My career in the sports industry received a tremendous boost when I was afforded the opportunity to work in the Digital Media Department of the Jacksonville Jaguars. Being able to work for a NFL franchise is a tremendous honor and something I do not take for granted. Since joining the Jaguars in January of 2013, I have sought out and received opportunities to expand my role with the franchise. Currently, I post and monitor various content on the team’s website and social media sites. I also play a role in researching, creating and implementing social media plans for the franchise.
August 2012 marked the start of my career at ESPN. I joined the BottomLine department to work as an editor on the Longhorn Network. My responsibilities included: researching, editing and writing content, as well as utilizing several computer applications simultaneously. These computer programs were new to me and I learned how to use them in four days. Additionally, I used social media to break and monitor news.
I graduated from the University of Central Florida with Summa Cum Laude honors and as a member of the UCF Honors College in May 2012.
In my time at UCF, I played an active role in the school’s athletic department.
My experience in the sports industry began when I started working with UCF Athletics Communications in 2010, assisting at women’s basketball games. The following academic year, I accepted a larger role with the department. I worked in the press box for every home football game, documenting statistics. Also, I worked at nearly all of the home men’s basketball games, performing a variety of tasks. I have worked at other UCF home games, such as: volleyball, women’s soccer, women’s basketball, baseball and men’s soccer. My hard work paid off, as I was the recipient of the 2011-12 UCF Athletic Communications Student of the Year.
In the fall of 2010, I started to assist with the UCF women’s basketball team. I performed a variety of tasks at practice, such as: document statistics, film and save it on XOS Digital Inc. Additionally, I helped break down film of future opponents for the coaches. For the 2011-12 season, I was asked to be a student manager. I maintained many of the same responsibilities, but now I added the responsibility of working home games for the teams and breaking down practice film.
With all of this, I still found time to make school a top priority. I graduated with a 3.96 grade point average and in the top one percent of my graduating class.
I am a highly motivated individual. Both of my opportunities with UCF were unpaid, but I still worked hard(20-30 hours a week). I use experience and knowledge as my reward, as I showed up hours before asked, in order to make sure everything is prepared properly and stayed hours after to make sure every task has been completed. I opt to stay late because I wanted to observe everything my supervisors do.
Giving back to the community is important to me. In high school, I had over 700 service hours and have continued giving back to the community in college. I have volunteered for numerous charities, spent time at local elementary schools through Junior Achievement and talked with youth groups about the importance of college.
The above picture is of me (on the right) accepting the award for 2011-12 UCF Athletics Communications Student of the Year.
