Kirsten Winquist’s voice is heard daily across the country as a Voice of Margaritaville on SiriusXM Satellite Radio, but she’ll be heard at Brenau University Friday and Saturday, May 5-6, by the hundreds of students and their families participating in Brenau University’s 139th spring graduation ceremonies.
The Brenau Women’s College commencement will be at 4:30 p.m. Friday, May 5, and the university’s undergraduate and graduate commencement will be Saturday, May 5, at 9:30 a.m. Winquist will give the commencement address at both ceremonies.
While Winquist in known for being behind the mic with over 30 million subscribers nationwide and worldwide online at Margaritaville.com, she is also the program director for Radio Margaritaville – the worldwide station owned by Jimmy Buffett – and she serves as a liaison between Margaritaville Holdings, Inc. and SiriusXM.
Winquist grew up in what could be the setting for Margaritaville – Safety Harbor, Florida. At an early age she developed a love of music and played the trombone. At 11 she was selected to be a part of America’s Youngest Jazz Band, where she performed at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland. By age 16, she had traveled the country performing with the Spirit of Atlanta Drum Corps.
Her passion for music led to an interest in radio and studies concentrated in communications and sociology. She began her radio career as an intern with Tallahassee Alternative Rock radio station WXSR, where she would soon became on-air talent and eventually grow to become the station’s music director and midday host. Winquist moved to Austin, Texas, in 2007 as an on-air talent and imaging director for Rock radio station KROX. She later transitioned to classic rock station KLBJ becoming that station’s music director and midday host along with part-time, on-air work with Radio Margaritaville. She landed full time with the internet station in 2012, and now lives in Nashville, Tennessee.
