About Cliodhna: Cliodhna is originally from Ireland and spent her childhood growing up in Hong Kong and Dublin before moving to the U.S. to study sport management and play D1 field hockey at UMass Amherst. Prior to Anderson, she worked in Boston as a senior category associate at Wayfair. Truly sports-obsessed, she is focused on pivoting into a sports marketing or strategy role and spends most of her spare time being active, playing field hockey and soccer, running and snowboarding/skiing.
About Kendall: Kendall Brown (’23) is a second year full-time MBA student at UCLA Anderson who is pursuing a career in the sports industry. Originally from Carson, CA, he attended Cornell University where he majored in Industrial and Labor Relations (ILR) and played on the varsity football team. After graduating, he moved to Washington, D.C. and worked in management consulting, most recently at Accenture where he focused on post-merger integration initiatives. In his spare time, you can find Kendall diligently working to improve his golf handicap, searching for LA’s best taco, or giving back to his community.
Cliodhna
This summer I’m working with the LA Rams in their International department focused on helping the team grow their fan base in their designated international marketing areas: Mexico, China, Australia and New Zealand. I had the best first day I’ve ever had, starting my internship on Media Day at SoFi stadium where I got to see most of the star players film promotional content for the upcoming year (the moment I walked up to the stadium I felt that pride of realizing I was truly working in sports!). Since then, I have been immersed in learning as much as I can about our international fan bases and the opportunities available to connect with them across digital/social media, TV/radio, sponsorships, in-person activations, merchandising and community/youth football development. With just 3 of us on a very new team, it’s been a fun challenge to work in a more ambiguous, independent role and to have the opportunity to really make an impact on the team’s strategy and processes. I love how cross-functional our team is and while the culture at the Rams is very friendly and casual, I can tell everyone is super hard-working and passionate about building off the success of last year and helping the team be even better this year to hopefully win another championship! RAMS HOUSE!!
Kendall
Kendall with the new Larry O’Brien Championship trophy (awarded to the winner of the NBA Finals) on his final day at the New York office.
This summer I interned at the National Basketball Association (NBA) on the Content Strategy & Business Intelligence team. My team’s mission is to provide data-backed insights and strategies that help the NBA best exploit its digital content objectives. My work at the league has been focused in three areas: benchmarking best practice direct to consumer (DTC) content strategies, analyzing and developing approaches to drive social media users to own & operated platforms, and building a framework for the NBA to effectively measure original content return on investment (ROI). This was certainly an exciting time to work on these initiatives as the league looks to transform its DTC business while maximizing reach and engagement, especially among young and new fans.
In addition to project work, the intern cohort participated in a series of professional development sessions, learned about the business of basketball from functional leaders, and heard from some of the most respected executives in the industry: Commissioner Adam Silver, Deputy Commissioner Mark Tatum, and Basketball Hall of Famer Joe Dumars. Other personal highlights included walking alongside our “Ball for All” float in the NYC Pride March, witnessing the NY Liberty’s Sabrina Ionescu drop a 30 piece in just 3 quarters (#SupportWomensSports), and attending tentpole events such as the NBA Draft where Paolo Banchero and Chet Holmgren came dressed to impress!
The intern cohort learning from Commissioner Silver about the NBA’s greatest strength: its commitment to standing at the center of justice.
The intern cohort and Basketball Hall of Famer Joe Dumars, where he discussed the necessity to have an insatiable desire to succeed.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t thank my classmates, the Parker Career Management team, and the Sports Business Association for preparing me for this opportunity. The sports and entertainment resources we have at Anderson are unmatched. While living in New York and working at one of the world’s leading professional sports leagues has been a dream come true, I’m excited to get back to sunny Westwood, California for year two. First stop? In-N-Out Burger!
Student Blogger: Cliodhna Loughlin ‘23
Undergrad: UMass Amherst ‘17
Pre-MBA: Category Management, Wayfair
Leadership @ Anderson: VP of Business Development, Sports Business Association, EVP of Out@Anderson
Student Blogger: Kendall Brown ‘23
Undergrad: Cornell University ’16 – Industrial and Labor Relations (ILR)
Pre-MBA: Management Consulting (Accenture, EY)
Leadership@Anderson: Anderson Student Association (ASA) President; Director of Career Development, Sports Business Association; Director of Admissions, Black Business Students Association; Section Vice President (E); Riordan MBA Fellows Mentor