I was so excited to have a chance to speak with Erin Braddock for this post. I met her at our graduate program’s annual Symposium back in May and knew within minutes that she’d be a great fit for Sports Biz Mom. She has a wealth of experience in the industry and recently made a major career change for the benefit of her family. Her perspective is just the type of insight I was hoping to be able to portray on this blog and I’m so glad that it’s one of the first pieces to be shared. She also gave me one of my new favorite quotes (see below) and I will do my best not to overuse it on this site. Enjoy!
Erin Braddock lives in the Orlando area with her husband and two sons, ages four and two. She is currently an Adjunct Professor for the University of Florida Sports Management Master’s Program, where she is developing a sponsorship class that will launch this fall. She also provides career coaching to the online Master’s students, and mentors several young women who are up and coming in the sports industry. Prior to Florida, Erin spent 7+ years with the Orlando Magic, where she most recently served as the Assistant Director of Corporate Partnership Activation. Connect with her on LinkedIn.
“…We have to quit “shoulding” on ourselves.”
Can you describe a typical day in the life for you and your family? I am usually up before everyone else to get ready, that way when the kids get up I can get them dressed and out the door. I drop the kids off around 8:30 at a three-hour morning school session so I can work from 9:00 to 11:00, and then I leave to go pick them up and we do lunch. My younger son then naps, and the older one takes some quiet time and then we play and do activities until dinner. It was really hard coming off of working full-time and getting used to this new schedule. I was used to be being able to plow through things. I have had to learn how to be patient, be a lot more flexible and take my time to get things done.
What professional accomplishment are you most proud of? I am most proud of the fact I was part of the team that secured the first jersey sponsorship at the Orlando Magic with Disney. My internship after graduate school and my first job were at Disney, so it was fun to see things come full circle.
What personal accomplishment are you most proud of? My family and my kids. I got married a little later and early in my 30’s I started to wonder if I would ever have a family. Needless to say I feel extremely blessed and they were worth the wait.
Would you be willing to share the thought process behind your decision to go out on your own as a career coach and professor? I loved my job with the Magic. I loved the organization and my team. It was my “Dream Job”. I went in as a single person but within 7.5 years I was married and had two kids.
I started to think about making a change more seriously after my second son. I came back in September at a very hectic time. We were pitching the [NBA] jersey patch and I had three major partner renewals. Working in pro sports it’s not just the day, it’s game nights and some travel and I started to feel like I wasn’t seeing my kids very much. When I was there, I was an Assistant Director, and I knew the next step up would involve even more time and responsibility. I started to feel very weighed down by the thought of the next step, not excited like I had been in the past, and I used that as a litmus test for myself. I thought, “As I look at the next 5 years, do I want to keep up this lifestyle?”. I decided it wasn’t something I wanted to do anymore, yet at the same time I knew I didn’t want to be a 100%, full-time, stay-at-home Mom. So, I started to think about the things I enjoyed doing. I started looking at adjunct positions and knew I enjoyed speaking with the local students that would reach out to me for career advice.
At the same time, my husband was working for a small company and did not have benefits. So, in the back of my head, I knew when he found a different job that’s when I may make a change. Then, a fellow Ohio University alum recommended I talk with the department chair at Florida about an adjunct position that also happened to involve career coaching. In the meantime, I was able to see the jersey patch to fruition – we made the announcement last June. My husband started a new job in July, and I gave notice in August. God just kind of laid it out for us!
I will say it’s been an adjustment. For the longest time, I felt like my identity was my job, especially before I had kids. I was proud of the position and the accomplishment and I had to get to a place where I felt ok walking away. A place where I felt like I still had a lot of value in just being a mom and a part-time employee and not be Erin who works for an NBA team. It almost feels silly to say this as I don’t look down upon anyone who has made this decision or to completely walk away from work altogether. It was just a personal hurdle I encountered. I had to let go of my ego.
How has being a Mom positively impacted your career? Being a Mom has made me change my perspective. I took a leap of faith in branching out [to an adjunct teaching position], and think I would have otherwise been afraid to go to a new category. I feel invigorated…I’ve thought about speaking or doing career coaching on my own, and I wouldn’t have gone down that avenue if I wouldn’t have felt the nudge from my family to do so.
What’s something you wish you would have known about being a working Mom before you had children? I knew it would put a lot on my plate. I don’t know that I realized just how selfless you have to become and how you do have to make some hard choices. Naively, I remember being an undergrad and having a conversation with someone saying, “I know I’m going to have it all.” You know, the white picket fence, dog running in the yard, executive level job, kids, etc. That’s not to say I feel like I don’t have it all now, but it doesn’t look like I thought I would.
Being a working Mom made me realize you can’t really give 100% of yourself to every single thing. That has been the biggest change for me. When I came back from my first maternity leave, my boss, who was a female and a Mom, told me, “You just have to be okay with giving 95%. You’re not going to be able to give 100% to yourself to every single thing anymore.”
This was hard for a Type A personality like myself, but it was true, especially after having my second son. If I had game nights I was missing my kids. If I was home I felt like I was dropping the ball at work. I was always worried about not being a good mom, wife, employee…and did not realize just how challenging the juggling act would be.
What non-traditional benefits do you think would help to make the life of a Sports Biz Mom easier? Outside of on-site childcare, I think the opportunity to network with other Mom’s in the industry would be a great benefit. I know for me I dealt with the guilt of leaving work on-time. Prior to kids I’d often work long as would my team. When I had kids I had to draw line in the sand so I could get home and see them, but recall feeling almost guilty for not putting in the extra time. Perhaps if there were more women who were in a similar situation who said “I do the same thing too” it would have made it a little easier. Just a support system who could empathize or share tips on how to balance it all.
What type of childcare do/did you use while with the Magic? With our first son, my mother-in-law watched him and we also had a nanny that shared the responsibility. After my 2nd son the boys would go to daycare in the morning and then a nanny would pick them up and care for them in the afternoon.
Are they are other questions you would like me to ask another Mom that I speak with or anything else you would like to share with Sports Biz Moms? It’s important to do whatever is best for you and your family, and that’s going to look different for everybody. Whether you’re in sports or not, there’s no right or wrong way to be a working Mom. We women compare ourselves to each other and we’ll have “Mom Guilt”, no matter if you’re a stay at home mom, working full-time or part-time. It all depends on what’s best in your personal situation and we have to quit “shoulding” on ourselves.