Ambassador Spotlight - Miranda Barhydt

Name of Business: Community Impact Newspaper

Location: McKinney, Texas

Tell us about your business: Community Impact is family owned, launched in 2005 by John & Jennifer Garrett. We print almost 3 million newspapers every month delivered to residential mailboxes in Dallas, Austin, San Antonio, Houston, Nashville & Phoenix. We are a value-based company with journalistic integrity and a mission to build communities of informed citizens and thriving businesses through the collaboration of a passionate team. My role with the company is to partner with local business owners to provide custom advertising strategies through our platform of engaged readers. Our McKinney paper will celebrate 7 years with our upcoming April edition, and we are growing into other nearby communities as quickly as we can.
 
How have you benefited from being an Ambassador- or comment about your experience - Why are you an Ambassador?: I officially became a McKinney Chamber Ambassador in December of 2017, 4 months after I started at CI. I admire that our company joins the chamber in every city that we serve. I love being part of such a strong organization and collaborating with people who truly care about supporting the McKinney business community. The benefits of being engaged in the ambassador program allow me to meet new people, their businesses and connect them with others and local resources.

Tell us about your involvement in the community: I enjoy volunteering my time through various local events and nonprofits. Currently I’m involved in the garden committee for Community Garden Kitchen & I’m in the early stages of volunteering for a nonprofit called Creek & Timber Legacy who provide outdoor adventure therapy. My near future goal is to apply for Leadership McKinney so I can continue to grow as a servant of this community.
 
What are your hobbies? My hobbies include cooking, gardening, camping/hiking, road tripping, sewing/crafting, create art.

Tell us a little about you and your family: Well, I’m newly married to my husband Bryan. I have an amazingly talented daughter Devon who is about to be 16. We live here in McKinney with our little zoo of pets. We have Ranger & Harley who are 2-year-old Black Mouth Cur siblings. We have Walker our blue-eyed ragdoll cat who thinks he’s a dog. We also have Cheeto our bearded dragon and Ralph our red ear slider turtle plus some fishies. I was born in Dallas; I grew up in Oak Cliff then Mesquite and I moved to McKinney when Devon was 3. Both Bryan and I have our families close by and we enjoy spending time here in our favorite city.