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Developing, Supporting, and Encouraging Moms Working in Sports

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Archives for October 2018

Sports Biz Mom: Jamie Morningstar, Milwaukee Bucks

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The NBA is back – and in a big way here in Milwaukee.   The Milwaukee Bucks move into the Fiserv Forum has been highly anticipated, and the team will officially hit the hardwoods in its new home this Friday, 10/19, when they take on the Indiana Pacers.  The city has been buzzing about its new arena and the development surrounding it, and the Bucks recently announced they sold a team-record 10,000 season tickets for the upcoming season.  This is a far cry from the league-low of 2,500 season-ticket holders in 2014, when the current ownership took the reigns of the team, and this week’s interviewee, Jamie Morningstar, started with the Bucks.  I spoke with Jamie back in August and always planned to save this conversation to kick-off the NBA season – and I’m so glad I did.  As you’ll read, during our interview, she mentioned her team’s goal of selling 10,000 season-tickets. So, I was excited to see all of the fun press around everything her team has accomplished earlier this month.  You can find her quoted in this article on ESPN.com.  Congratulations, Jamie! Best of Luck to you and the Bucks this season!

Jamie Morningstar has extensive experience in the NBA and is currently the Senior Vice President of Ticket Sales & Service for the Milwaukee Bucks, where she has worked since 2014.  Previously, she served as the Vice President of Season Ticket Service & Retention at Madison Square Garden, and also spent time with the Oklahoma City Thunder, Seattle Super Sonics and Palace Sports & Entertainment.  She holds a J.D. from Ave Maria School of Law and a Bachelors in Business and Sports Administration from the University of Kansas.   Jamie lives in Milwaukee with her husband and two children, ages two and a half and one.  Connect with her on LinkedIn.

What are your day-to-day responsibilities with the Milwaukee Bucks? I oversee ticket sales from a plan sales perspective and all of our premium sales and service at the new arena.   This includes season tickets, group sales, and premium seating for the basketball and non-basketball events in the arena.  Including interns, our team has about seventy employees.

The Bucks are moving in to the Fiserv Forum this fall.   What most excites you about this new era in Bucks basketball?  There are so many things to be excited about!  This isn’t just about Bucks – it’s more about revitalizing the downtown area.  There’s been so many people in the community that have helped us to this point and so many awesome contributors that have truly helped us make a difference. Our goal is to sell 10,000 season tickets, which would be a record for the team.  However, we’ve also created new jobs and new housing – the most meaningful part is that it’s more than just basketball.

Can you describe a typical day in the life for you and your family?  To walk you through a normal workday, I’d first have to start on the weekend.  On Friday night, after the kids go to bed, I get on Pinterest and decide what meals I want to make the following week.  Then, I order the groceries and have them delivered.   Grocery delivery is a lifesaver – it’s worth the 10% fee!  I make two meals on Saturday night, and another two on Sunday, and this is our food for the week.

During the week, our normal wake-up time is around 4:30 or 5:00 AM.  We get the kids up and my husband feeds them breakfast while I get ready.  We are out the door around 7:00/7:30 AM every day and I drop them off at daycare.

My husband is a teacher, so summer is different, but when he’s working, he’ll pick the kids up at the end of the day.  They will all get home around 5:30 PM and I am there around 6:15 PM.  My husband decides which of the meals we’re eating and I’m usually there about the time the food is ready.

Depending on how tired the kids are, they either play or go straight to bed.  We do baths in the morning because they can’t function at night.   After they eat and go to bed, we make their lunches and bottles using the meals we made over the weekend.  We also do a bunch of steaming of vegetables on the weekend to include in their lunches throughout the week.  On a game night I’ll come home for thirty minutes to say good night and help with the bedtime routine, and then I go back to the arena.

You have extensive experience in the NBA and ticket sales, which seems to be a sector of the industry that many women are either hesitant to start their careers in or simply view it as a necessary stop early in their careers.  Give me your best “sales pitch” as to why more women should pursue ticket sales as a career track.  Even as we go through the recruiting process for the entry level folks, there’s a very disproportionate number of males that apply versus females.  The women are just as capable, if not more so, if they take it on.  I just don’t think there is a lot of education about the available opportunities. Personally, I’ve never felt like I wouldn’t be able to excel as a female [in ticket sales].  Our role as we go through our recruiting process is to make sure we get in front of as many people as possible and find the most qualified applicants. I don’t know if it’s a stigma – there’s a negative connotation to being a salesperson – some people immediately think you’re trying to trick them into something.  However, we need to make sure everyone knows the growth that can happen from it.

