Marketing Manager at VC Associates

Former NAIA Championships Events Administrator
Former University of San Diego Assistant Athletic Director for Marketing and Promotions

If you were to consider some wise advice to offer younger Renee about life, either personal or professional, what would it be?

If I could share something with my younger self, I think the two most important things I would share would be to take chances and be confident. The first, taking chances…is what I think allowed me to grow and improve myself both professionally and personally.

I was always encouraged to be independent and compete for what I wanted at home and through my sports experiences, but I think that my ability to try new things really helped me in life and in my career. I was one that never knew a stranger, was always able to do things on my own, and go to new places without hesitation and I think this helped me be more successful. While many of my high school friends stayed at colleges near home, I wanted to attend the University of Missouri to pursue a broadcast journalism degree. Mizzou had one of the best broadcast programs in the nation and while I didn’t know a single person in Columbia, I knew that I had to take the chance to see if this opportunity would help me realize my dream. I didn’t really have the money to attend an out of state University, any real experience in television or a support system at the school, but I wanted to go to one of the best schools in the country to pursue my degree.

This characteristic stayed with me after college and my first year of grad school, as I left home to work at the University of Florida in their athletic marketing department as a graduate assistant. Many of my friends thought I was crazy to move that far away from home, but I knew that this was an opportunity to get hands on experience at one of the top college athletic departments in the country. From there, I moved to Northern Iowa, Michigan, and then California to pursue jobs. Without doing this, without being willing to take chances, I would never have learned all the things I did, met all the people and peers I did or figure out exactly what I wanted to do with my life.

I’m still taking chances. I am never afraid to look for new jobs that fit me better or challenge the status quo to make things better. Because I am willing to take chances, I am willing to speak up in a meeting when I don’t agree with someone, I’m willing to make a change that others might now and I’m willing to work with everyone for the win. So, I would tell the younger Renee to continue to take chances and know that you learn from taking those chances…even if they don’t work out, you still learn and gain knowledge from every experience.

The second bit of advice I’d give is to be more confident. I think that since my family was a typical mid-western middle-class family that I tended to compare myself to others and often felt I fell short. When I say middle class, we were probably barely middle-class, as my brothers and I wore garage sale bargains and hand-me-downs for our back to school clothes and called 19 cent tacos at Taco Tico on Sunday nights our big night on the town. My parents were both teachers, so we didn’t have a huge family income, so there were many people around me in school that had better clothes, went on bigger vacations and eventually drove much cooler cars than me and that was hard at times.

My dad was also my coach, so I was taught to be competitive. I think at times this made me very insecure. Don’t get me wrong, I loved sports and they taught me discipline, teamwork, coordination, quick thinking, the value of exercise and the importance of building trusting relationships, but when I competed in sports, my dad always pushed me to be the best. So, I kind of lacked a bit of self-confidence. I thought I could always do more and looked at those who beat me in the mile as people to catch rather than friends that could push me to be better. These feelings traveled with me to college and my career. I always blamed myself when I didn’t see the outcome I wanted. When in reality, those things were really out of my control. I think if I had been more self-confident, I would have been a stronger person and professional and would have stuck with pursuits longer, climbed the ladder higher, done more and most importantly helped more people. As I got older this improved, but I still find myself doubting my skills and experiences at times and I think that if I would have learned self-confidence and how to really believe in myself earlier in life this would have been easier for me. I might have been able to express myself better, shine a bit more during interviews, present myself more strongly and ultimately serve a lot more people through my belief in ME!! Through my self-confidence.

What opinions would you share about the importance of relationships and building relational equity along your journey?

Relationships are everything. I was told early in my career that if you develop successful relationships, positive transactions would follow. This is kind of a “financial” way of putting things, but I truly believe that if you invest in relationships, really get to know people and how they work, what motivates them and how they relate to others that every endeavor you undertake will be more successful. I also think one of my greatest strengths is getting to know people, building relationships and learning how to work well with everyone. I enjoy taking the time to figure out what a person “is made of” and how I can best work with them. I love every job I have had where I had the opportunity to travel or work with different audiences and meet new people and more importantly build friendships with those people.

Whether it be meeting coaches at a new job, working with student athletes at a championship, convincing a CEO to sponsor or support a program, or putting together a team of diverse individuals to put together an event, I always learn something and I think the best way to learn is to surround yourself with people who are different than you. If you have people on your team with strengths other than yours, it causes you to expand your outlook and you can learn so much. The team is ultimately stronger, and I think I try and do in this in every situation in my life and career.

One of the best examples of this is when I started work at the NAIA as a Championship Events Administrator. I was charged with directing four national championships across the country.  I travelled to four different areas of the U.S. and worked with four different sports groups. Football, Basketball, Softball and Swimming & Diving. So, I had to learn how to work with all different levels of people…CEO’s, staff, volunteers, coaches, A.D.s, fans, athletes, sponsors, officials and many others. I also had to learn how people did things in different parts of the country, which was new to me. I had traveled some for other jobs but had never worked with as many diverse personalities and cultures.

