Women Blazers

In this episode we welcome Ashley Clinkscale as our featured guest. Ashley serves as the Senior Vice President of Communications, Community & Diversity for the Portland Trailblazers. Ashley has had an incredible journey powered by her passion for storytelling and by building strong relationships with an expansive network. Her authenticity, hard work, and love for the game has led to her crushing h...

In this episode we welcome Neda Tabatabaie as our featured guest. Neda serves as the Vice President of Business Analytics & Technology for the San Jose Sharks. Neda is one of the pioneers of business analytics and intelligence in our industry. Her dedication, hard work, no fear mentality, and appreciation for a great work culture have earned her a seat at many tables where she has been able to mak...

In this episode we welcome Abbey Mathis as our featured guest. Abbey serves as the Sr. Director of Premium Hospitality Development for the Cleveland Cavaliers. As a natural competitor most of her life, Abbey had aspirations of going pro as a soccer player and found herself going pro as a key contributor in the front office of a professional sports team. Abbey leads with compassion, works to delive...

In this episode we welcome Amanda Verhoff as our featured guest. Amanda is the President of The Association of Luxury Suite Directors (ALSD), which is where she dedicated her entire career to date starting out as an intern. She is an authentic and passionate industry leader, who plays a significant role in inspiring the innovation of the premium fan experience and has had an incredible ride with a...

In this 21st episode we welcome Allison Howard as our featured guest. Allison serves as the Vice President of Corporate Partnerships for the 17x NBA Champion Los Angeles Lakers. Allison has an amazing story starting out as a civil engineer before making a complete career change into partnership sales, where her authentic charisma, hard work, and dedication to developing as a leader has led to her...

In this 20th episode, I am beyond excited to welcome Liliahn Majeed. Lil has spent the last 15 years of her career with the NBA, recently serving as the Senior Vice President of Diversity & Inclusion. She is dedicated to purpose driven work and making a difference in our society and the lives of others. Lil is a 2020 SBJ Game Changer and since the recording of this episode, was named the Chief Div...

In this episode we welcome Catie Griggs as our featured guest. Catie is the Vice President and Chief Business Officer for Atlanta United of Major League Soccer. You’ll hear Catie share her unique journey, not knowing she would end up in the sports industry- she followed her curiosity and interest in human connection as she blazed a career path that was driven by the power of relationships and her...

In this episode we welcome Samantha Hicks as our featured guest. Samantha is the Chief Revenue Officer for the Reno Aces and Reno 1868 FC of MiLB and USL. You’ll hear her share her incredible journey, knowing sales was her pursued career and combining it with her passion for sports, she has blazed a path to the C-Suite. Crushing sales, being on and leading great teams, and loving the work ever my...

In this episode we welcome Shelly Cayette as our featured guest. Shelly is the Senior Vice President of Global Partnerships for the Cleveland Cavaliers of the NBA. You’ll hear Shelly share her incredible and unique journey, never allowing herself to be put in a box - she navigated up in her career through hard work, pursuing opportunities that excite her, and being powered by the responsibility of...

In this episode we welcome Laura Dixon as our featured guest. Laura is the Head of External Affairs for the San Antonio Spurs of the NBA and the President and Founder of the Pro Sports Assembly. You’ll hear Laura share her incredible journey, after breaking into sports with the Dallas Sports Commission, she blazed forward with her entrepreneurial mindset and action oriented style to career growth....

In this episode we welcome Qiava Martinez, Vice President of Premium Service and Guest Experience for the Las Vegas Raiders of the NFL. You’ll hear Qiava share her incredible journey, growing up in a large family and being raised by inspirational parents and alongside supportive siblings. It was in this environment that inspired Qiava to be a creator of experiences and to give back to others, whic...

In this episode we welcome Jill Snodgrass, Vice President of Corporate Partnerships for the Philadelphia 76ers of the NBA. You’ll hear Jill share her incredible journey, breaking into sports with a life changing internship with the Atlanta Hawks and building a career on the foundation and love for service and building off that foundation over the past 7 seasons with the historic Philadelphia 76ers...

