Gina Lehe is the Senior Director of External Relations and Branding for the College Football Playoff. She spent 16 years working in the college football bowl industry prior to joining the College Football Playoff in 2014, most recently as Director of Media for the Rose Bowl Game. Lehe served in similar capacities for the Insight Bowl and Fiesta Bowl.
She is a member of the Association for Women in Sports Media (AWSM), College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA), Football Writers Association of America (FWAA), National Football Foundation (NFF) and the Football Bowl Association (FBA).
In 2017, she was named to the Sports Business Journal (SBJ) Game Changers: Women in Sports Business.
Lehe graduated from the University of Arizona with a bachelor of arts in communications. Originally from Pacific Grove, California, she is married to husband, Adam. The Lehe’s have two daughters, Adriana (4) and Natalia (18 months). Connect with her on LinkedIn.
What are your daily responsibilities with the College Football Playoff?
My title was recently changed from Communications to External Relations to better capture how the industry and environment evolved over the years. I recently celebrated 20+ years in college football and when I started “branding” didn’t exist. People don’t really understand what branding is. I think folks that do have proven to be successful because they’re looking outside of what some people just view as a logo. Along with my title in college football shifting, so has my focus. The same goes for the Sports Information Directors on campus. We’ve had to evolve what we do, and those of us that have, have reaped some of the benefits of not getting left behind with social and digital media.
For us, external relations is anything that’s leaving our office walls; press releases, programs, game banners, commercials, tweets, logos. Anything that speaks to who and what the College Football Playoff is. This includes items generated internally and externally. We also handle all of the traditional media relations functions like credentialing. All of these ties into the perception, trust and likeability of our company. It’s all about how people are digesting your content and interacting with you as a company.
We have a pretty lean team. I have an assistant that works with our department specifically and a seasonal intern. We work very closely with vendors, but only have two people solely dedicated to the department.
While most working in sports do not have a “typical” day, it seems that daily and weekly routines are key to keeping the family on track. What sort of routines have you developed for your family throughout the work week?
My husband and I both travel for work, so I think the biggest thing is that we have a joint family calendar. It’s a basic, color coded, calendar in Excel. Fortunately, for at least my side of the travel, we have a fairly robust planning system for the site visits for the national championship games. I know in January/February what my calendar will look like for the rest of the year and my husband plans his trips around that. This calendar is the bible of our household operations. We don’t have family in Dallas and with two kids and two parents that travel, making sure we have care scheduled in advance is really important.
It’s also a perspective piece. We use the calendar to plan what are we going to do when we’re not traveling. We still need to have fun with our kids when we’re not on the road. I think looking at it from a full year perspective is what does it for me. I sit back and I look at it, and I’m like, “Man, we need to make sure we do stuff with our family and not just work.”
Working in sports, I think we all have those “pinch me” moments, where you can’t believe you’re being paid to do what you’re doing. What is your biggest “pinch me” moment to date?
Having an opportunity to be in the room with the selection committee from day one and seeing the different people who have been in those seats. Just knowing their backgrounds and having the opportunity to side bar with them during lunch or breaks. How often do you get to learn about the career path of someone like Condoleezza Rice?
In the first year, outside of the fall for rankings, we met two times per year. My real “pinch me” moment would be when Tyrone Willingham, Barry Alvarez, Archie Manning, and Condi sang “Happy Birthday” to me. In what world would that happen? These are iconic coaches and a hall of famer – I would have never imagined in a million years those folks would be in the room together, let alone singing “Happy Birthday” to me.
If you could go back and tell your pre-children self-one thing, what would it be?
Appreciate the now for what is. I’m extremely Type A, and I’m always worried or thinking about what’s next and what I’m going to do. I wish I would have stopped to value more and appreciate what is now, and I can pinpoint when that shifted for me – when I lost my Mom to cancer. It changed my whole perspective on time and living in the moment. I hate it took that for me to accept that message and receive it, but I have to look for glimpses of the silver lining from that experience.
In your SBJ Game Changers feature, you mentioned that our constant news cycle and the need for immediacy has a detrimental impact on credibility and productivity. How do you ensure that your team does not fall into this trap during the high-pressure moments surrounding the CFP?
First, respect yourself and respect the people that you work with when it comes to communicating. If somebody takes time out to reach out to you, you need to do so in return. When we have new staff and interns, we establish a pretty well outlined communication process. For example, with our social media guidelines, it covers what we post, how we post it, when, and on what we post.
For a lot of 20-year-olds, especially ones that have worked in social media, they’re coming from a school where they’re promoting every single athlete and every sport. If you look at our platforms, we don’t talk about specific athletes or teams. If we talk about one conference, we’re talking about all of them, and that’s intentional. We have to remain neutral, fair and balanced. We created these best practices and guidelines in the beginning, and we stick to that to this day.
