Building Opportunity
Posted on July 31, 2026
#MyFirstJob is a series focused on recent graduates of the University of South Alabama.
Sydney Davis wasn’t the kind of child who naturally commanded a room. Today, she’s the first person visitors will meet when they walk through the doors of Hatch Fairhope.
“I think my younger self would probably say, ‘Wow, you’re in charge of everything,’” she said.
Hatch Fairhope began in 2020 as a workspace for entrepreneurs, startups and researchers and later received state and federal funds to expand biotech, creators and workforce development. In October, it will open its 36,000 square-foot innovation hub in the historic Fairhope K-1 Center.
For Davis, a recent University of South Alabama graduate with a degree in business management and a concentration in entrepreneurship, the role feels like a natural extension of the path she began years ago.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, around the time Hatch was hatching, she started Sydney Letters, a creative business specializing in custom signage, murals and hand-lettered designs. What began as a hobby soon became a lesson in entrepreneurship.
“When you’re trying to sell something you’ve made, you have to figure out how to communicate why it’s special,” she said. “You also learn things like pricing your time, pricing your skill and understanding what customers respond to.”
Those real-world experiences eventually led her to South, where she chose entrepreneurship because it allowed her to explore every aspect of running a business, from finance and marketing to customer relationships.
Outside the classroom, she deliberately pushed herself beyond her comfort zone. As a senator in the Student Government Association and later president of the Mitchell College of Business CEO Club, Davis learned the networking skills that once intimidated her.
“I had to learn to put myself out there,” she said. “South gave me so many opportunities to practice. You go to events, you meet people and eventually you realize you can do it.”
That willingness to take initiative ultimately led to her first professional opportunity.
After hearing about Hatch through the Mitchell College of Business, Davis sent an unsolicited resume asking whether the organization might need an intern.
“The worst they can say is no,” she said. “Sometimes you just have to be bold.”
The gamble paid off.
During her internship, Hatch Executive Director Keith Glines watched Davis take on responsibilities across marketing, communications, event planning and operations. As the organization prepared to open its new downtown Fairhope headquarters, he realized he had found the person he wanted to help build the organization from the ground up.
Rather than conducting a traditional search, he offered Davis the newly created community manager position.
“I didn’t even think they might keep me,” she said. “I assumed I’d finish my internship and start looking for another job after graduation.”
Instead, she became Hatch’s first official employee.
Today, her responsibilities range from marketing and communications to coordinating events, managing memberships and serving as the primary point of contact for entrepreneurs using the new facility. She also supervises interns and helps organize programs that bring the region’s business community together.
The University of South Alabama has a growing presence in Baldwin County, where more students choose South than any other university. Plans are in the works for an internship program that will coincide with the new facility’s opening.
For Davis, the collaboration feels like a continuation of the education that helped launch her own career.
“I was learning things all four years at South, and then I got to apply them immediately during my internship,” she said. “Entrepreneurship is about knowing a little bit of everything, and this job lets me do exactly that.”
Her entrepreneurial ambitions haven’t disappeared, either.
Davis has begun planning a new venture: an online clothing boutique that she hopes eventually will grow into a brick-and-mortar business. Working alongside experienced entrepreneurs every day, she sees Hatch as the perfect place to learn before taking that next step.
For now, though, she’s focused on helping others build their businesses while continuing to build her own confidence.
“I think this job has taught me that I’m much more capable than I thought,” she said. “I have a higher capacity than I realized. I was nervous at first, but now I know I can keep up. I’m proud of myself.”
