How a Two-time University of New Haven Graduate Turned Passion Into a Career

Despite where I sit now, I do not feel all that disconnected from where I was less than two years ago. I was starting my senior year of undergrad as a Sport Management major, and I was at the point where all I knew was where I wanted to end up, but not what I wanted to do.

I knew I wanted to be around race cars. My oldest memories are being overwhelmed with dopamine and serotonin while I covered my ears and smiled at whatever car was certainly too loud to be near a toddler. “How was I going to make this a career?” I thought. “I will figure that out later."

When I took a partnership class with Ceyda Mumcu, Ph.D., chair of the Sport, Tourism and Hospitality Management department, in the fall of 2024, I knew I was minorly interested in partnerships, but felt so out of reach to me. It seemed like something for people who are proven, tried, and tested strategists who are very personable. Plus, it seemed like something only earned late a career, after showcasing such abilities extensively. It was not, in any case, something for an out-of-college college newbie driven solely on passion such as myself.

The first assignment in the course was developing a new partnership in the sports world. I did mine on racing, obviously. I presented perhaps a little longer than was allotted by the rubric, as I was absolutely fascinated with my topic. When evaluating my presentation, Dr. Mumcu shared with me something that seems canon now. She said, and I am paraphrasing, “You did not really cover the business side of this relationship so you may not love your grade, but I think it was because you were having so much fun.”

She was right about both the grade and the passion. While some of my classmates seemed enervated at the breadth of the projects, I enjoyed myself extensively.

The class was supposed to be “boot camp,” as I called it, for the National Collegiate Sports Sales Competition (NCSSC). If I had to summarize it, NCSSC is March Madness for college seniors who want to work in sports. The Atlanta Hawks and Baylor University now host over 600 students in two different competition disciplines: Corporate Partnerships and Ticket Sales.

I competed in partnerships, where a standardized prompt was given in the fall to simulate a real partnership between the Hawks and a corporate partner, and the student aligns the two brands and is evaluated on their abilities.

First, you compete online, conducting a very strict Zoom pitch with a long rubric and tight time cut off. The top 64 would get invited to State Farm Arena to do it in person, tournament style.

I had two weeks to create my deck, and I took it incredibly seriously. I bought a suit for the Zoom call, used my Canon camera as a webcam, and purchased a $200 podcast mic. I tried to do anything to look professional and put together. When all was said and done, I was ranked 8th in the first round along with some seriously impressive rankings from the other University of New Haven Chargers competing. We had the #1 partnership ranking heading to Atlanta.

The in-person round was overwhelming at times, but it also felt metaphorical. Here I was, because I worked hard, sitting in an NBA arena suite, talking to executives from across the sports world. Through the first tournament day, I pitched ninety minutes over the course of three hours. It was worth it, since round after round we waited for the judges to score, and, to my surprise, I just kept winning. The day ended with me differentiating myself from the other 64, competing in the preceding day’s championship final.

Unlike the early rounds, this was a mock roleplay on stage at the arena in front of the hundreds of people who attended. I was separated so the other finalist could give their pitch without me watching and taking ideas. I sat alone in a suite at State Farm Arena. In the moment I could barely appreciate the novelty of the situation, but I again realize I got to experience the unique nature of the sports world due to how hard I worked at something. While I did lose in the finals, the impact that NCSSC had on my personal regard for my abilities and the ambition for my career was something I did not anticipate.

Since I am determined to work in racing, this opportunity served as a way to legitimize my talents. Over the past two years, I have attempted to make many relationships within the four-wheel world, as encouraged by the faculty of the Sport Management Department. Now, to those I was reaching out to I was not a random college student, but a random college student who was “ranked 2nd nationally among college seniors in partnerships.” It seems small, but it did matter.

I spent my winter working with Subaru Motorsports USA and Vermont SportsCar, professional rally teams in the American Rally Association. When I met Vermont SportsCar’s owner and founder Lance Smith, one of the first things he said to me was, “I liked that deck that you made.” I was genuinely confused for a second, until I remembered that I had posted on my LinkedIn the same deck that got me 2nd nationally.

If it were not for the legitimacy that NCSSC offered my talents, I would not be where I am today. If it were not for Dr. Mumcu’s direct guidance in her partnership class and “boot camp,” I would not have even had the chance to participate at NCSSC.

To conclude I encourage those in the position I was it to be stubborn, but surgical, in your goals. I did not just say I was going to work in racing and hope it into existence. I took every opportunity I could, got out of my comfort zone often, attempted to create relationships on my own, and knew I had to consistently differentiate myself through my work to get where I wanted.

Having just accepted an offer to work with Kellymoss, one of the premier North American racing organizations, look back at many moments, people, and experiences I can cite as reasons I have achieved the start to my career I had hoped. Perhaps most core to my metamorphosis as a professional were the leaders around me at the University of New Haven, the things they told me personally, the opportunities they presented me with, and the courses I was a part of.

I used to feel such dread when a guest speaker would come in with an interesting job, or Dr. Mumcu would share a list of organizations our alumni work with now. I was worried that I would not make it onto that list. Due to the mentorship of the faculty, the opportunities the University gave me, and, most importantly, the serious dedication I put into differentiating myself from my peers, I now can say I ended up exactly where I hoped to be.