked in New York for just under a year before returning to South Carolina, wanting to be closer to family.
This brought her to a career with the South Carolina Ports Authority.
SCPA is a true economic engine for South Carolina. It is responsible for one in 10 jobs in the state with a $64 billion economic impact ($7.8 billion in the Lowcountry alone). It owns and operates public seaport facilities in Charleston and Georgetown, as well as Inland Ports in Greer and Dillon. The ports generate $1.1 billion in tax revenue for the state. Port-supported jobs pay 32 percent higher than the state’s average annual wage.
Brewer was hired to run SCPA’s Community Giving Program, for which nonprofits around the state can apply for grant funding, as well as the Educational Program, which connects the youth with port operations.
“What’s cool about the Port is they really listen to what you’re interested in and your vision of where you want to go,” Brewer said, adding that when she was applying for the job, she told her then-supervisor that she wanted to use her broadcast journalism expertise to create more video content for them and was given the platform to do so.
Brewer eventually went on to serve as the General Manager of Public Relations and Digital Media for SCPA for about 18 months before taking on her current role as the Director of Corporate Communications and Community Giving.
Brewer now supports SC Ports Authority President and CEO Barbara Melvin, who is the first-ever female president/CEO to lead a top 10 United States operating container port (Charleston is number eight on that list).
“She’s remarkable,” Brewer said. “She is a fearless, bold leader, and it’s nice to have someone like that at the helm.”
Brewer enjoyed visiting Hanahan High a few months ago to talk to students about her job and SCPA in general.
“We have such a strong team in place, I’m really content and happy with the way we’re moving and the work that we’re doing,” she said. “My biggest goal in these next couple of years is just making sure the public is aware of who the Port is and how we’re a good neighbor.”
Roberts said she was proud to watch Brewer give her presentation to the students. Roberts added that she has held onto Brewer’s Geometry Math Portfolio and uses it to show new students the level of work she expects of them.
“Kelsi always set a high standard for others to follow,” Roberts said.
Constantly growing
Brewer is active in her community, serving on Trident United Way’s Marketing Advisory Council, and has helped raise money for The ARK of South Carolina through the organization’s “Dancing with the ARK Stars” event.
Outside of talking to students about her job, Brewer still regularly visits her old stomping grounds in Hanahan to cheer on her nieces in their schools’ extracurricular activities.
“I just loved growing up in Hanahan,” she said. “Seeing my nieces growing up there too – it’s something special.”
If she could give her high school self a word of advice, Brewer would tell herself: “Never turn down an opportunity to learn or grow.”
Brewer alludes to her college internships when she shares this advice.
“You’re only going to grow with how much you push yourself,” she said. “That’s something I try to share with students I talk with – and, also, my nieces.”
That is why Brewer always credits Hanahan for helping her hone her journalism skills.
“I would never have known I was passionate about journalism without that class,” she said.
