Throughout the month of March, Hornets.com will be featuring different employees across multiple departments in the organization in conjunction with Women’s History Month and Éne-Bé-A.
Describe what you do with the Charlotte Hornets organization.
“I’m Coordinator of Guest Experience and work alongside Arena Operations department. One side of what my job duties consist of is recruiting all of Spectrum Center’s Guest Experience part-time staff. Once I’ve recruited them and get them in the building, I move them onto my coworker, Ashley Heafy, who trains them, and then LaShae Ingram who schedules them for all events. On the guest experience side, I work really closely with Marlene Hendricks to think of and create innovative ideas to enhance the customer experience. I create some of the Guest Experience items (like Kids’ Passport), move them onto a coworker and then they activate them throughout the arena for Hornets games, concerts, etc. On the more operational side of the department, I oversee the set up for events from the front of the house perspective, that relate to our Department. Including managing the Uniform Room, placing any requested signage, setting up and troubleshooting the Lenny’s, Crown Club bathroom setups to make sure everything is up to standard for our premium guests in the arena. For larger events like the All-Star Game, I was in charge of setting up the hospitality experience in the Suites and Founders’ Levels with lighting, flowers, refreshing hand towels, and assisting in the ingress of people into the Arena, making sure they get in in a timely manner.”
What experience(s) have had the most significant impact on your career in sports?
“I went to school at St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia, where I majored in Communications with a concentration in Sports Marketing. My sports marketing teacher, Professor Stephanie Tryce, is now one of my mentors and probably had the biggest impact on my life, especially when I started to think about working in sports. Seeing a minority woman, who has gotten so far not only in life, but in both in law and in sports, really motivated me. She did it so why couldn’t I? After that, I started working as the manager for the Women’s Basketball Team. I traveled with them and saw everything from the operational side of things, learning about the industry way beyond what goes down on the court. That’s what got me obsessed with sports and I realized that sports are what I wanted to do for the rest of my life in some sort of way. No matter what I’m doing, it has to revolve around sports, it’s my passion. My freshman year and first year working in sports, we won an Atlantic 10 Conference Championship. It could not have been a better first year for me and the standard was set pretty high. We all got rings and I thought, ‘Wow this is fun.’ I was hooked!”
“When I graduated college, I then moved to Charlotte with no job and no real plan apart from “some way, somehow, I’m going to work in sports”. The biggest impact I’ve had since starting my professional career is having a female boss in Marlene Hendricks, who is also a minority and from the Caribbean (Jamaica). She’s taught me how to adapt to cultural differences and most importantly, how to believe in the talents I have and go all in on them. Coming from Puerto Rico, then living up north and coming down here is all very different, and I had to figure out how to fit in the culture but still stand out in my own way. She’s really helped me assimilate into the culture down here and understand how people handle situations in the corporate and non-corporate worlds.”
What does it mean to you to have Éne-Bé-A and Women’s History Month coincide?
“Puerto Ricans are very prideful. I tell everybody I’m from Puerto Rico because there really is nothing like us. We’re the best in my personal opinion and no one can tell me otherwise! Having Éne-Bé-A represented throughout the NBA is awesome. The way it was marketed was great and now having it coincide with Women’s History Month, it’s a perfect match made in heaven for me. I’m very prideful of where I’m from and being a woman. In this social and political climate, it’s very important to speak up, whether you’re a minority, a woman or both. Having both in the same month is the crème de la crème because there’s really no better representation that I can have of who I am and who I will always be prideful to embody. We work in the NBA, which has been great about letting us express how we feel and our thoughts. It’s very inclusive. It’s been great to have it all in one month together.”
How do you see yourself as a role model in the Latin American/Hispanic community?
“I think I’m a good representation for people who see me and think, ‘If she defeated all odds, then I can, too.’ I wasn’t born here. I came to the United States from Puerto Rico when I was 18. Out of everyone in my class, I was one of maybe three people to get a job right out of college with a professional team, let alone an NBA team. It proves you don’t have to be a man in a male-dominated industry in order to succeed. Being a minority, it sometimes works to your advantage. If you express your experiences working in the Latin community, people see that as being a benefit. It’s all about how you use your background and everything you learned in the past and then how you bring it forward. I wouldn’t consider myself the best role model because I am still learning and certainly have some things to work on, but I do consider myself a role model for people trying to get into the industry who aren’t your typical candidate. It’s possible to chase your dreams and take some risks, even if you don’t have a real plan at the beginning. I guess I’m a role model for those who wouldn’t settle for anything less than what their passionate about.”
Are there any influential Latin American/Hispanic role models in your life?
“Of course, my mom, Kari. She’s faced a lot, like battling the “machismo” down in Puerto Rico, where it’s a very male-dominated society. She defeated that and was able to create a very successful business. Now, she’s over here in the States and starting to work with different people in the Latin American community in Charlotte. She did it in Puerto Rico, now she’s doing it in the States. She’s defeating all odds.”
“Another political/social figure who has most recently had a big influence on me is Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. She’s the youngest congresswoman ever and she’s also Puerto Rican. I’m very outspoken about my beliefs and what I am passionate about, and at 29 she’s expressing her beliefs with no filter in front of people who are the complete opposite of her. I’m very much like that because you should be unapologetic proud of where you’re from and who you are. She has no reservations when it comes to that. It’s very important for women and minorities to speak up for what they believe in. Being so young, expressive, and not caring what other people think regardless of the repercussions, to me, that’s like the pinnacle of the woman I want to become.”
“With any Puerto Rican person who makes it somewhere (like Hornets Assistant Coach Jay Hernandez), it’s a big deal because it sets a standard and shows other people on the island that they can also do it. You can come to the United States, achieve that most desired American dream and still succeed while defying all odds on a day to day basis.”