UCF Student Finds Voice With Chatty Bee Creative Agency

Unique Michael seems to live up to his name when it comes to his approach to public relations. The UCFstudent is a self-described introvert, however he pushes past this trait to ensure the quality of his PR agency.

“I’m going to prove that introverts can go out there and, you know, be outgoing and do great things as long as you have a dream and a vision. Even if it changes all the time, which is OK, as long as you try to pursue it, that’s what matters,” Michael said.

Michael is a senior majoring in human communication at UCF and even though he considers himself introverted, he doesn’t let that stop him from running Chatty Bee Creative, Michael’s public relations agency.

Michael is passionate about using his company to help local businesses in Orlando from marketing them through social media to designing their logo.

Before attending UCF, at the age of 20, he received a bachelor’s degree in business administration online from Troy University.

He created Chatty Bee Creative last spring with a few friends with graphic design and financial backgrounds.

He likes to take students under his wing, and call them “little bees,” to give them experience in PR and marketing.

“It started as a little fun project, and I didn’t take it seriously, but it suddenly got real … we were going to real client meetings and there was money involved, and once I saw the business side of it, people changed [because of the involvement of money] and so I decided that I was going to keep the agency as a sort of experimental kind of student-learning chapter, where I could work with local businesses like Vespr and The Dessert Lady,” Michael said.

One of the students who was a part of Chatty Bee Creative since the beginning is Jonathan Rivera, a student at Valencia majoring in graphic design.

Rivera created a logo for one of Chatty Bee Creative’s clients, Patti Schmidt, owner of The Dessert Lady in downtown Orlando.

Rivera also built the website for Critter Creek Aviaries, which is a company that mainly sells aviaries and various bird cages and has its own farm.

Rivera’s primary responsibilities for the agency includes graphic design and branding.

“Unique is definitely the type of person who will not let you forget and will check up on you to make sure you’re doing what you need to do. [He] makes sure it’s done at a certain time because it’s all about the deadline,” Rivera said.

Michael said that Chatty Bee Creative will be inactive starting in December due to some people from the agency leaving and so he can finish his degree at UCF, but he will still work with the clients he’s been committed to.

“When I first met Unique, I didn’t know who he was and I’m very open-minded. He was very genuine and passionate. So that’s why I wanted to start a relationship with him with Chatty Bee and trust him with our client relationship,” said Ricky Ly, a 2008 UCF civil engineering alumnus and author of Urbanspoon’s No. 1 food blog in Orlando, Tasty Chomps.

Ly’s food blog is what he describes as a food chronicle about his food adventures in Orlando, which launched in 2009.

Ly has also written the book Food Lovers’ Guide to Orlando, and while he attended UCF, he wrote about food in the Central Florida Future.

Since Ly is a full-time civil engineer, he has Unique go to events for him and develop client relationships for companies like Barnie’s Coffee Kitchen.

“At UCF, I was a senator for student government and president of different clubs and stuff, so I’ve had a lot of experience with leaders and just different personalities. I could tell Unique didn’t just talk the talk, but walked the walk,” Ly said.

Michael has also helped Orlando Uncorked, a local wine tasting group promoting the exploration of wine and blogs.

“I’ve been very impressed by him, his very clear vision … He’s a very kind and generous person,” Lisa Wilk, founder of Orlando Uncorked, said.

At the age of 15, Michael taught himself how to use the latest version of Adobe Creative Cloud because he was interested in graphic design.

His first internship was at the anime convention in Tampa called Metrocon around 2009 with the service Poken, which is a cloud-based service enabling Touch Marketing that allows the digital distribution for marketing. Michael describes it as an electronic business card.

“For me, I was such an introvert at the time so talking to people and getting out there was so crazy for me … I go to a lot of anime conventions, and I’m just a nerd. I meet people all the time. I can’t really meet someone outside of the convention,” Michael said.

Since last year, Michael is the director of PR and marketing for ShadowCon, which is one of the fastest-growing anime conventions in the United States, according to Geekcal.com.

Michael also has done work for Lush Cosmetics in the Florida Mall, The Station, Vespr Craft Coffee & Allures and many more companies.

“You meet Unique, and he helps you,” Raihan Preston, owner of Sleeping Moon Cafe in Winter Park, said.

Preston met Michael when he came in for a cup of coffee and started talking to Preston about her cafe.

Michael wanted to help her business and so he and one of his interns started helping Sleeping Moon Cafe with organization, getting themselves known through social media and trying to coordinate weekly theatrical events.

“We already have a jump on our Facebook and customers. Business is running smoother,” Preston said.

Michael said that he gives credit for his success to his experience and Lindsey Hudock, a visiting instructor in the advertising public relations division at UCF.

“When I go out into the real world, I have to put on a completely different face,” Michael said.

“For example, when I’m at interviews, I always wear my grandma’s shawl. And when I was around people when I was younger I would always feel so insecure being around them, that she would put this around me and I would feel so comfortable talking to them. So when I’m at meetings, interviews, I wear this and I feel open to talk to people.”

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