Kelly Barbrey

| Columbia Champion |
Kelly Barbrey
Vice President of Sales and
Marketing, Midlands Authority for Conventions, Sports and Tourism

Columbia, South Carolina
Age: 33

Kelly Barbrey was born and raised in Atlanta, and received her bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Georgia in Athens. After a brief career in magazines, she joined the Athens CVB and worked her way up to director of sales. There, Barbrey met future husband, Jonathan, who lived in Columbia, S.C., where she moved in 2004. Barbrey took a job as sales manager at the newly built Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center, which falls under the umbrella of the Midlands Authority for Conventions, Sports and Tourism. Eventually, Barbrey worked up to her current position, where she leads the marketing team that created the city brand, “Famously Hot,” which won the 2010 Governor’s Cup award. In 2008, Barbrey was named employee of the year, a recognition from her boss and coworkers that she finds invaluable because it followed a leave to have her first child and a lot of hard work to strike a work-home balance. Barbrey loves her dual roles as mom of daughters Merritt, 3, and Hadley, 8 months, and promoter of Columbia. —Rob Hodges