I’m assuming your role requires you to be at the arena most game nights.  Are you able to integrate your family into your work? It’s a twelve minute drive for me to and from and work. On a random Friday in the summer, my husband will pick the kids up and bring them to the office.  If we have events on the weekend, I’ll bring them to those. They’re too young to come to games in the evening, but they come on the weekends.  We tell my 2-year old it’s a “basketball party”.

We’re very fortunate that our President loves kids, and respects what mothers go through.  He’ll tell us, “I don’t want to hear it if you need to leave for something.  Do what you need to do. As long as you’re getting your work done this organization supports you to do what you need to do to try to find as much balance as possible in an industry where it’s hard to find balance.”

The sports industry is notorious for its demanding schedule and long hours.  As a leader in your organization, how would you suggest women and/or parents approach the subject of flexibility with their supervisors? We need people to get their stuff done and their work is tied to our network so it’s hard to work from home; but, there are a lot of people on our staff that have kids.  One of our managers even had a baby eight weeks early.  They had to be in the hospital to be around her and we said, “Hey, do what you need to do.”  Another rep had a sick child and his wife didn’t have a flexible job.   There’s no policy about the number of days – if they need something outside a normal request is all they have to do is talk to a manager. You just need to make sure you stay on top of your work.

We’re trying to create a culture where people want to come to work every day.  If you’re not doing that, you’re going to be coutnterproductive and they [your employees] will hold it against you.  There is not a good chance someone will stick around or be engaged if life is miserable at home.  We buy into our people and our people buy into us as a result.

We buy into our people and our people buy into us as a result.

I believe that balance as Mom who works is a myth.  The pull of work versus home comes in waves, and the challenge is adjusting to the tides and re-prioritizing how you spend what limited free time you do have.  How do you maintain those boundaries and is there anything on your pre-child “to-do” list that now doesn’t make the cut? I have to be more efficient at work at the highest level possible. I used to be scoot out at 6:30 or 7:00 PM, eat dinner, and then get caught up on email – I can’t do that anymore.   I have to figure out a way to get ready for the next day during the day. I’m also exhausted beyond belief when the kids go to bed, so doing that is a vicious cycle.

I’ve had to learn to be okay with having more unread emails in my inbox than I used to.  I’ve been clear with my leaders and told them that if they need something immediately to pop in and talk to me – especially with what’s going on right now.  My inbox is just insane.

The one thing I’ve tried to continue to do is get at least twenty minutes in working out.  If I’m  dead tired I do choose which is more important – sleep or exercise – but I am more consistent with that [working out] than I was before.

How has being a Mom positively impacted your career or made your better at your job?  It put things in perspective.  I’m a super emotional person,  and while I think the people that report to me might not say this, I’ve been a lot more calm on some stuff because it’s all in perspective now.  If I’m freaking out about having all those unread emails, I think,  “Would I rather do that or read books to my child?”  That’s a no brainer every time.

Do you have any book/blog/podcast recommendations for the Sports Biz Mom? I would recommend The Purple Cow by Seth Godin, as well as his daily blog.  I read things all the time in his blog that I apply to my work.

Are they are other questions you would like me to ask another Mom that I speak with or any other thoughts to share? What has been most helpful for me is to work for people who are understanding and who support working Moms. It’s not necessarily a question you can ask when someone’s interviewing for a job.  For example, it’s not, “How supportive are you to working Moms?” It’s “Have you had a working Mom as part of your staff before and how does it impact performance?”

If you have kids you have to show up on time and it doesn’t matter.  Everyone should be treated fairly across the board; but, working for good people has been the best part about feeling good about having kids and not feeling like I have a guilt trip.  I don’t feel like I have to miss something on the work side or vice versa.  IT IS achievable, you just have to have a good partner, a supportive organization, and others to lean on to help get the job done.

Sports Biz Mom: Amy Weinstein Flynn, CertifiKID

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I was (and am) excited to share my latest interview with Amy Weinstein Flynn.   She contacted me right after Sports Biz Mom launched in June, and while I recognized her name from my graduate program’s alumni directory, we had never previously spoken.  Amy has an extensive background in sponsorship sales, and she’s also incredibly funny and creative.  In fact, I now have some great ideas for future crowd sourced blog posts (Funny pumping story? Please, hit me up!).  I appreciated her openness about her experience as one of the only Moms within her company when she had her first child, and it really drove home how important it is for all managers – no matter their gender or family status – to be educated and comfortable talking about family life with their employees.

