Conversations with Team Fuqua: Media, Entertainment & Sports (MES)

- Good morning and welcome. We are at the Fuqua School of Business, and we're going to be talking to you today about Media, Entertainment, and Sports. My name is Laura Lane and I am the sector director for Media, Entertainment and Sports in the Career Management Center, also known as the CMC. I'm here today with the co-presidents of the Media, Entertainment, Sports Club, Sally Sandoval and Brit Harding. And I'm going to let them introduce themselves in just a second. So we're all going to introduce, I'm going to give you a high level overview of Media, Entertainment, Sports, and then we're going to have a conversation and we're happy to answer your questions. So please put those into the Q and A via the webinar at the bottom of the page there. So, as I said, Laura Lane, what does it mean to be a sector director? That means I meet with students one-on-one for career coaching. I liaison to clubs in my sectors, including the Media, Entertainment, Sports Club. And I also work with someone on our employer engagement team to build and maintain relationships with employers. I've been at Fuqua for almost 13 years, and I've been on the daytime MBA side since September of 2018. So, I'm going to let Sally and Brit introduce, and if you could tell us where you're from, what you were doing prior to Fuqua, and why you chose to get your MBA? Sally. - I would love to. Hey everyone, my name is Sally. I am from Simsbury, Connecticut, but my parents are in Tampa, Florida now, St. Pete. Before Fuqua, I was working at the NBA, I was working in social, digital, original content production. I kind of did a lot of things in terms of roles and responsibilities, so from broadcasting, to editing, to live production to, and I finished with influencer content. So that was where I ended. I decided to get my MBA because I think that the sports industry is very specific and pretty niche and there's some things that you can't learn about sports unless you have worked in it. And I felt like I had somewhat exhausted that capacity of learning what that was and I was ready to kind of broaden my scope and learn more kind of general business skillset so that when I hopefully return to Sports, Media, Entertainment, I'm able to bring kind of a more well-rounded skillset. - Great. Makes sense, Brit. - Sweet. - Nice. - My name's Brit Harding and from Salt Lake City, Utah. So from the mountains opposite side of the country from Sally, and I grew up always loving sports. I'll get into that later. Anyways, I came from tech. I worked at LinkedIn the majority of my early career, about four and a half, five years in the Bay Area and was in a sales focused role. I studied marketing undergrad at BYU and was in sales. And just realized when I came to my kind of five year mark career wise, that I wanted to be back in sports, something that I was passionate about, felt like my skill set aligned with. And so, that was one of the reasons I came to Fuqua to pursue my MBA, was to make that pivot from tech into sports. And so that's what brings me here today. - Nice. - And super excited to be talking with you all today.

- So, I'm sure you're all aware, Media, Entertainment, Sports covers a wide swath in those industries and there's a lot of crossover. So for example, if you consume sports, it is a form of entertainment and you're consuming it via some type of media, right? So that industry includes film and television, broadcasting and streaming services, music and gaming, sports at all levels. And then sports adjacent, sports retail, sports betting, sports analytics. And the industry ranges from large well-known companies to startup businesses. The type of role that you would have, the function that you would do also is very wide. It could be business analytics, could be business development, strategy, operations, finance, sustainability, or some combination of those functions. The majority of this search is going to be what we call a custom search. And that means that these types of employers are not flocking to campus. You're going to have to do a search and network and go out there and make the connections, build the relationships to make this type of search work.

The good news is Fuqua has a deep bench of alumni with which to network with. I wanted to give you the names of some of the companies where our students in the past four to five years have interned and worked full time, no particular order. TikTok, Warner Brothers, Premier Lacrosse League, Peak Sports Management, Nike, ESPN, Comcast, MLB, NFL, NBA, Acushnet Titleist, if you're familiar with golf, Activision Blizzard, the Boston Brewings, Wasserman, Amazon Music, Sony Music, Teamworks, Tubi and Harris Blitzer Sports and Entertainment. So we'll get started with some questions and then we'll look for you to put some questions in. And if you do not, we have lots of questions. So Sally and Brit, given that you're second years

and your co-presidents of the Media, Entertainment, Sports Club, what are the events that like, you enjoyed as a first year? What are the events you guys have hosted this year that you're proud of so that the watchers will know, what can I get involved in MES when I'm at Fuqua? - So, I would say that our kind of tent pole event is Week-in-Cities. So for fall break, which is one week in between fall one and fall two, a lot of professional clubs will head to different cities and they will visit offices with Fuqua alums or some sort of Fuqua connection. So this year and last year when we were first years we went to New York City, we visited NBA office, NFL, the Athletic, Sirius XM, Brooklyn Sports. Where else did we go? - [Laura] Last year we went to New York Times. - Warner Brothers. - New York City Football Club. - Yeah. - NYCFC, shout out to James. - Yeah, he's MLB. - Yeah. So, Brit and I are a really good team. I like to think. And so, he handled like all the reach out.

