Meet, Hayley. She's a community rockstar.
Courtesy Hayley Campbell / @hayleycampb3ll
If you’ve spent any time in Fort Lauderdale’s dog-loving corners of Instagram lately, chances are you’ve come across Hayley Campbell. Whether she’s organizing a pack walk downtown, spotlighting a local restaurant, volunteering at a shelter or mentoring teens through nonprofit outreach, the Plantation native has quietly become one of Broward County’s most visible community connectors.
Born and raised in Plantation, Campbell eventually headed west to attend Florida Gulf Coast University before returning to Broward County after college. “Nothing really beats being here near Fort Lauderdale,” Campbell tells Browardist on moving back home and settling in Downtown Fort Lauderdale.
Her path to content creation wasn’t exactly traditional. Campbell previously worked in criminal justice and juvenile case management before pivoting into marketing and social media. “I ended up pivoting over to marketing, which is super different, but I love it,” she says. Today, she works in community engagement and social media for two high-profile pet wellness brands while also building her own lifestyle-focused platform online.
Unlike creators who stay boxed into one category, Campbell’s content bounces between South Florida restaurants, volunteering, dog-mom life and candid conversations around mental health. “I don’t have one specific niche because there’s so many things I’m passionate about,” she says. “I do really like to promote volunteering and giving back.”
That community-first mindset has become a driving force behind FTL Dog Moms, the fast-growing group Campbell co-founded alongside Bella Schmidt after the pair met at their apartment building’s dog park. What started as a single pack walk last September has grown into yappy hours, Puppies and Pilates classes, dog-mom meetups and charity-driven events around Fort Lauderdale.
“We hosted our first pack walk event last September and it was a great turnout,” Campbell says. “We’re like, ‘Okay, this was awesome. Let’s actually turn it into a community.’”
Many of the group’s events also incorporate fundraising efforts benefiting local rescues, including Abandoned Pet Rescue, where Campbell volunteers regularly. She’s also deeply involved with The VERB Kind, a mentoring-focused nonprofit working with juveniles in detention centers across Florida and other states. Campbell helped launch the organization and has served as executive director of its Broward County chapter.
As for where things go next, Campbell says she hopes to continue building bigger community initiatives tied to pets and volunteerism throughout South Florida.