After 15+ years in the traditional sports business world, Amy Weinstein Flynn joined CertifiKID in October 2017 as a National Account Executive, helping the team bring on new major partnerships and offers.  CertifiKID is a trusted resource for over 1 million moms, bringing them exclusive local and national offers on family entertainment, attractions, products, services, and experiences.  She came to CertifiKID after nearly 5 years as the Director of Sales for Inside Lacrosse, managing all advertising and event sponsorship sales for the largest media outlet in the sport.  

Prior to that, she held senior sales positions with IMG College/ISP Sports as General Manager at George Washington University and Assistant General Manager at Villanova.  She got her start in the sports industry on the agency side, with both Octagon and Velocity Sports & Entertainment (now part of MKTG), on accounts such as AT&T, FedEx, P&G, The Home Depot, and AutoTrader.com.   

Amy is a 2005 graduate of Ohio University’s Sports Administration program, with a dual Masters in Business Administration and Sports Administration.  She received her undergraduate degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 2001, where she also served as a captain and 4-year starter for the Women’s Lacrosse team.  She resides in Columbia, Maryland, with her husband Dan, daughter Hannah (4.5 years), and son Bennett (2.5 years). Connect with her on LinkedIn.

Can you describe a typical day in the life for you and your family?  For the first time ever in my career, for almost a year now, I’ve been working from home – which is fantastic.  I’ve had some miserable commutes in past jobs. Traffic in the Washington/Baltimore area is horrendous, no matter where you need to go, so that has opened up so much time for me personally and professionally.

We have an au pair living in our home, which seems so extravagant, but it’s actually extremely affordable.  She’s been with us since shortly before our second child was born and it’s about half the cost of having two non-school aged kids in full-time daycare.

Our au pair gets the kids up in the morning, gets them dressed and gives them breakfast.  It’s amazing to just enjoy some time together in the morning, and I’m grateful we don’t have the stress and rush to get out the door.

Once my husband leaves for work, I go upstairs to my office.  The kids will go out on play dates or to school. Sometimes they’re around the house and doing things and its awesome to be able to join them for lunch when they’re home.

My office in the home is pretty secluded from their play/napping areas and they know when Mom’s working that she’s working.  We try to have family dinner every night and spend some time doing something fun together before everyone goes to bed.

You have 15+ years’ experience in the industry and in the past year decided to move to a role outside of traditional sports business world.  Can you tell us your thought process behind that decision? I had no intention of ever leaving the sports industry.  I always thought there was nothing I could be more passionate about in a career than sports and in particular, lacrosse. That’s why I thought I’d be in my spot at Inside Lacrosse for a very long time.

What I came to realize after having kids, was that I had changed a lot more professionally than I expected to.  Although I still loved my job (and couldn’t imagine doing anything else), I found myself starting to be less relevant, and less connected with the industry trends than I had been before.

Ever since my daughter was young, I’ve been a CertifiKID subscriber – most of the moms in our neighborhood are.  I’m very particular about spam in my Inbox, and delete and unsubscribe from just about everything, but I would always open my CertifiKID e-mails daily to see what that day’s deal was.  One night last year, I opened my daily CertifiKID e-mail, and instead of a local offer, it was an announcement that they were hiring full-time sales staff.  I remember reading that e-mail and thinking that the opportunity to work from home AND seek out local family deals sounded amazing – I mean, I was already spending much of my free time trying to find great deals on things to do with my own kids, so what could be better than doing that full-time?  It was the first time I’ve ever just blindly sent in a job application without having some kind of foot already in the door.  I didn’t even know where to find my résumé in my files, and I think it was in a version of Word that was so old I couldn’t even open it on my computer!  I honestly didn’t think it would lead to anything, and I didn’t know much about them as a company, other than being a customer myself.  After I received a response from my application and started to learn more, I knew I had to go all-out and give it a chance.  It was a leap of faith on many levels, but I’m so glad I made it.

What I’m really loving is that there is a ton of crossover into the sports and entertainment world.  I was just back and forth with some old friends at Octagon and the NFL this week because I’m trying to pitch a partnership with Home Depot for their kids’ workshops, and the NFL for their  Women’s Marketing Initiatives. I’ve also worked with a bunch of the local college and professional teams – some of our best-selling offers are for family ticket packages, sports camps, and other family events run in the sports facilities.  I probably have a more relevant and valuable partnership opportunity within the sports and entertainment industry now than I did at Inside Lacrosse. It’s the women and moms that make all the purchasing decisions for their families, so they’re a desirable target, and we have a super unique platform to reach them.

