After two years as the EcoCAR communications manager, UA alumna Brittany Galloway-Malone translated the skills she gained in EcoCAR 3 to success in her career at Lockheed Martin.
Galloway-Malone is an F-35 communication specialist for Lockheed Martin, an aerospace, defense, security and advanced technology company. Galloway-Malone began working for Lockheed Martin in June 2016 after graduating from The University of Alabama in May 2016 with a Master of Arts in advertising and public relations.
Galloway-Malone was the first communications manager of EcoCAR at UA. After two years in that role, Galloway-Malone was able to take the experiences she had during her time with EcoCAR to find a successful career with a Fortune 500 company.
The EcoCAR 3 Experience
Galloway-Malone has always had an interest in engineering, which led her to complete an eight-month co-op internship with BMW from January 2014 to August 2014. Using the relevant industry experience she gained during her time with BMW, Galloway-Malone joined the EcoCAR 3 team following the conclusion of her position with BMW in August 2014.
“Technology, aviation and vehicles have always intrigued me because they affect everything that we do, and they affect humanity,” Galloway-Malone said. “I wanted to be able to take those technical concepts and then convey them to a non-technical audience so they can understand what these great technologies are doing for our world and in our everyday lives.”
The EcoCAR communications manager is responsible for all the communication that is published by EcoCAR, ensuring it best represents the goals and progress of the team. During her time as the EcoCAR communications manager, Galloway-Malone was responsible for creating communications and media relations plans, as well as pulling metrics from those plans to improve them for the future. 
“My experience with EcoCAR was unique because it gave me hands-on media and overall communications experience. I had the opportunity as a college student to reach out to media, plan events and develop and execute integrated communications plans, so I was learning through experience while I was still in college,” Galloway-Malone said.
Even during her time away from school, Galloway-Malone put the skills she gained through EcoCAR to good use. From May 2015 to August 2015, Galloway-Malone completed another internship with BMW. It was in this internship that she was introduced to Lockheed Martin through an industry mentor.
A Universe of Possibility with Lockheed Martin
Galloway-Malone began her career with Lockheed Martin immediately after graduation in 2016 as an associate of the company’s two-year leadership development program. For the first year, she served as a marketing and digital relations specialist. During her second year in the program, Galloway-Malone served as an F-35 digital marketing lead.
Through this program, Galloway-Malone was able to gain exposure to the function of communications in marketing, as well as Lockheed Martin as a company.
“Half of my portfolio was communication and media relations plans from my time in EcoCAR,” Galloway-Malone said. “You can really use your time in EcoCAR to develop professionally, not just to add something to your resume.”
In her current position, Galloway-Malone coordinates F-35 aircraft digital content across international channels. Galloway-Malone works with teams in the company across of broad depth of different functions.
“At Lockheed Martin, I work with the business development team, the engineering team, everyone,” Galloway-Malone said. “EcoCAR was a great opportunity to see what it is like to work on a cross-functional team.”
In a field that Galloway-Malone said is dominated by white males, she had to build up confidence in her abilities as an African American woman and communications professional. While it was hard for Galloway-Malone to speak up at first, her experiences in EcoCAR helped her build confidence and get a step ahead in her career.
“From an interpersonal communications level, EcoCAR helped me learn how to effectively facilitate conversations with the engineers and project managers on our team,” Galloway-Malone said.
From Lockheed Martin chairman, president and CEO, Marillyn A. Hewson, to EcoCAR’s very own Brittany Galloway-Malone, UA alumni are representing their company and our university well on both the national and international stage.
From Her Tank to Yours
Galloway-Malone said that working with EcoCAR during her time at UA absolutely prepared her for her career at Lockheed Martin. While some internships or co-ops assign employees small projects for the short time they are working for the company, Galloway-Malone said EcoCAR equipped her with the skills she needed to succeed in the workforce. 
“I didn’t have to learn any basic communications skills when I got out of college,” Galloway-Malone said. “With EcoCAR, I was pretty much running communications for team.”
Since Galloway-Malone gained so much from her experience as the EcoCAR communications manager, she wants to encourage other students to get involved in EcoCAR while they can.
“The EcoCAR experience is amazing! There are opportunities to travel and see the world while also working on an integrated team,” Galloway-Malone said.
Galloway-Malone enjoyed her time on the EcoCAR team as a graduate student at UA and wants current EcoCAR members to know that if they take it seriously, they can gain a lot from their time on the team.
“Current students should try to develop the fundamental skills they need for the kind of career they’re trying to pursue, whether that be advertising, communications or engineering,” Galloway-Malone said. “They can really tap into that knowledge and use EcoCAR’s hands-on experience and opportunities to learn things they can apply to their future careers.”
