Hours before her recent visit to Lehigh’s campus in August, Lauren Huston ’99 was up late putting the finishing touches on the launch of her new marketing agency’s webpage.
“Is it considered an all-nighter if you stay up until 2:30 a.m. AND you’re old?” Lauren said with a laugh. “I think that’s a full all-nighter.”
Even with few hours of sleep, Lauren was all smiles during her walk through campus, and that should come as no surprise to those who follow her narration of “Skylie Doodle” on social media.
Lauren, who has several years of experience in social media marketing and a degree in psychology, has created a major digital presence for her three-year old miniature Australian labradoodle, Skylie.
“How big a presence?” you might ask. Skylie is a bit of a celebrity, boasting a following of more than 35,000 “likes” on Facebook and more than 33,000 followers on Instagram — both totals are more than the Lehigh University Facebook and Instagram accounts.
“I really uphold my interest in the human psyche with marketing communications and formed this little niche,” Lauren said, attributing part of her success to her psychology degree from Lehigh. “You have to get into the psyche of consumers, and you also need to know how to effectively communicate with your consumers and clients. I find that having the communication skills to understand the human mind are invaluable.”
On Skylie’s social media accounts, Lauren whimsically narrates the daily adventures of her beloved dog and uses the platform to promote her favorite pet brands. Lauren hopes that the fun energy that she displays in Skylie’s accounts can make a positive impact in an environment of social media that can often breed bullying and negativity.
“Whomever Skylie is with at the moment, I want them to feel like Skylie is their best friend,” Lauren said. “She’s not better than or anything like that. I just want Skylie to be like the ‘girl next door’ who is friends with everyone.”
With her success creating a strong social media space for Skylie over the last few years, Lauren recently partnered with a fellow “doodle mom” and created Zero to Zoomies — a digital agency built for pet-lovers, pet-influencers, and the pet industry. The goal of their new agency is to partner with clients to drive their business outcomes with social media engagement, influencer marketing, and storytelling.
“Everyone [at Lehigh] has some kind of passion, and I would recommend that they would pursue it early,” Lauren said. “Even if it’s something like what I did on Instagram or Facebook, you slowly build a name for yourself and establish yourself as a guru of a particular field. It could be baseball cards. It could be figurines. It could be your dog. Whatever it is, it is never too early to start documenting whatever your passion is. You just never know what will cross your path that you will be able to monetize. It’s not to say you should only be looking at the money, but if it’s your passion, it’ll be fun to do any job.”
What’s next for Skylie and Lauren? Lauren says that there is a possible book deal in the works, chronicling the adventures of Skylie Doodle and/or tackling the issues of school and workplace bullying.
Family Heirloom
Lauren’s connection with Lehigh goes beyond her undergraduate years on the Asa Packer Campus. Lauren’s grandfather, Arnold J. Koller ’41, also graduated from Lehigh where he met Lauren’s grandmother, Adele K. Rice, who graduated from Cedar Crest College. Sometime in the 1940s, Arnold gifted a lavalier (shown above) to Lauren’s grandmother, and when Lauren graduated from Lehigh, Adele gifted the lavalier to her. Lauren considers the necklace to be her “most special piece of jewelry.”
— Brien Edwards
Photos by Christa Neu
Loved this piece. …I follow Skylie on FB…..love their adventures. ….she always makes me laugh and smile…..They should do a book for sure….
Loved the article, Skylie is an Icon and Lauren is her voice
, I sure hope the book deal becomes a reality.
Great article!! I follow Skylie on Instagram. Will have to look for her on Facebook. I think Skylie is adorable.
Super article!! I love following Skylie Doodle on FB. Skylie has a wonderful sense of humor and really brings so much fun to FB’s feed.
Great article! I follow Skylie on Facebook and I always look forward to hearing about all her adventures. Skylie and Lauren are so funny!! They should definitely do a book together!
Lauren is Skylie Ryces’s voice???????? CNR could never be that funny alone!
I look forward to the “daily briefing” of Skylie and Lauren. They make the day bright for so many people that are dog lovers.
I Follow SkYLIE and CNF on Facebook and Instagram it’s so much fun too read SkYLIE’s posts on what they are up to I Love all the places they visit! They are just Amazing! I really hope they will make a book I sure would buy !!!
I follow skylie on FB everyday and I enjoy every minute of it. She is so adorable and I just love her pics and her outfits. Looking forward to more!!! I don’t understand why I don’t have a like button on my computer for her. Can you help me Lauren?
We (Buddy, Scooby and I) love Skylie and Lauren! We follow them on both Facebook and Instagram. Buddy talks to Skylie at times, too, and it’s such fun when Skylie responds!! We hope Lauren gets her book deal!!
I have a photo of my Mini American Shepherd wearing the scarf and also a few others. I would love to know if you have a site to add my photos to. Thank You. My son went to Lehigh for his Bachelors and Masters Degree graduated in 2016
Maybe skylie would like a friend. He is a mini and i could send you a photo. I just would like your story to grow. I lived Lehigh as a pArent to a student.
I have followed Skylie and her human voice, Lauren, for the last couple of years. I enjoy their daily stories of Skylie’s adventures so much, I have learned to love someone I have never met in person, Skylie, and Lauren. They make my life a more joyful one!