By Tamara Makonnen
The Seattle Storm, a part of the rapidly growing sport of women’s basketball, is spotlighted mainly on the court. However, the work done off the court is just as complicated. Kelly and Laura (seen at right) work in the Storm’s marketing department. They spoke to some DigiGirl alumni today about trials and tribulation as well as success in their career.
“Games are great,” said Kelly. “When you see people who are coming because of you put the message out, it’s very fulfilling. It’s very gratifying”
They both are very experienced with working with the team but for Laura this wasn’t exactly her intended career path. Majoring in economics with a minor in government, Laura explained how contact with a friend who worked in the NBA really gave her her first break in the sports business, shining some light on the importance of networking and contacts inadvertently.
“I worked at an investment management company for two years and just kind of realized it wasn’t for me," Laura said. "I spoke with an assistant coach of mine from college who worked in the NBA and found out about opportunities there were in the NBA & WNBA and ended up getting a job there.”
Working In a Small Business
Both of them mentioned the impact in working with such a small group of people to get so much done.
“We are all very involved in everything. No matter what your title is, you’re often doing a lot of things that cross into other departments,” Laura said.
They have to learn the importance of being a team player because of how small the business is. They work very closely with everyone for a common goal, whether it is the business development department working with the WIRED department or an employee in the marketing group filling in as the Storm’s mascot.
Because of their size, the amount of funding they have to work with is not very large in comparison to other professional sports teams.
“[Laura] closely monitors and makes sure that we’re spending our [advertising] dollars efficiently because we don’t have a lot of them,” Kelly said.
Advertising to the public via the media costs a great deal of money that sometimes the team doesn’t have, so they work out “trades” with other corporations to give some advertising to get some advertising. So not only do they need to know how to cooperate with others, they also have to have great negotiation skills to do their job.
Though, at times, it can be difficult working with such a small staff, there are also advantages about it. When asked what her favorite thing about her job, Laura answered, “The people that I work with. I just love coming to work everyday because of the people that I work with.”
You get to know the people you work with very well. I would imagine most of them are good friends by now, which is not very common in large companies. Moreover, Kelly started working with the Storm after majoring in Sports Management in college. She started with an entry-level customer service job and rose to the ranks of senior coordinator of business operations.
On the whole, the people in the Seattle Storm’s business offices work a lot harder than perceived. They are dedicated to a sport they love and a job they enjoy. They deal with ups and downs together as a team much like the players and learn from each other every day.
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