We also took sports business class last year, which is a great class taught by the athletic director Nina King. But a great part of that class is a lot of the guest speakers who are Fuqua alums or Duke alums. So we were able to reach out to people in different offices. Then during fall break we all go visit their company presentations. It's a great event. And you know, the tech club goes to San Francisco and visits the offices there and finance club goes to New York and like, so a lot of professional clubs do it. I like to think ours is the most fun and cool. So yeah, that's like our main event.

And then, do you want to talk about some of the stuff we've done so far? - Yeah, yeah. And then in addition, I mean that's like, an incredible opportunity and oftentimes it's more so about the network, right? - Sure. - The relationship building. And there may not be like, an internship offer, right? When you're going there, oftentimes it's not that, but it's the relationships that come because of it that are so valuable. Like Laura, you said, like the deep bench of alumni at these companies. Like, you think, Duke basketball, like, that's how good the bench is. - Yeah. - For like, our alumni in these industries. But in addition to Week-in-Cities, we do, a big thing we do are panels with our alumni. So virtual panels, sometimes they're in person. Laura mentioned a lot of the topics that we like to cover. We recently had an alumni panel focused on sports analytics. We're hoping to do more, maybe focus on sports betting, streaming, even women in sports. So incredible opportunities for us as students to come together to hear alumni on campus versus having to go to Week-in-Cities. That's a big thing that we want to focus on is building the relationship with alumni. And then also, like Sally mentioned, like, cool and fun, that's us. Like, we love to host events. There's always going to be food, fun whether we're going to games like a Carolina Canes game, going to a Duke football game that could be having a tailgate. We want to build those relationships with students, 'cause oftentimes that's where we learn the most is with our alumni and among other students who have been in the industry. Yeah. Anything else you want to add? - Yeah, I think we also did a panel at the beginning of the year of second years

about their summer internship experience. So in addition to alums, I think one of our best value adds is like, the student network. So our second year cabinet is like a great group of people that have, for example, James who worked at NYCFC. So he was able to hook it up at that office. - Yeah. - And I think that, because maybe it's a more niche industry and like you said, we don't have employers coming to us. We really rely on like our own classmates, teammates, and the network that we have just within students is incredible as well. So, we try to harness that. - Yeah. - One more thing I'd mention too is just given that we're part of Duke University and thinking about those that maybe basketball players that have played at Duke come back and speak, for example, Duke hosts a Duke Sports Business Conference. - Yep. - And Sally mentioned, what was the other event that you mentioned? - Second year. - Yeah, second year. - Panel. Is that what you're talking about? - I think, oh, it'll come back to you. - Okay. - But we just have access to big Dukes resources. - Yeah. - It's pretty incredible to kind of be part of that. - Yeah. And I think to add on to that, if you choose to go to like a conference, so MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference is a big conference. We have an alum at the Boston Bruins and he's offering a site visit this year. And so, it's a full circle. As student, I fully expect them, you know, we'll be reaching out to Brit and Sally after they graduate, wherever it is they are to say, "Hey, we're coming to your city. " And you know, "How can we connect? " - Yeah. - So I think the team Fuqua thing is a real thing. And you see that in the community or the ecosystem that is built

as students and engaging in, whether it's Week-in-Cities or these panels. - Yeah. - So we got a couple questions. So let's take a look at the questions. So, Kevin says, I'll take this first one, "For international students, will visa be a big issue during the recruiting process of sports industry? " So, Kevin, that's a great question. Since I've been in this role, I will say it's challenging for international students, but I think the key is, if you can find that intersection of tech and sports, media, entertainment, tech is very open to hiring international students. And beyond that, MES I would say it just, it's company by company. It really depends. And so it is challenging. I have not seen a lot of international students strictly like in sports, but media entertainment. So like, TikTok is a tech company and they certainly do hire.

