“Be bold in whatever it is you want to do” – Michael Durr
By: Hunter Stinnett
Michael Durr (’16), is doing exciting and unexpected things these days, from soccer coach to salesperson, to fashion model. However, before Michael got to where he is today, he was a division one student-athlete with a Public Relations concentration and minor in Business Administration.
Photo taken from @Michaelatleydurr on Instagram.
During his four years at Longwood, Michael was on the men’s soccer team, where two of those years he spent as captain. Michael said that being captain of the team, “forced me to hold myself to a high standard both on and off the field.” As a result of Michael being a leader both on and off the field, he was hand-selected to be a part of the Lancer Leadership Program. This program was led by Troy Austin, former Athletic Director at the university. The primary goal of this program was to mold and cultivate young leaders. Michael was also a member of the Communication Studies academic fraternity, Lambda Pi Eta. This fraternity, now called the is the National Communication Studies Honor Society, has specific academic requirements students must meet to be invited to join. Which are, to have completed 60 credit hours, completed 12 credit hours in the Communication Studies program, have a 3.0 overall GPA, and have a 3.25 GPA for all Communication Studies courses.
Photo taken from @Michaelatleydurr on Instagram.
Two years from graduating, Michael wears many different hats in his day-to-day life. He is a fulltime soccer coach, soccer trainer, and fashion model. Oddly enough, when Michael graduated he was first a salesperson for an application (app) development company for ten months. He then transferred to a small medical supply company where he did sales for 7 months. After working there, Michael was then promoted to Director of Sales. He held that management position for a little over a year before the company was sold in November of 2018.
Two months before the medical supply company was sold, Michael began modeling on the side. He was originally placed in New York with Muse Management. However, recently Michael signed with Ursula-Weidmann Models located in Atlanta, Georgia. Michael currently live in Mississippi where the modeling market is nowhere near what it is in New York so her typically has a gig every three weeks.
Photo taken from @Michaelatleydurr on Instagram.
A typical soccer day for Michael starts at the gym and ends on the soccer field. He hits the soccer field and does training and coaching from 2:30 pm to 9:30 pm, with personal training lessons starting at 2:30 and practice beginning at 5:30. He is currently coaching three different soccer teams.
Michael says that effective communication, branding, and marketing are the three biggest skills from his degree that he uses on a daily basis. Effective communication plays a large role when communicating with his team’s parents. He is able to get important information out in a clear and concise manner. Whereas branding and marketing have helped him grow his Instagram following. Michael learned that it is all about knowing your target audience and that brands are more likely to higher you when you have a large following. He then made the decision to change his Instagram from private to public and has since gained over 1,500 followers. Since his increase in followers he was able to work with brands like Hugo Boss and was offered a spot on a CBS TV show. Unfortunately, he cannot share which one (yet). But he did say “reality tv isn’t my thing.”
Photo taken from @Michaelatleydurr on Instagram.
As far as dream jobs go, Michael is not completely sure if where he is at now is his dream job. However, he does believe his dream job involves soccer since he has been training kids since he was fourteen years old. In regard to his modeling career, he has only been it for a year now. While he is not sure what exactly he wants from it, he does believe it will open something else up for him.
Michael’s advice to current and future COMM students is “just be bold in whatever it is you want to do.” If you would like to follow along on Michael’s journey, you can follow him on Instagram @Michaelatleydurr.