Individualized Major: Sports Promotion & Entrepreneurship

Graduation Date: December 2024

Why Individualized? The individualized major allowed me to build out a major that's well-aligned to the specific field that I want to be in. The traditional marketing major would teach me the foundations of marketing, while the DMD's digital marketing major would teach me more of a digitized and social media version. By taking the same courses that would be offered in one or the other and combining those with sports courses, I feel like I've come out so much more prepared to approach a job in athletics.

Most memorable course or project from your major? It might not really be a project from a course I've taken, but Championship Labs is 100% my favorite project I've worked to build out through the last couple of years here at UConn. Being able to be there from day one and build the presence that we now have on campus has been monumental. Working with athletics to gain experience in building out content, promoting athlete brands, and developing a thriving community has been huge. Especially for my personal growth, it's allowed me to step outside of that box of just being a graphic designer and step more into a role of an all-around creative. 

An individual who inspired you? I've had inspiration from a lot of places over the years. David Noble the director of the Werth Institute has been huge in my growth over the past couple of years. His insight into business and the field I want to be in stretches further than anyone I've ever met. I've also had a ton of mentors from UConn, including Ryan Gresh who owns the Feel Good Lab, which focuses on combating pain with all-natural pain relief products as well as promoting the importance of prioritizing wellness, reducing inflammation, and just putting the right things inside our bodies. Terrence Brown, Director of Suite Sales at the Buffalo Bills' new stadium, and Donnell Beverly, President at Russell Westbrook Enterprises, are two UConn alumni that I met during my time in LA with Championship Labs who have also been very valuable mentors. 

Future plans? I'd love to continue building out my creative agency Nclusve. We focus on building content and branding strategies for sports, food, and lifestyle brands. I would also love to gain some experience and connections by working with either a sports agency, sports media company (ESPN, FOX, CBS, etc), or even within a league/team. 

Episode Transcript