How often do you see MBA roles that overlap consulting and sports media? Same thing with banking, overlapping with sports media. So, you know, I will just add on to this question. Thank you Alex. Obviously, if you're pivoting, and let's face it, would you say the majority of students are here to pivot? - Yeah. - I would say so. - Yeah, it's easier to pivot one thing instead of both things. So I want to pivot industry. I used to work in finance. I'm looking for a finance role in sports or in media entertainment. So, I just want to put that out there. But all of these industries that we're talking about, you know, sports at every level, broadcasting, whatever, they all need consultants, they all need finance people. They all need ops people and marketing people. And so again, it depends. I'll just give away that Brit here, interned at Nike. Nike hires for finance, for global ops, for strategy. You worked in, you did the marketing in Vanguard. So he worked in marketing. And so, within any of these companies they have certain roles. I will say, the most, like beyond Nike that has a million different roles that they can hire for, for internships. You see a lot of strategy and analytics. So these people I mentioned like at Harris Blitzer, at the Boston Brewings, at Nike, there's a lot of analytics and strategy, or strategy and analytics. Anything to add to that? - What we're doing next year? - Brit, what are you I'll be going back to Nike. (all laughing) Thanks, Sally. - With the Marketing Vanguard. - With Marketing Vanguard. - Okay, nice. - One more thing

I'd mentioned Laura. - Yeah. - And this is Sally, you mentioned at the sports business class with the athletic director. We cover so many of these related topics, so there was one whole class session focused on private equity and sports. - Yes. - So thinking about banking and sports and then, yeah, related to kind of strategy and sports. That's essentially like the consulting. And so, it all comes back to your custom search and who you're connecting with. And I think a big resource is that class with the athletic director. - That's how I got my summer internship. - Yeah. - Yeah, what'd you do to set the summer- - Can you talk about that a little bit? - So. one of the best- - Incredible. - Like I said, parts of that class taught by Nina King and then legend Kevin White is the guest speakers that come in. So we had a guest speaker who was a Duke alum who was the CMO, is the CMO, I believe that's the title of Premier Lacrosse League. And so, a lot of, like after these classes you're really encouraged to reach out. You kind of find that Duke and Fuqua alums want to help other Duke and Fuqua alum, or Fuqua students. So I reached out to him and this was also like, kind of like Brit said, there wasn't a listed position. It was really just reaching out to speak with him and learn about, you know, he was formally at the NFL and he came from a content background, so we kind of had similar interests and experiences. And then from that there was an opening or there was a role and opportunity to work in it. It was like a grassroots marketing position for PLL this summer. But I like, chuck it up to business sports business class, 'cause that's how I got connected. - Yeah, that's awesome. - And I would say like, Sally's a great example of like, just taking initiative and like, you had to put yourself out there and like connect with them and take the step yourself. - I wish I did that earlier in the year. I should've. - So, will this event be recorded and available to rewatch? I would imagine that admissions will provide that information to you, Chen Yu. And then Kevin, a follow up question about proactively reaching out. I was wondering if this means

that there won't be process like campus recruiting. That is correct Kevin. So Nike is involved. They don't actually come to campus. They do everything virtually, but that's as close as it gets. So if you want to work for the NBA, the NFL, the MLB, Major League Soccer, TikTok, Warner Brothers, they are not coming to campus. And you can imagine, they just don't need to. Right? They get so many applications. They don't need to leave the confines of their building, pay for airfare and a hotel. They just get whatever they need. That doesn't mean you don't network, but it is, when we say custom search, that's what we're talking about. I'm in Indiana. I come from a retail marketing brand. Wouldn't people who have done consulting, always have an edge over me when it comes to recruiting or consult? Okay, so Nohini is asking, he comes from retail and marketing. Wouldn't people who have done consulting always have an edge over me? I think it really depends. Like, what do you want to do? do marketing and utilize your background or are you looking to pivot? So, it's not always about experience. So a lot of people who worked in consulting no longer want to work in consulting, or they worked at a consulting company and they're aiming for a different type of consulting company or a different role maybe, internal strategy. So I don't think you can necessarily say that they'll always have an edge over you. How well do you network? How well have you prepared for the interview? All of that is taken in. I don't think they look at only one factor, Nohini. - We didn't come from consulting. - Nor are we going there. (all laughing) - Don't tell the consulting sector director.

