Wednesday, July 9, 2014

TPG Sports Career Conference and So Much More:)


Hi everyone :) It's been a while since I posted. I thought I'd share my newest experiences since a lot has been going on!

First off, back in January, I was hired on as the first intern for the K1 Sportswear Girls All Star Hockey game, which was such a rewarding position for me. It was the first internship where I took a large load of the responsibility, and it was pretty intimidating at first. I was in charge of corresponding with players, trying to develop some sponsor relations, and overall, make sure things went as smooth as possible.

It got pretty crazy around game time, and was a little stressful, but it was a lot of fun. I learned so much about actually running and planning an event, and I also discovered it required a lot more time than I had available to me. I plan on doing it again next year, so anyone looking for an internship and wants to help me out, let me know. :)

Mark, Jerry and I
I also attended the TPG Sports Career Conference two weeks ago, which helped me in more ways than I ever thought it would. It was held in Charlotte, North Carolina on March 28th and 29th. The first day was listening to a lot of panels.
Some of the Charlotte skyline
The first panel we heard from was the Reporting and Production panel, which included Jackie MacMullan, who is a contributor for ESPN, and Chris Farrow, who is the executive producer for ESPNU.

Chris Farrow, Jackie MacMullen and Mike Grimaldi
My favorites from this panel were Jackie MacMullan and Chris Farrow. Jackie talked about how she was pushed in her life by family, coaches, and bosses, until she decided to push herself. It was interesting when she spoke about how she got started. Her local paper didn't publish game information for girls basketball, and she was complaining to her dad about it. He made her call the editor of the paper, who in turn had her start writing about girls basketball at her high school.

Chris Farrow was another favorite of mine. I spoke to him during the networking social, and he was so personable. He was hosting a girl named Alleca, who I met at the conference. Chris' wife is her mentor. So I got to meet them both, and talk with them in length about my future goals.

The second panel was Sales and Marketing, and me being a marketing and graphic design major, this was the panel I was most interested in. It was made up of Tera Black, COO for the Charlotte Checkers, Chrystal Rowe, Director of Ticketing, and Kami Taylor, Senior Vice President of Marketing and Events at Octagon.

Kami Taylor, Tera Black, and Chrystal Rowe
Tera really sparked my interest, because she was a lot like me; she was balancing an extremely busy schedule (with kids) and she was very driven. I went to the Checkers game that night, and watched all of their marketing activities. It was amazing to see what they do in a market that is much more basketball oriented. The game even sold out!

It really was a weekend to remember, and I had an absolute blast meeting other students, and meeting future potential employers.

I'm currently interning for Kernz and Kompany, which has been so much fun. I'm in charge of the St. Luke's 5 on 5 Soccer Challenge, and I've been helping a lot with the Duluth Airshow coming up in August. This internship has been more focused on event planning and has been so different from anything I've ever done before. Most of what I know is sports marketing related. This internship is rounding me out. It makes me love marketing so much more, and only strengthens my belief that this is what I'm meant to do with my life.

I also am interning again with the Duluth Huskies, doing more design stuff, creating programs and their 2015 marketing kit. I'm also doing some social media interning for Carmody's Irish Pub, and helping them have a bigger presence on Facebook, Twitter etc. On top of all that I'm a server still at the Kitchi Gammi Club! I'm a busy girl but as I'm nearing my senior year, I'm grateful for all of the opportunities I've had in my four years in Duluth. I know one day all my hard work will be worth it!

And of course, had to add a picture of my ever supporting, wonderful boyfriend, Justin. :)