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Lincoln Trail College prides itself on making sure that students get the opportunity to hear from experts in their fields. That’s no different in Tyler Browning’s Sport Communications class in the Sport Management program. He recently brought two speakers from the Miami Heat to his classroom via a Zoom teleconference.
Payal Doshi is the Miami Heat’s Mobile Content Manager and works with the team’s mobile app. Kristen Figarola is the Heat’s Interactive Marketing Content Manager. She works with the team’s social media. This is the second year where the two joined Browning’s class to talk about their experiences and give students advice.
“I really want to make sure that my students get the chance to talk with leaders in their fields,” says Browning. “One of the great things about technologies like Zoom is that we’re able to bring in speakers from all over the country.”
Doshi and Figarola talked about what they do for the Heat and how they got to where they are now. “Internships are super important,” says Figarola. “My first two [internships] weren’t really in sports. They weren’t geared to sports at all, but those internships were super helpful, and I feel kind of got me my internship with the Heat. I learned a little bit about social media and ultimately you kind of learn how to just communicate and deal with different people and different personalities which is also a super important part and role in any of your jobs. Obviously now I have a focus in sports, but I really learned how to communicate and dealing with different teams obviously from all of those internships. It was a different interaction, but you really learn from that. And those two past internships I think really helped me nail my Miami Heat internship. And obviously, you know my internship turned into a manager role.”
Figarola talked to the class about how she selects content for each of the team’s social media platforms for game days and non-game days. She explained how they use analytics to judge the performance of different content and how that’s used to build future content.
Doshi’s role is similar, but she says the team app also offers many differences because of how it integrates many different things in one place. She says users of the app will find things like highlights and player profiles. The Heat also uses push notifications with the app to showcase an extremely exciting highlight or something like a live stream of a press conference.
In addition to fielding questions about their jobs from Browning, the two women also fielded questions from students during the 45-minute-long session. They also gave the students advice for starting careers in sport.
“I would say first and foremost apply to as many internships as you can,” says Figarola. “It took me five times to even get an email back [from the Heat]. Being patient and kind of you know trucking through it is super important. And I would also say once you kind of get your foot in the door find opportunities. I think the biggest thing that's helped me grow is finding opportunities or finding cracks that need to be filled. And that's how I've grown.”
“I would say as much as you are patient you should also be persistent to follow your goals to follow your passion,” says Doshi. “I had numerous internships throughout my career, and I learned a lot. But I also feel like you shouldn't sell yourself short either and you should get paid for what you are doing as well. I'm all about creating your own experiences as well. If someone's not going to provide you with that opportunity show them you can do it. There are now more than ever so many different ways in which you can create content. And so, you should really think about leveraging those avenues. It's as simple as taking your iPhone and if you want to be on air kind of doing your reps yourself learn how to edit and learn the back end of social media. If you want to produce, there's so many ways in which you can do that. And there's so many tools online that also allow you to also help you to get to where you want to go. And I guess I would also say really develop your network and it's OK to message someone on LinkedIn and ask them about their journey ask them about their experiences. And I'm sure for the most part they'll be willing to share insight and really help and leverage your next path or whatever that will be too.”
In the last three year’s Browning’s students have had numerous opportunities to hear from speakers through in-class and co-curricular experiences. Students have heard from representatives from the St. Louis Cardinals, Chicago White Sox, and Chicago Blackhawks as well as the University of Illinois, Clemson University, and Eastern Illinois University. They also traveled to DePauw University to hear from the founder of ESPN. Browning says he’s continuing to look for new opportunities for his students to hear from speakers and grow their personal networks.
