Profiles of Tenacity: Nicolas Wiles

Nicolas Wiles is a third year advertising and marketing honors student from Los Angeles, California, set to graduate in May 2027. Wiles currently serves as co-president of Ad Club and is involved with Talking Dog.

Read his Q/A below.

Why did you choose your major? 

I was only a marketing major when I started at UGA, inspired by my sports marketing courses I took in high school and experience in DECA (Distributive Education Clubs of America). I didn’t realize I needed to add an advertising major until I was working as a production assistant on a Postmates commercial the summer after my freshman year. Being in that environment, surrounded by agency executives, was so inspiring and I knew I wanted to add some more creative classes to my curriculum.

What does tenacity mean to you? 

Simply put, tenacity is the ability to make it happen. Through a combination of confidence, perseverance and outside-the-box problem solving, tenacious individuals are able to get the job done in times of stress and confusion.

What is one piece of advice that you would give to other Grady students? 

Take advantage of the resources Grady provides. There are so many student organizations, certificates, events, other majors and amazing faculty who truly want to help every student that passes through the Schnitzer Family Media Lawn. Enroll in a random intro course for an adjacent major, attend an AdClub or PRSSA meeting, schedule a meeting with a professor you admire (whether you took their class yet or not!) and please, more than anything, study abroad as soon as possible.

What or who has had the biggest impact on your life? 

Having the opportunity to see the world has impacted me more than any other experience could. I’m so grateful to have studied abroad in Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and Japan on two separate trips. While the programs I’ve participated in have provided invaluable levels of knowledge, inspiration and lifelong connections, I urge everyone to do some solo travel and explore some lesser-seen parts of foreign countries you get the chance to visit. After my AdPR Japan trip, I spent a week as an assistant teacher at Phenix English school, teaching Japanese kids aged 3-10 years old as I stayed with a host family in Koriyama. Learning the customs of a suburban Japanese family firsthand while facilitating the growth of the next generation was immensely rewarding. I will never forget the time I spent there, and am dying to visit later in life when my host siblings and students have grown up.

What has been your biggest accomplishment in the past year? 

Last spring, I participated in the digital marketing competition with four other amazing teammates, creating a campaign for Porsche North America. With the help of our coaches and lots of long team meetings, we made it all the way to the semi-finals, where only eight of the original 40 teams remained. It was so enriching to put together a full-fledged campaign from start to finish and be recognized for our efforts by actual Porsche executives at one of their flagship dealerships. As the pitch lead, presenting to and receiving feedback from top-level marketers was a great learning experience. My personal favorite aspect was designing out of house advertisements that led to an interactive digital competition to keep potential future drivers aware and engaged with the brand. Although we weren’t able to take home the chip, I gained so much valuable experience and am very proud of us five essentially strangers before the project started coming together to advance as far as we did.

What is your favorite place on campus and why? 

As nice as it would be to say my favorite place on campus is a beautiful nook in the Founder’s Garden, observing a family of ducks make their home in a small pond, the answer is and has always been O-House. No matter how easy it would be to find myself in Bolton at the basin of campus, that additional hike up Lumpkin is always worth it because I know for a fact that Tony at O-Hacienda will get me right every time.

What advice would you give to your future self? 

Relaaaaaaaax. With the amount that I’m constantly on-the-go currently, I can only imagine how much I’ll have on my plate in the future. Enjoy the little moments. Wait for the next cycle on the yellow light so you can hear 30 more seconds of your music. Let that chicken thigh simmer and soak up all the seasoning in the pan, because you can’t turn back time to unburn the skin. Stay a few extra minutes after the meeting has wrapped up so you can ask the speaker that question and spark a real conversation. Also, make sure your fly is zipped up.

Editor: Lily Alarcon, lia52467@uga.edu