Shelby Kearney with her dog at the beach

01 / About

Get to know me.

I’m Shelby Kearney, a Business Administration student at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo concentrating in Marketing with a minor in Sales. I am originally from Half Moon Bay, California, and I’m drawn to work that combines creativity, an understanding of people, and thoughtful presentation.

My interests span marketing, interior design, merchandising, and the beauty industry. I love imagining how an idea could come to life through a space, a product display, or a brand’s visual identity, and considering how each detail shapes someone’s experience. I’m equally curious about what happens behind those choices: what people value, what catches their attention, and what builds their trust.

My experience in social media, customer service, and design showrooms has helped me explore those interests and discover how much I enjoy connecting creative ideas with people’s needs. I bring an eye for detail, an organized approach, and a love of conversation to what I do. As I explore my career, I’m excited to keep learning and contribute to brands that people feel connected to.

Outside of school and work, I love hot yoga, traveling, and trying new restaurants, especially when sushi is involved. I also love cooking and baking, from fresh summer salads to homemade key lime pie. Crafting and DIY projects give me another way to explore my creativity and bring my ideas to life.

What I bring

  • Microsoft Excel Certified
  • Social media management
  • Content creation
  • Customer service
  • Visual merchandising
  • Creative visualization
  • Organization

Passions and favorites

  • Interior design
  • Beauty & fashion
  • Branding
  • Event planning
  • Hot yoga
  • Travel
  • Sushi & new restaurants
  • Cooking & baking
  • Crafting & DIY

02 / My experience

The path so far.

Learning through people,
products, and hands on experience.

February to June 2025
Una
D’oro
Swimwear

San Luis Obispo, CA

Una D’oro Swimwear

Brand Ambassador

Creative input, product storytelling, and an introduction to building a brand.

Experience details
  • Contributed creative input on product designs, styles, and overall brand direction for a student run startup.
  • Promoted products through personal social media and analyzed sales performance to identify top performing products and content, gaining hands on experience in branding and marketing strategy.
June 2025 to present
Community event outside The Press

Half Moon Bay, CA

The Press

Barista & Social Media Manager

From personal service at the counter to launching and managing the café’s digital presence.

Explore this work
June to August 2026
A styled display at Shop The Studio

Los Gatos, CA

Shop The Studio

Interior Design Showroom Intern

A summer of styling spaces, organizing resources, and helping designers bring their ideas to life.

Explore this work
Seasonal
Blossom Girls decorated holiday tree

Bay Area, CA

Blossom Girls

Lead Design Assistant

Custom holiday installations, thoughtful details, and collaboration from concept to completion.

Explore this work

03 / My portfolio

Ideas brought to life.

01

Social media · Customer experience

The Press

June 2025 to present

From the coffee counter
to a community online.

Getting to know customers in person shaped the way I approached The Press’s social media. I wanted its online presence to reflect the welcoming experience people knew from the café.

My contributions
  • Launched and managed the company’s presence across five digital platforms, and analyzed post and event performance to guide future marketing strategies to our 1,000+ followers.
  • Helped the owner shape The Press’s visual aesthetic while providing personalized service and building relationships with 50+ regular customers and the local community.
5Digital platforms
1,000+Followers
50+Regular customers
Colorful red, white, and blue bagels photographed on a tray at The Press
Product photography for The Press

Content & visual identity

A familiar place, across every platform.

Content that brings together the café’s products, people, and welcoming personality.

The Press social media banner featuring the café, bagels, a breakfast sandwich, and outdoor seating
A consistent visual identity across social platforms

Nextdoor / Local connection

Reaching the community around us.

I focused on Nextdoor to connect with nearby residents through local updates and recommendations. The dashboard below shows the change in page visits between its comparison periods.

Previous comparison period

About 24

Page visits

Last 7 days shown

443

Page visits

Dashboard change

+1,745.83%

Page visits

The earlier visit count is calculated from the 443 visits and percentage increase shown in the dashboard.

Community board / Before & after

Making local information easier to find.

I reorganized the community board to make better use of the space and help customers browse local businesses, events, and resources.

Event planning / Community engagement

Dance for Free Coffee

I organized a Dance for Free Coffee event at The Press, and the Coastside line dancing community came together to perform. It brought my interest in event planning together with the local relationships I had built at the café.

  • Event coordination
  • Local connection
  • Customer experience
Members of the Coastside line dancing community gathered outside The Press for the Dance for Free Coffee event
The Coastside line dancing community at The Press
02

Visual merchandising · Styling · Organization

Shop The Studio

Summer 2026

Spaces that look good.
Systems that work well.

My showroom experience brought together my interest in design and my love of organization. I explored how furniture, textiles, and accessories work together, while making resources easier for designers and clients to use.

My contributions
  • Managed rug, wallpaper, and resource libraries with over 5,000 textiles to improve workflow while assisting designers and clients in selecting fabrics by color, pattern, and material.
  • Styled the showroom by arranging furniture and accessories to create cohesive, visually appealing spaces.
  • Analyzed purchase orders and product images to update the company’s outdated online catalog.
  • Showroom staging
  • Resource libraries
  • Product presentation
  • Catalog updates
Shop The Studio console display with patterned wallpaper, an oval mirror, a blue lamp, and coordinating accessories
Wallpaper, furniture, and finishing touches
Wall shelves holding textile brand catalogs and design resource books at Shop The Studio
Design resources and textile references

A little showroom detail

Inspiration, right down to the pencils.

A few of the brands we carried in the showroom, collected in one colorful lineup. Being surrounded by different materials, patterns, and design perspectives was one of my favorite parts of the experience.

An assortment of branded showroom pencils, including Pindler and Cowtan and Tout, arranged on a wooden table
A glimpse of the brands behind the designs
03

Creative design · Installation · Team leadership

Blossom Girls

Seasonal

Personal visions.
Thoughtful celebrations.

Holiday design gives me a chance to turn a client’s ideas into a complete visual experience. I enjoy the process of choosing materials, refining details, and working with a team to bring the installation together.

My contributions
  • Researched trends and sourced décor and materials to design and install custom luxury holiday displays that reflected each client’s vision and achieved a cohesive, high end aesthetic.
  • Trained and mentored new team members on styling techniques, brand standards, and installation processes, improving team consistency, efficiency, and overall design quality.
  • Creative visualization
  • Material sourcing
  • Custom installations
  • Team mentoring
Luxury holiday tree decorated with cream and gold ornaments, ribbon, and an angel topper
A coordinated palette of cream, gold, and greenery

From the starting point to the finished tree

A holiday vision, brought together.

Layers of ornaments, ribbon, and finishing details turn a lit tree into a complete holiday display.

Finished holiday tree beside a fireplace with coordinated ornaments, ribbon, and a metallic tree collarAfter
The same tree before decoration with lights in place beside the fireplaceBefore

04 / Learning

Education.

Expected graduation · Spring 2028

California Polytechnic
State University

San Luis Obispo, California

B.S. in Business Administration

Marketing concentration · Sales minor

Orfalea College of Business

Expected coursework completion · Fall 2027

GPA 3.73Dean’s List

Relevant coursework

  • Marketing Research
  • Consumer Insights
  • Information Systems

Class of 2024

Half Moon Bay
High School

Half Moon Bay, California

My hometown chapter before Cal Poly.

Graduated in 2024

Beyond the classroom

Sigma Kappa Sorority Member

The Alzheimer’s Foundation Volunteer

05 / Let’s connect

Let’s connect.

I’d love to connect about opportunities in marketing, merchandising, sales, and creative design.