All right. I'll ask you guys. How would you describe Team Fuqua's spirit and practice, especially in MES? - Hmm. As I said before, Brit and I are kind of a dream team. I think that, for example, for Week-in-Cities, Brit was not able to be on the ground and I was able to be there. I said, I'm down to go if you help kind of with reach out. And we were able to split it up and accommodate each other. And I think, you know, just the nature of the professional club, we are very like, adaptive, roll with the punches. Everybody's really willing to help out. For sports analytics, I was in charge of food and I accidentally hit pickup instead of delivery. And my boy Nick was super helpful 'cause he would like go with me. He was hauling in the sandwiches, like, stuff like that. And even like, we had other people in our cabinet kind of take the lead for, you know, piloting the sports analytics panel. So it's really like, people are willing to help out. - Yeah. - like, kind of spot you where you need help. And it's never like, I don't know, it's never, I'm never worried, like, I won't find somebody to, if I need help with something. I'm never like, I'm never going to find anyone. It's like, who can I ask? It's like a menu of people. - Yeah. I plus one, Sally.

Like, that was one of the biggest reasons I wanted to come to Fuqua, specifically was Team Fuqua. Like the alumni is so tight and I think that trickles down into the student base. And it starts here as students, like, as we think about the alumni, like the analytics panel we planned or Week-in-Cities, like these different events that we plan, we've like done the outreach to gauge like, what do students need? Like, we've run a survey, we've tried to get an understanding like, you want to pivot into media, entertainment, and sports. What is it that you need from the club? So that's the cool thing about this club and what we're trying to do is kind of craft our events and craft our initiatives around what students are hoping to accomplish, with of course like, what we've seen done in the past that's worked really well. - Yeah. - So that's been a really cool part is it's if you want to be part of a club and like initiatives that you have full responsibility and can take that on, you get that opportunity here, which has been really cool with Sally and I. And then again, you have access to like, Duke's athletic program and Big Duke. Like, that's such a valuable aspect of being part of this club and Team Fuqua. - So, I just want to follow on that, 'cause one of the items I really want you to understand is that there are a lot of people who are interested in MES but their job out of Fuqua or the internship may not be in MES but they really engage in experiential learning. And so what Brit is talking about is the Duke Athletic Fellows program. There's a lot of opportunity. You can create your own mentored study. There are Fuqua client consulting practicum opportunities where you work on a small team. It could be MES related, but Brit, could you talk about a little bit about

Duke Athletic Fellows? - Yeah, yeah. We're going to win the championship this year. No, Duke basketball game last night, my voice is nearly gone 'cause they beat Florida. It's a great game. But yeah, so the Duke Athletics Fellowship is essentially like, at my university they call it an on-campus internship where you get class credit, experiential learning, but you get to be in the workplace essentially. So Duke Athletics Fellowship is, there are positions, I think there's eight positions every year. There's one involved with NIL. finance, with the women's basketball team. I think there's an analytics position. So you go through an application interview process and if you're selected you get to participate directly with the athletic program. So you're working with assistant athletic directors, you're working with athletes, and like faculty within the athletic department. And you get hands-on experience, which is so cool, with like, the best athletic program in the nation. - Yeah. - Second to maybe BYU. No. - Right. - That was my undergrad. But it's such a, again, it's the access to those greater resources of Big Duke that are pretty incredible. - You essentially have like a professional sports league in your backyard. And I think that there are many instances where like, Duke Athletics is probably like, that name is probably sometimes more valuable than certain professional teams. - Yeah. - So, I can't like, emphasize what Brit said enough about what you have on this campus

in terms of like firsthand experience and opportunity. - We have '24 alum who is chief football strategy for Duke football. And he walks over in August and he comes and speaks to all of the career management centered classes about networking. So he walks back and forth and he's happy, he's happy to do it. And I think that's another sign of Team Fuqua alums being engaged. You know, he happens to be on campus. Most of our alums working in this space are not on campus. But that, it's just another great example. And so, you know, experiential learning, Team Fuqua, the alumni, the classes, they're trying out a class this spring in sports analytics. That will be a first. So, most fun event you have experienced as a member of MES.

