Category: Athletic Wear

Company: Nike

Position: Nike Global Social Media

Stephanie’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulst/ 

Nike Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nike/ 

Have you ever considered wanting to post on social media for a sportswear company but don’t know who to look for? If this sounds like you, I have the perfect person for you! Meet Stephanie Souza, she works at Nike in the Global Social Media division. She is responsible for writing and posting stories and videos about athletes that the company sponsors from all over the world. Stephanie has a passion for sports and spreading the word about how great the NIke company is, which is one of the reasons why I was drawn to her. Another reason is that she has a passion for sports and being able to share that passion with the rest of the world. Furthermore, I was drawn to her because she is a female in the sports world doing things that were once thought impossible for a woman. The fact that she is opening the door and showing women that it is possible to work in the sports industry is a major reason why I am drawn to her. 

In her work, she is responsible for the Instagram content for the Nike company. When she makes these posts she has many rules to follow that are given by her regarding what she can and can’t post. According to an academic article written by Mastro “male reporters are more consistent than female reporters” (2012). This quote points out how in the sports world female reporters are seen as less reliable, which is not always the case. Stephanie notices this when she is at the office as there are more men than women in the office. Stephanie hopes that this will change in the next couple of years as more women enter the sports world. She is able to keep her Instagram posts for each athlete separate from one another by having separate highlights on the Nike Instagram page. Each highlight on the Nike Instagram page contains the player’s interviews and game highlights while keeping out their confidential information. An example of this can be seen on the Instagram page as she has a highlight for each basketball team as well as for the Nike company. 

From Stephanie there are a few takeaways that I can apply to my life. The first one being that she classifies her athletes by highlight on the Instagram page. This is important for me as I can apply this concept to my future jobs. Another important takeaway that Stephanie has taught me is the importance of keeping athlete’s information confidential. I have noticed the importance of this and will definitely keep it in mind when I am working in corporate communications in sports in the future. For Stephanie she sees herself working at Nike for the foreseeable future. She has dreams that there will be more women who want to not only report but work in the sports world in other aspects as well. Stephanie has confidence that there will eventually be more females than males in the sports world.  

Citation: 

Mastro, D., Seate, A. A., Blecha, E., & Gallegos, M. (2012). The Wide World of Sports Reporting. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 89(3), 458–474. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077699012447922

Company: Under Armour 

Position: Senior Manager of Brand Media

Jami’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jami-macklin-ba398112/  

Under Armour Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/underarmour/

Under Armor has been providing aspiring athletes with superior athletic clothes since 1996. The company has many athletes in a variety of sports that represent the Under Armor brand. Meet Jami Macklin. Jami has been working at Under Armour for the past four years. She is responsible for overseeing the brand on the social media channels as well as posting on the channels as well. She does a fabulous job of making sure that the athletes representing the Under Armor brand are qualified and reputable. 

Jami ensures that the athletes will not do anything reckless to tarnish the Under Armor name, if this does happen Jami is responsible for taking care of the issue on Instagram before it gets out of hand all while keeping the player’s information confidential. She posts what the athletes give the okay on their highlight section of the Under Armor Instagram that she runs. According to an academic article written by Pulido et al. “creating boundaries prevents the risk of exposing private information” (2017, p. 434). This quote points out how important it is to form boundaries with an athlete in order to reduce the amount of private information that may show up on Instagram about the specific athlete. Jami relies on this a lot especially when posting an athlete’s personal story. In addition, she is able to protect the athletes privacy by posting only their basic information about them on the Instagram that she runs, especially if the partnership with the said athlete is new. An example of this can be seen on the Under Armour Instagram page in her post about Joel Embiid who received the most valuable player award in the NBA for the 2022 -2023 season. She also double checks all of her social media posts before posting to make sure that there is nothing in the post that the athlete does not want to go out to the public. 

From Jami there are a few concepts that I can take from her and apply to my own life. One concept from her that I will apply is that the athletes’ privacy must be prioritized in addition to brand promotion. Another takeaway that I will take from her is the importance of double checking with the athlete to make sure that they are okay with the post before I publicize it to Instagram. The next concept that I will be taking from Jami is her ability to set boundaries with the player when it comes to the amount of information about them that they would like online. The final takeaway from Jami that I thought was important is the way that she asks the athlete if it is okay for her to post about them on Instagram especially if the athlete is a new ambassador of the company. Jami sees herself working for Under Armor for the foreseeable future. She also aspires to continue opening doors for women to enter the sports world.  

Citation: 

Pulido, A. J., Yang, K. C. C., & Kang, Y. (2017). Collegiate student-athletes’ privacy management strategies and their impact on Twitter usage behaviors. The Journal of Social Media in Society. Retrieved February 20, 2023, from https://thejsms.org/index.php/JSMS/article/view/285