In this episode we welcome Kendall Tyson as my featured guest. Kendall is the Vice President of Strategy & Analytics for the Seattle Kraken of the NHL. You’ll hear Kendall share her journey, growing up as an athlete in Minnesota with a dedicated focus to become an Industrial Engineer. Combining her love for sports and optimizing complex processes, data, and structure, she ultimately engineered an...

In this episode we welcome Jodee Bowness as my featured guest. Jodee is the Vice President of Ticket Sales & Service for the Colorado Avalanche of the NHL. In this episode you’ll hear her share her journey, basically born into the industry, having the opportunity to grow up observing her Dad lead a successful career in sports. But she was determined to lead her own path in the industry and that’s...

In this episode we welcome Erica Bernadas, Sr. Manager of Corporate Partnerships for the New Orleans Saints and Pelicans of the NFL and NBA as our featured guest. You’ll hear Erica share her journey starting out by taking an unexpected position in Inside Sales and finding early sales success that set the foundation for her career. Erica has followed her passion for the art of the sale, creating pe...

In this episode we welcome Danita Johnson, President and Chief Operating Officer for the Los Angeles Sparks of the WNBA. You’ll hear Danita share her journey dedicated to leading a meaningful career in the Sports Industry, which without a doubt has been accomplished. Danita has had an incredible career path working in the WNBA, NBA and G-League, leaving a legacy at each destination and solidifying...

In this episode we welcome Raven Jemison, Vice President/Team Marketing Business Operations at the NBA as our featured guest. You’ll hear Raven share her journey starting out on a path dedicated to becoming an Optometrist and discovering it was not the life she wanted to lead. She tapped into her passion and blazed a new path in the sports industry, which now has been a 15+ year career journey tha...

In this episode we welcome Kristen Kuhn, Senior Vice President of Partnership Marketing, Brand, & Community for LAFC of the MLS as our featured guest. In this episode you’ll hear Kristen share her journey starting out on a path of discovery, which required her to take bold moves that led to experiences that not only built the career she leads today, but just as importantly, placed her in a positio...

In this episode we welcome Angela Spence, Director of Sales for the Atlanta Hawks and College Park Skyhawks as our featured guest. In this episode you’ll hear Angela share her journey starting out as a collegiate basketball player with plans to become a coach and making the decision to shift that dream which led to discovering the world of Ticket Sales. Along Angela’s path she has had to face adve...

In this episode we welcome Gretchen Sheirr, Chief Revenue Officer for the Houston Rockets. You’ll hear Gretchen share her journey starting out in ticket sales and deciding to double down and stick with it at a time when people didn’t see it has career path with lots of future upside. She now celebrates an incredible 19 season career and counting with the Houston Rockets where she blazed a path to...

In this episode we welcome Sara Daniel, Vice President of Ticket Sales & Service for Carolina Hurricanes. In this episode you’ll hear how Sara, an elite collegiate athlete who won 2 Big Ten Championships and made 4 NCAA tournament appearance as a captain of her volleyball team at Ohio State University, broke into the sports industry and blazed a trail with self determination, support from trusted...

In this fourth episode we welcome Alison Roscoe, Vice President of Corporate Partnerships for Austin FC as our featured guest. In this episode you’ll hear how Alison navigated up through a non-traditional path, starting out managing pop up fan fest, and has had to face unscripted experiences that not only challenged her but motivated her growth in the industry.

In this third episode we welcome Michele Kajiwara, Senior Vice President of Premium Sales for the Staples Center at AEG as our featured guest. In this episode you’ll hear how Michele landed a job at the Staples Center by chance and made the choice to navigate upward through a dynamic environment to lead the premium sales business for the sports & entertainment center of the world.

In this second episode we welcome Jamie Morningstar, Senior Vice President of Ticket Sales & Service for the Milwaukee Bucks as our featured guest...or should I say Blazer? In this episode you’ll hear about how she followed her roots in sports to build an amazing sports career that has given her a lifetime of experiences that has taken her on a journey all around the country that she wouldn’t chan...

I am excited to be launching the first ever episode of this podcast with Lisa Feigenbaum, Vice President of Group, Premium Hospitality & Event Sales for the Sacramento Kings! In this episode you’ll hear about how she has repeatedly created opportunities for her career path when there were potential dead ends, her experience leading sales initiatives for a new arena project, and what she has learne...