Do you or did you have other “Mom Mentors” or Moms working in sports to help guide  you through parenthood and professional life? I really didn’t, and I think that’s such a shame.  I’d be curious to hear what kind of answers you’re getting from other women you’re talking to.  I was with IMG when my daughter was born and it was kind of an office of one. I was running the property for George Washington. I was surrounded by co-workers in GW’s Athletic Department and none of them were Moms. Nor were there any in my immediate IMG division.  In fact, I remember when I first called to tell my boss I was pregnant, he was ecstatic and thrilled for me…but then told me that he had absolutely no clue what to tell me in terms of maternity leave policies, next steps, logistics, etc. He was an SVP and had been there since before ISP became IMG (probably 15 years), and this was the first time any of his employees had needed to take maternity leave.  At the time, with the seventy or so properties that IMG managed, I think there were maybe three female General Managers.

How has being a Mom positively impacted your career? Two things: I didn’t realize how capable I was of multitasking and being able to get a lot of shit done when I needed to until I became a Mom.  Over the course of the baby taking a short 20-minute nap, I could manage to feed myself, shower, put the laundry away, and unload the dishwasher.  When I returned to work after maternity leave, I think I was able to get through the daily, mundane tasks in about half the time it took me before.

Before having kids, we all work such long hours, have great coworkers and a fun energetic work environment, and aren’t in a rush to leave at the end of the day.  Now, I’m also more motivated to end work on time.  I was able to really compartmentalize work and focus more on my work-life balance.  Those of us that have chosen a career in sports, we’re so passionate about what we do, that we never stop working.  We get into bed and respond to emails, are constantly working on our phones and laptops, and find little time to focus on much else.  However, I realized in my first few months back from maternity leave, that once you get home and see that little smile on your baby’s face, all the stress from the day goes away and you realize what’s really important.  I’m now able to manage any stress from work much better, and be more present when I’m at home.

The sports industry is always going to have irregular hours that are difficult to manage with a family.  If you want to work in the industry, that’s just a fact.  What can we in the industry do to make it a more family-friendly place to work?  Education and support.  Before I was a mother, I had absolutely no clue what the early stages of motherhood entailed. When someone in the office came back from maternity leave, I just treated them like I did before they left, thinking they has been out for some glamourous, blissful extended vacation.  Now I know how far from the truth that is, and it infuriates me anytime maternity leave is compared to “vacation”.

I think we need to educate younger coworkers (or co-workers without children) about what new mothers returning to the workplace have been through and will continue to go through both physically and emotionally.  I also think breastfeeding education for managers is key.  We need to make it a welcoming environment for mothers to come back.

What advice do you have for women coming up in the industry, particularly in sponsorship sales, who also know they want to someday have a family? It can be done. It can be a harder transition coming back to work in sports as compared to other industries, but I feel that being a mom provides a unique and valuable perspective to your work once you do come back.

Because there are so few Moms in sponsorships sales, it almost gives you a professional edge in speaking to clients.   There are many female decision makers out there who are Moms, and it’s refreshing for them to speak with or work with someone who gets it.  Even men – whether they’re coworkers or clients – if they are dads themselves, they’re going to understand and appreciate what you’ve been through.  You’ll probably see a side of clients and coworkers that you didn’t before, which can definitely help strengthen your relationships with them both professionally and personally.

Do you have a funny or embarrassing Mom moment you’d be willing to share? While I was gone on maternity leave from IMG, the Athletic Department at GW got a new copier/printer – a huge monster of a machine – and they put it right smack in the middle of my (private/single) office. It was the hub for three different departments for printing, scanning, copying, faxing, etc.

My boss texted me a picture the week before maternity leave ended, saying “This is where Marketing put their new printer.  Welcome Back, Mom!”

So, every time I had to pump, I had to announce it to the entire office, to make sure no one had any immediate printing needs or needed to pick up anything from the printer  – it definitely was not a welcoming environment.  When I voiced concerns about the privacy/conflict, I was told that I should be using one of the GW lactation rooms that were spread across the campus.  The closest one to my office was at least 4 large city blocks away, and I was returning in the bitter cold of January, so that just wasn’t going to happen.