Woo, that's a good one. Most fun. - Low key. We had a cabinet dinner before break. And although that's not really like, outward facing with employers, like, that was the most fun. - That was fun. - I like, look forward to that because it's a great group of people we got to know our first year cabinet. It's just like a cool group of people. And we went to Mezcalito. - Nice. - Which is a Mexican restaurant in Durham. - Nice. - And it was really fun. - Yeah. That was a blast. - Yeah. - I would also say Week-in-Cities... Like, I can't speak about that one enough. Both first year and second year was such a blast. Who asked that? That was Alex. - Yeah. That was such a fun experience. I think the year before us was LA, right? Laura? The club with LA? - Yes. Mm-hm. - So like LA, New York, those are probably the two biggest hubs. But just to be in the city and experience, be in the, you know, the offices of these companies was pretty sweet. - Yeah. I mean, I would say in seven years minus COVID, it's usually New York. You know, the LA was, I mean it was cool

but it's a long way away. - Yeah. - So there's an important question here. What experience or resources have helped you the most in shaping your career direction and recruiting? - So, we were actually talking about this before, earlier this morning. But I think that, because it's such a custom search and, you know, compared to finance or consulting where they might have roadmaps of you do step A and then step B, I think that there are times where recruiting wise, this can feel kind of isolating. Kind of like you're a black sheep at Fuqua because it is again, like a more niche interest. And I think that we kind of strive to be somewhat of a support group for students who are interested. Like Brit said, like you mentioned as well. Like, people who are just interested in learning what roles there are or people who are like, more determined to be in a MES position after graduating. I think just having like a set group of people that you're able to talk to, you're able to like, ask questions. I think the fact that we exist as a club is just a way to show these people like, that we understand that this is something that some people are interested in. And it might, we might not have like the biggest group, but I think that there's value in, you know, like, showing people that there is help. And even if you're just like, this sucks sometimes, having somebody to talk to about it was most helpful for me. - Yeah. I think we're, what are we at now? Like, I think we're over 100 members- - Yeah. - At MAS, which is great.

I should shout out Laura too. Like, Laura is- - Absolutely! - Having Laura as a resource. - Thank you. - Not just a sector director, but like, a mentor, friend, a coach, career center coach. - Laura's a goat. - Like, that is the type of resource that like, she's always willing to meet with us and like students first years and second years. I think that's a huge advantage. And benefit is, is Laura has had experience in this space for over a decade. - Yeah. - Which is pretty phenomenal. - Oh, thank you. - And yeah. Plus one to what Sally said, I don't have much to add to that other than the alumni. Like, the alumni are incredible. I've never had an alumni say no to connecting. - Mm. - Whether it be an email, a LinkedIn message, a text, a phone. Like, I don't know if I've directly called somebody, but. - Yeah. - Like over those different methods, they've always said yes. And that's like Team Fuqua at its best. - All right. Well, we are almost out of time, so- - So quick. - 30 seconds. - The last question. Yeah. - Piece of advice for these students interested in going to MES? Like, anything you wish you'd known before you entered the program, or what's the advice you would give about if you want to pursue recruiting in MES? - I would say, if it's something that you really want to do

then stick to it. Don't feel like you have to do what the person next to you is doing. - That's great. - Even though it might be hard at sometimes. And then my second piece of advice is to start reaching out early and not wait until April like I did. (all laughing) - Wisdom. - That's good advice. a good wisdom. Yeah, and plus one to that, like, remember your strengths. I think there was a question in here on like, will consulting always have an advantage over me? Like, what got you to where you are today? Like, channel those strengths to find kind of a space that you're going to excel at. And that was a big thing for me is I came from a sales background looking to do marketing, like they're somewhat related. So I was able to stay in that space instead of like, totally pivot to finance. - Yeah. - You know, like a two pivot. The other thing is you have to be organized. Like, think about who you want to reach out to. Do some reflection on what kind of role do you want to have? What space do you actually want to work on. Like, it takes time to reflect and to do the reach out and do it early. - All right. That is our time. Thanks for being with us. I hope this has given you some information that you needed. Thanks to Sally and Brit. And best of luck, and we hope to see you here at Fuqua next year. - See you next year. - We won't be here. (all laughing) So sad. (hands slapping)