"So I went from graphic designer to senior graphic designer and then to art director. And that was through a lot of things partially from like I was young when I started with the Cavs like my team was like a little bit older than me, and a lot of them moved on to other opportunities. There was just a lot of changeover kind of around the pandemic within the organization, and it just gave me more opportunity to step up. I think in a lot of those cases no one was necessarily asking me or expecting me to do anything, but I just kind of saw the opportunity, and was able to continue to take on more responsibilities that maybe initially, I didn't get credit for. But over time it became clear that I was able to take on bigger roles and that kind of led to me, being promoted on both occasions.”
How did you get your current job?
“I do think my internship with the MLB was really cool in a lot of ways. I mean one the graphic design work I was, the projects I was getting to work on were really cool. I was doing a lot of branding for international games and stuff, with just a lot of story behind it. So the projects were cool. But in addition to that, they just had a really robust intern program, there was like 150 interns at the office of the Commissioner when I was there, you know, all different departments, but they had a lot of programming for the interns which I really valued. So you know we I would often leave my desk to go do programming with all the interns we had, like a group project that we had to work on. We had happy hours. We connected for events with interns from other sports teams and leagues in New York City. So there was just a lot of opportunities beyond the work itself, which, as like a young designer, I really valued getting to meet all those people and hear all of those different perspectives from all the different things we did.”
MOST VALUABLE INTERNSHIP EXPERIENCE
“I was somewhat unique from the rest of my graphic design class by taking an internship after I graduated as opposed to going right into a full time role. But I think you know not every internship program has as much like dedication to learning. But you know, I think the organizations that take internship programs seriously and offer all of that programming is very valuable.”
“I really didn't want to work in sports when I was in college, like I played club lacrosse, sports were always a huge part of my life. I was a huge Virginia basketball fan in college and just loved watching sports. But I never thought I was going to work for a design agency, that was always kind of my dream. I didn't think that I wanted to work in sports. But again, I was just looking for cool internship opportunities, and, you know, working for th MLB in New York City like that's a cool opportunity. And then it wasn't until I worked for the MLB that I found such a community in sports like I really got exposed to all of that through Twitter and all the people I was meeting, and all that, when I was working for MLB. And I then was way more passionate about the idea of staying in sports and was applying to a lot of sports opportunities after that. So the internship is what made me decide.”
CURRENT JOB
“I got my job as a graphic designer initially just by applying. I was interning for Major League Baseball at the time and applying to a bunch of full-time positions. And I saw a graphic designer role for the Cavs on teamwork online and went through the interview process and got the job offer. So that was how I initially got in, and then I've been promoted twice since I was with the Cavs.”