We’ve had consultants come in tell us what we could get more followers, but that’s not our goal. Our goal is to match our brand philosophy/best practices philosophy. This helps us not get into a frenzy during the busy times, because we’re not trying to be somebody we’re not. We’re not creating unauthentic content for the rest of the year and people trust us. If you choose to stray from this for five to seven days because everyone thinks you should do something else, you’ve just lost all the trust you have built.
People get so excited about being reactive to comments. The news cycle is so short anymore. It’s not to say I ignore it or don’t listen; but, if we were to jump onto every piece of criticism, you’d lose your mind. When people stop talking about college football, then we’re in trouble. We don’t need to make the news cycle. We can be the news cycle.
We don’t need to make the news cycle. We can be the news cycle.
Who have you looked to for support and parenting advice while also navigating your career?
There are not a lot of women who work in sports who have kids. At least not a lot that I know. Many people suggested I read Lean In, but no offense, if I had a nanny and a chef, this would be easier (maybe!). I don’t have the financial means to do those things and it’s not real to me. It’s not a fair comparison.
I was talking to my mother in law in Florida about this recently. Every now and then I need to break down. I try to do so much, and I’m not looking for credit, but I need a break every now then. We don’t have family here or any relatives or friends with kids that we can call for a date night. It has to be a huge orchestrated plan for us to do anything together. That’s not always fun as a married couple.
I talk to my mother in law a lot. She was a teacher. I like to hear her opinion and seek her advice. She grounds me a lot. I make a bigger deal out of things, and she shoots straight with me and can level set me when I’m breaking down.
In your recent D Magazine feature, you spoke of integrating your young daughter into your work and not asking if it was OK to do so. Did/do you receive any push back when doing this? How can we make that a more acceptable practice across the industry?
This is one of those things that I didn’t see as doing something revolutionary. I was just trying to find a way to make it work, given that my husband and I were both working and traveling.
I didn’t want to sacrifice – I don’t believe in that – integration was always part of my mindset. If I choose to have a family, I better choose to support my family as much as my job. The first time it happened my daughter was three or four months old and my husband had a work trip the same time I did. I was going to Arizona and Atlanta and I brought her to the meeting because it was her nap time. In Atlanta I carried her around in a Baby Bjorn during a walk through for an site visit. I’ve been creative. I tell them she’s going to be with me, and I don’t really ask if it’s okay.
My 2nd daughter was born in September, and that winter I was going to the Rose Bowl Game for the semifinal, and I took her with me because I was breastfeeding. I hired a babysitter when she couldn’t come with me and then I took a red eye from Los Angeles to Atlanta with a three-month-old so I could be Atlanta for the championship. It’s one of those stories I think about now and I think it’s crazy.
People make comments. I can name names and certain places, and I can tell there are super old school people who wonder what the hell I think I’m doing. Until I don’t do my job effectively or I don’t get the job done, I’m going to continue to do it. I know myself well enough to know that I’ll get it done and do it well. I’m not going to sacrifice my job or my family if I know I can make it work.
The women who I’ve encountered, whether they have kids, or are younger, have all thanked me for doing it. I don’t’ think I need to be, because I’m not doing something revolutionary for the working Mom and I haven’t asked to do it, because I don’t feel like I am jeopardizing my job. I am just adapting to the situation so I can give my best to my personal and professional life so they both get equal due and what they deserve.
My mother in law has also met me on work trips and taken the kids from me. If you really want to have a family, you’ll figure out a way to have a family. If you want to have a family and work, you’ll figure that out too. There’s always a way to figure it out, it may be unconventional, and people may judge you, but you’re going to figure it out.
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SPORTS BIZ MOM KEYS TO THE GAME:
- Schedule family activities: Yes, this sounds super regimented and not fun, but it’s easy to get wrapped up in the day-to-day rush throughout the week. I know I’ve found myself sitting on the couch during a day off wishing we were doing something fun together as a family, instead of just watching TV or cleaning up the house. Sometimes, we have to conciously work to make time for fun activities, even if it’s just going to get donuts on a Saturday morning. I couldn’t agree more with Gina about how important this time can be and am personally trying to schedule fun family time with as much care as I do my professional schedule.
- Don’t compromise your brand for short-term gain: I think this mindset is so easy to lose site of in a world with such a short attention span and news cycle. Whether it’s your personal brand or your company’s being authentic and trustworthy sholud always be our first priority.
- Don’t apologize for being unconventional: Even if you are not able to bring your baby/child with you when you travel, that doesn’t mean you can’t get creative in how you integrate your family into your work-life. Depending on the circumstances, your partner or another caregiver may need to come along to help, but I fully believe that having clients, coworkers, etc., see that your family is also a priority humanizes you and sets a precedent for the other future parents in your workplace. Yes, a two year old is not going to be appropriate in an important meeting or even; but, he could be a huge hit in a suite with a sponsor who has grandchildren of the same age. If you’ve proven that you’re going to get the job done and do it well, and you’re working for a supportive organization, you’ll be in a position to be able to bring your whole self to work and let her shine.