Team Q&A: Charlie Keown – Marketing Intern

For our marketing intern Charlie Keown, finding new ways to commit to sustainability is as important as learning how to market in the electric industry. Join us in welcoming Charlie to the Virtual Peaker team!

How did your previous life prepare you for Virtual Peaker?

I believe my previous life has adequately prepared me for my time with Virtual Peaker. Growing up, I was raised by two great parents who taught me the value of hard work and how to be caring and cordial to all those I come across daily. Throughout my childhood, I participated in numerous team sports and clubs which taught me how to be both a good leader and a teammate. I’ve worked at a wide variety of places in my employment history.

In each of these different positions, I learned countless new workplace skills that have directly translated to my work with Virtual Peaker. Working various jobs has also exposed me to all kinds of people from all walks of life. These experiences have taught me how to truly connect with those I work alongside. Cumulatively, I believe my life before Virtual Peaker set me up sufficiently to be the best Veep I can be every day.

Tell us about your role at Virtual Peaker.

As a marketing intern at Virtual Peaker, I’ve found myself working on a range of tasks in both the marketing and analytical fields. Each day is different and provides its unique twists and turns. From writing blogs and emails to building out campaigns and webpages, my time here has taught me many valuable workplace skills. Being a part of a positive and encouraging team is something I have not for granted and am very thankful for the opportunity.

How do you personally engage in sustainability efforts?

Admittedly, thus far in my life, my sustainability efforts haven’t been outstanding. The biggest thing for me has been properly educating myself on what it truly means to be sustainable. Does recycling my plastics/cans or choosing one product over the other at the grocery store truly make a difference? Or are there more effective practices I can be doing?

In my short time with Virtual Peaker, I have begun to learn just what it means to be sustainable. Every day I’m learning more about the industry and continuously expanding my knowledge of different sustainability efforts. In the future, I hope to put this new-found knowledge to good use and do my part to make an impact.

What can you tell us about yourself?

I’m 22 years old and was born and raised in Louisville, KY. I’m currently a rising senior at the University of Kentucky studying marketing and analytics. I’m a very easygoing person that enjoys the simple things in life. In my free time, I like spending time outdoors, hanging out with friends, exercising, and watching sports (big-time Kentucky Wildcats fan). In the future, I hope to travel the world and learn more about different cultures. I believe everything happens for a reason and look forward to seeing where life takes me.

About The Author

Bill is a serial entrepreneur with a PhD from UC Berkeley in Controls and Artificial Intelligence and 10 years of experience with high performance residential energy management and connected appliances. He was previously at GE as an Advanced Systems Engineer in the Connected Home Software Group, but left that role in May 2014 to pursue entrepreneurship full time.

Bill grew up in Louisville and returned with his family in 2010 after a long stint in the San Francisco Bay Area. He loves Louisville and is working to make it a better and more attractive city for high tech startups.

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