Meet the Team: Irene Tate

Hey everyone! My name is Irene Tate, and I am currently a junior at the University of South Carolina. I am from Greenville and have lived here my entire life, just right outside of downtown.

One of the greatest things about where I live is that I get a first-hand look at all of the development and how far our “small” city has come in the last 20 years. I am truly a proud Greenvillian. I have one older brother and two older sisters, making me the youngest. My brother, Trey moved to Washington, D.C. after his graduation from Clemson University in 2014. He is an accountant and one of the many mentors in my life. My oldest sister, Mary Catherine now lives in New Zealand. She loves to travel and after she graduated from the University of South Carolina in 2015, she moved to Australia for 11 months. Hopefully once the pandemic is over, I will have the opportunity to go visit her. My youngest-older sister, Sarah lives in Greenville and is the Vice President and head Graphic Designer at Ridge Media, a marketing firm. She has been at her firm since she graduated from the University of South Carolina in 2017. I bet everyone can guess why I made my decision to go to South Carolina (my dad is an alumnus also). I have always looked up to my siblings and they have made me very family oriented.

I am studying Public Relations and minoring in Political Science. I plan on graduating in May of 2022. In the meantime, I plan on getting an internship focusing on government relations in Washington, D.C. this upcoming summer. After graduation, I am hoping to live in either Greenville or heading back up to Washington for a few years to focus in on my field.

My most recent internship got me really intrigued in government relations and legislature. The internship was at Hannah News, a legislative tracking network. Before Hannah News, I had an internship at Camp Cole, a start-up non-profit for children and adults with illnesses and disabilities. Before COVID-19 hit, I had an internship at MPA Strategies in Columbia where I learned a lot about public relations, and it got me super interested in it!

I am really excited to join the Chamber team and I believe I’ll be a huge asset as the first University of South Carolina student. I can’t wait to see where this takes me in the next few months!