In August of 2020, we created a paid fellowship position for students from underrepresented backgrounds. With the creation of this three-month program, our goal is to remove the societal barriers restricting qualified candidates from entering the sports industry and provide real world experience while building their own professional network. Ultimately, our hope is to create and foster a grassroots pipeline that champions and sets careers in motion. In addition to our program we partnered with Sports Biz Careers to create a Professional Toolkit in order to propel our candidate professionally. With the conclusion of our fourth year running the program, we wanted to spotlight this year’s fellowship recipient and share a glimpse of her story.

About Madison

Hometown: Long Island, NY

Undergrad: State University of New York at Albany

Major: Business Administration, with a focus in Marketing and Communications

Graduation: May 2024

Why Sports

My love for sports began when my dad first put a basketball in my hands. From the moment I could walk, my life revolved around sports, until injuries set in, preventing me from continuing to play. I knew that if I wanted to ensure the longevity of my passion, I would need to pursue it off the court. Initially I started college as a criminal justice major, intending to go to law school. I quickly found out that this was not the major for me, so I switched paths and decided to stick with business. I found my connection to sports through one of my classmates, former Navigate intern, John Bonney. He encouraged me to join the e-board of Albany Sports Business Organization, a club that he and I will be the President and Vice President of during our last year at Albany. John also helped introduce me to Sports Biz Careers and their Hiring Expo, where I was able to connect with Navigate.

Experience at Navigate

I began my time with Navigate on the Sales and Marketing team and then rotated the next month to the Primary and Secondary Research teams. It was such a great experience working with every side of the business, having a role in a variety of projects. With Sales and Marketing, I gained experience in podcast production, insight into the sales process, and developed my understanding of the use of applications like Descript, ClickUp, and Salesforce. During my time with the research and consulting teams, I really enjoyed working on a range of client-facing projects, including one brand, one team, and two leagues. At the end of the summer, I applied what I had learned to create a presentation to the entire company on the growth of NCAA Women’s basketball and the details surrounding the broadcasting rights deal for the Women’s March Madness Tournament.

Sports Biz Camps and several of my colleagues at Navigate organized the SBC + Navigate Professional Toolkit which helped me develop the professional skillset necessary to work in not only a sports organization, but any organization. Over five sessions, I learned vital lessons on written communication, project management, collaboration, persuasive presentation, and DEI from SBC’s Patrick Stack and members of the Navigate team.

I’m grateful to say that I have learned a great deal through this fellowship. I felt that Navigate still had more to offer, so I’m pleased to be able to extend my time with the team into the fall semester. Excited to continue to learn from this amazing team and work on projects that I am passionate about!

If you have any questions, or would like to learn more about our program, email Julie Angell at Julie@NVGT.com.