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About Me

Emry Herring

Emry Herring

I grew up inspired by the city of Grand Rapids, Michigan. Immersed in the arts and culture of the city, I attended the Grand Rapids Public Museum High School - an XQ Super School, where I began to develop an ability to produce unique and curated digital media for various purposes. If it's art you can make with a camera, a Mac Book, and a microphone, I've made it. Since then, I've used my art to amplify stories and culture that have impacted my life.

Earning my BA in Organizational Communication and Business from Michigan State University wasn't the only thing that kept me inspired and motivated in East Lansing. I was a dual-sport athlete in Cheerleading and Powerlifting. Recreationally, I continued to breakdance, act, produce and write music - and I attribute a large majority of my design inspiration to these pass-times. Today, I also coach lifters and athletes through HeftyLefty Strength Systems, my 1 on 1 coaching and training program business.

Experience

Consulting / Freelance

Hefty Lefty Visuals and DesignJan 2022 – Present
  • I build the marketing machinery: visual identities, websites, storefronts and content libraries for clients across education, athletics, fitness and small business.
  • I turn client goals into data-informed campaigns, lifting engagement 200% and followers 157%.
  • My digital media workflows became the district-wide standard at Grand Rapids Public Schools, helping Union High School Football average nearly 65% higher Google search interest over three years.
Where it led me
Right now, I'm working with real estate professionals and small businesses, helping them scale and put their best foot forward with their marketing.

Strength Coaching

HeftyLefty Strength SystemsPresent
  • I coach lifters and athletes 1 on 1 and build pre-built programs for strength, size, and athletic performance, all grounded in proven training principles.
  • I'm a 3x Michigan state record-breaking powerlifter who started lifting at 130 lbs and built up to 240, so I know what building from the ground up takes.
  • I trained and competed as a Division I student-athlete at Michigan State, studying how top-level strength and conditioning programs prepare athletes.
See coaching and programs →
Where it led me
I want to give every athlete I work with the foundation I wish I'd had: honest, evidence-based programming that keeps them strong and healthy for life.

Stakeholder Engagement

XQ Institute — Emerson Collective
Communities Team Fellow, Student Designer and AdvocateMar 2020 – Present
Campaigns & Engagement InternJun 2025 – Aug 2025
  • I built engagement materials and programming for national flagship events reaching 2M education leaders, civic officials and students.
  • I helped steer creative strategy for Graduate Together, a national TV special seen by 60 million viewers, and built presentations for the Cities Summit of the Americas (1,500 leaders, 200 mayors).
  • I pitched a full-scale marketing campaign to senior leadership and led portions of student programming across a 16-city national bus tour.
Where it led me
I've worked with the XQ Institute since I was in 10th Grade. I am the advocate, life-long-learner and professional  I am today because of this work.

Sports & Event Marketing

Dietz Sports & Entertainment · MSU AthleticsSept 2024 – Sept 2026
Experiential Marketer (Contract) · Student-Athlete Event Operations Staff
  • I worked game days for MSU Athletics across five sports, from official gymnastics scorekeeping to live-ball duty in volleyball and field hockey, at regular-season and Big Ten Championship events.
  • I ran fan engagement at cross country meets and Michigan State Hockey games: face painting, family stations, all the fun stuff.
  • For Dietz, I worked the crowd at an MSU vs. Eastern Michigan tailgate for the NCAA March Madness "Road to the Final Four" campaign, picking face-to-face interaction over passive signage.
Where it led me
My favorite work exists in athletics. Whether it's community engagement, marketing or digital storytelling, I'm game. My dream job would be Director of NIL and Student-Athlete Engagement.

AI Workflow & Automation

Handshake AI · Contract AI TrainerJan 2026 – Jun 2026
  • I stress-tested frontier AI models, catching reasoning errors, factual slips and unsafe answers.
  • I wrote adversarial prompts built to find where models break, feeding directly into making them better.
  • I annotated, ranked and edited AI output with structured evaluation frameworks to produce high-quality training data.
Where it led me
This role showed me what's possible on the AI frontier. Since then, I've earned more certifications, scaled my own consulting practice with AI, and built workflows and automations that anyone can use.

Education

Michigan State University
Bachelor of Arts (B.A.), Communications · Organizational Communication and BusinessJan 2024 – May 2026
Cheerleading and Powerlifting Student-Athlete
Grand Rapids Community College
Business, Transfer StudentAug 2022 – Dec 2023
Grand Rapids Public Museum High School
XQ Institute Super School2022