After graduating from Syracuse University in 2010, I landed an internship in Boston with Octagon, creating awareness for a mobile 4G WiFi hotspot product. After three months, our entire team was let go, as the brand significantly cut their marketing budget. Fortunately, I found another internship opportunity, a project to help author a business plan for a start-up hockey venture in Europe. A colleague had a connection with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the Canadian Football League. I reached out to his connection and was offered a full-time job.
My experience with the Tiger-Cats organization has been phenomenal. I have been promoted into different roles over the past eight years, including operations/logistics, sponsorship service, new stadium business development, ticket operations, and business intelligence. I helped organize two Vanier Cups (the Canadian university football championship), where we broke records for ticket sales and TV viewership. I was privileged to work on a new stadium for the Tiger-Cats, as part of the team that sold the sponsorship naming rights to Tim Hortons, Canada’s largest fast food chain. We just launched a soccer team this spring, Forge FC, in a new Canadian professional soccer league. Hamilton also just won the rights to host the 2021 Grey Cup (the CFL championship game).
Along the way, the organization sponsored me as I earned my MBA in 2017, after which I was promoted to director of business intelligence and data analytics.
My primary piece of advice to students is that your career may have some “bumps in the road” but not to get discouraged. If our Octagon group had not been downsized, I probably would not be with the Tiger-Cats organization today. Also, continue to network and gain as much experience as you can in different fields. You never know who or what might be the catalyst for your next career move. And if you have the opportunity, further your education.