MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — When Beckham Scott arrived at Middle Tennessee State University, public relations was not necessarily the path he expected to take. Through his coursework and guidance from his advisor, the McMinnville resident discovered that public relations fit both his interests and skills he wanted to develop.

“I love to talk and build relationships, and that’s a lot of what PR entails,” Scott said.

Those skills have become particularly valuable as Scott has worked toward completing his degree while simultaneously building Southern Sunflower Seed Co., a business he launched in early spring 2025 with lifelong friend and cofounder Levi Melton.

For Scott, the classroom and the business have become closely connected. Lessons about communication, relationship building, social media, branding and identifying an audience have given him tools he can apply directly as he develops the company.

One of Scott’s first PR professors at MTSU, Matthew Taylor, played an important role in that process. Scott said Taylor not only taught him about public relations but also provided guidance in business and marketing and encouraged him as he began developing Southern Sunflower Seed Co.

“He was very encouraging in the beginning of my business and helped give me ideas and advice on how to grow the brand,” Scott said.

Scott also credits Taylor and PR professor Angie Boyd-Chambers with helping him understand the importance of networking and communication, skills he considers among the most valuable things he has learned through his PR education within MTSU’s School of Journalism and Strategic Media.

Scott said relationship building and social media training are two of the biggest skills he has developed through his courses and now uses in his business. That education has helped Scott think beyond simply creating a product. He has had to determine who his customers are, where to reach them and how to communicate what makes his brand different.

“Studying PR and advertising has helped me figure out who my target market is and how and where I can reach those people,” Scott said.

That process has been especially important because Southern is a niche product, and Scott is trying to reach beyond the traditional sunflower seed consumer. The company grew out of something Scott and Melton had been doing for years. The two played football together in high school and would review sunflower seeds for their friends on social media.

More than a year ago, Scott began experimenting with the idea of turning that interest into a business, spending months developing the company in his mother’s kitchen before launching.

Since then, Southern has grown from selling at farmers’ markets to selling through its Shopify store, at local retailers and at in-person events. As the business has developed, Scott has applied what he has learned at MTSU to nearly every aspect of the brand.

Drawing on his experiences growing up in rural Tennessee and the branding and communication skills he developed on the Blue Raider campus, Scott created the company’s brand identity, logo, packaging and messaging. Scott said storytelling and branding are central to his vision for the company.

“I want people to look at Southern and feel at home,” he said.

Scott said his goal is for Southern to move beyond the traditional image of sunflower seeds as a product primarily associated with baseball players and instead create a brand that appeals to a broader audience.

His MTSU education has also provided something less tangible but equally important: a network. Scott said he did not realize when he entered college how important the relationships he developed at MTSU would become to his future.

“More important than anything I’ve learned has been my network,” Scott said. Through those connections, Scott has been able to develop relationships involving college baseball, country music, college football, the NFL and Major League Baseball. He recently collaborated with AJ Cornelius, an offensive lineman for the Dallas Cowboys, through a mutual connection at MTSU.

For Scott, those experiences illustrate how his education extends well beyond the classroom and how he is applying it beyond a traditional public relations career.  

For other MTSU students considering starting a business, Scott’s advice is straightforward: start.

“Do it and enjoy it,” he said. “People will tell you it is hard, and it is — but it is fun.”

Even if a business does not develop exactly as planned, Scott said, the experience can provide lessons that continue to benefit a student’s career.

“Make sure to build a valuable network at MTSU and take care of the people who take care of you,” he said.

For Scott, Southern Sunflower Seed Co. is still a work in progress. But so is his education, and the two have become intertwined as he prepares for what comes after graduation.

— Stacey Tadlock ([email protected])