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.