Public relations senior Bailey Payne on Feb 13, 2025, in Houston, Texas. | Gauraangi Gupta/The Cougar

Building a mini city from the ground up could be seen as a daunting task but for public relations senior Bailey Payne, building Frontier Fiesta has brought her pride and joy. 

Originally from South Carolina, Payne spent her freshman year feeling homesick and not engaging in campus activities. 

 “Freshman year, I didn’t really do anything. I’d go to class, go back to my dorm and call my mom,” said Payne.

That all changed in her second semester as a freshman when she became assistant director for Fiesta, a student-led event filled with music, food and community gathering. 

Payne enjoyed her role so much she was nicknamed the communal assistant director due to her eagerness to help various directors and not just the one she was assigned to. Her commitment did not go unnoticed as she was offered the role of chair during her sophomore year.

“They were looking for someone to be chair and no one applied,” Payne said. “I had applied for a different position but they asked, ‘Have you thought about chair?’ So I said ‘Okay’ and I’ve been doing it ever since.”

Payne’s leadership made significant changes to the popular UH tradition, such as moving the event to April to avoid overlapping with spring break and the basketball season.  

Payne described the switch as a terrifying decision that ended up being the right choice. In the past, students sacrificed their spring break to set up for Fiesta which caused many not to return to the board.

This switch proved to be the right decision as there was a 75% return rate for the board. 

“Fiesta four years ago was a lot different than Fiesta now. There wasn’t really a culture of people returning to the board,” said Payne “My second year as chair we had a 75% return rate, this year all of our leaders, except for one, have returned.” 

Through her experience working at Fiesta, Payne has learned to cater to 18,000 attendees which has aided her quest to work for the NFL post-graduation.  She has been able to learn how to plan security protocols for big events and develop her communication skills to engage with the audience. 

Payne highlights the importance of participating in Fiesta as it taught her how to handle herself in professional environments, especially in a male-dominated field.

“Working with Fiesta, we are expected to do a lot of the work ourselves,” said Payne. “Learning how to handle myself in a professional environment is important, especially being a woman going into a male-dominated field; You need to learn to be assertive.” 

Payne credits her upbringing for shaping her leadership skills. She is the oldest sibling and has an eight-year difference from her little brother. As a kid, she would label herself bossy but now she considers that to be a big part of her becoming a leader. 

Payne’s mother was a preschool teacher and Payne frequently went to work with her from the age of 12 until she moved out for college. Throughout high school, she held different leadership positions which made being a leader a natural role for her.

“I like being in charge, it’s almost comfortable for me to be in a leadership role,” Payne says. “I joke a lot about being the oldest sibling but I genuinely think that’s what made me who I am.” 

With graduation around the corner, Payne expresses her gratitude to those on the board who have put in hard work and dedication as well as the friends she made through Fiesta. Payne urges students to get involved in campus activities as it could lead to being a part of an 86-year-old campus tradition. 

Payne admits she has been working on her transition summary since last summer and shares some advice for the next chair. 

“Stay true to your vision. Make sure on Thursday at 4 p.m., before the gates open, you can step back and say ‘I’m proud of this,’” said Payne. 

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“Meet Bailey Payne: Frontier Fiesta’s member for four years now” was originally posted on The Cougar