One of the biggest challenges of this for me was working with the Football Coaches Association. When I first took the position, I had quite a few coaches doubting me. They didn’t know who I was, didn’t know my background and felt that a female was not the right person for this job.  When I started working with them, I tried to be as personal as possible. I was an open book and I shared with all of them that I knew football and knew what they wanted. I listened to them and showed them by my work and passion for their sport that we weren’t as different as they thought.  By the time I left the NAIA some of my biggest supporters and best friends were football coaches.

I also learned so much and met so many wonderful people from so many different backgrounds. I learned different things by working with coaches in football vs. softball coaches. I found that hosting a swimming and diving championship was much different than hosting a basketball tournament. Each individual taught me what they knew, they share their expertise with me with a touch of their own personality which opened my eyes to many new experiences.

The key though was focusing on the people, figuring out what their goals were and how to best accomplish those goals by working WITH them and truly getting to know them. Finding out what makes people tick is my passion, it also allows me to build strong, trustworthy, valuable relationships.

How do you see God’s handprint on your life as you take a glimpse into the rearview mirror?

Wow, the rearview mirror. I’ll admit I’m always a bit afraid to glimpse in that direction. This is probably because of my competitive nature and how I always want to be my best self. My tendency to look back and wish for different results or want to have things turn out differently always skews the picture; but in the end, I know this is all just a matter of perspective.

Because of my faith and my personal relationship with God, I know that everything that’s happened to me…the successful jobs I’ve had, the jobs I’ve lost, the goals I reached and some of the goals I’ve fallen short of reaching…they’ve ALL had a purpose. They have made me who I am. They have taught me the “Thrill of Victory & The Agony of Defeat’ so to speak. I have learned how to win and learned how to fail. I’ve learned how to pick myself back up and through doing that I’ve also learned how to help others pick themselves back up.

I think we all tend to look at our shortcomings much more than we do our successes, it’s only human nature I think…to think about the things that leave you wanting. But I am confident that God has always had me in the palm of his hand. While I might have thought I was unhappy or unsuccessful, he had a plan and it has always worked out in the end. Whether it was not getting the job with the athletic department at my alma mater after trying two different times or moving to California for a relationship only to learn that it wasn’t to be. Or that sometimes you have to lose something (a job, a friend, a dream) to grow I know I’ve come out better on the other end. During that growing process is when God shows you what you thought you couldn’t live without was only a stepping-stone to taking you to a better place.

I believe you can’t give testimony without being tested. God has led me to many different circumstances and situations and also has gotten me through all of them. His handprints are all over my career, marriage, family, friends, successes and even failures. I have a great story to tell, so much to be thankful for and even more to share because of his love, support and forgiveness.

As someone who, over the years, has worked closely with people of all generations, how would you describe the value of those intergenerational relationships?

This question is so close to my heart. I think we can all learn from everyone…no matter our age or their age. I think those who are more “experienced” than us can teach us even better than a history book. Those who are younger than us can remind us to lighten up and live life to the fullest and those that are our age, can give us a reflection of our own thoughts and experiences.

I am someone that loves working with everyone from children to the elderly and have had many experiences working with those populations as well as all other ages.

I have worked with Jr. High girls as a volleyball and basketball coach. They generated a multitude of emotions in and from me. Frustration, joy, stress, discord, achievement, disappointment, inspiration, and love. I’ve also worked with the elderly through my caring committee at church and they have produced frustration, joy, stress, discord, achievement, disappointment, inspiration, and love. But each experience has touched me and made me a better person.

One of my 7^th grade basketball teams went 0-17. Yes, that is zero wins and 16 losses. It was a rough season, especially since I am the competitor that I am and was in the leadership role for this team. But when I looked beyond the record I saw that I had a team of young ladies who could bounce back quickly, a group that could smile through the hard times, a team that relied on one another and a group that was able to take my instruction of “Two Seconds” and forget their mistakes and losses quickly and move on to the next positive thing. They reminded me that as adults we dwell on things too long. That we might focus on the wrong end result and that again, people are the most important thing in life.

These girls taught me to not take life too seriously and I think I taught them that there was an adult in their life that loved them for who they were, no matter the wins or losses, the successes or shortcomings. We all learned that by working together we were stronger and better together and that we established relationships that would last a lifetime. These were 13-year-old girls and I was a 40+ year old coach and still to this day I stay in touch with them. I’ve been to two of their weddings, celebrated the birth of one of their children, gone to graduation parties and am still here for them to turn to for advice and love. And they are there for me to feel valued and loved as well.

I also had an experience with an NAIA athlete at a tournament that demonstrates that someone (anyone of any age) can be watching you at any time and you can be an example to everyone.  As a tournament director I was always busy, always running around doing things and working with people to make the tournament work. I knew that I was doing it for the student athletes and for them to experience something that they might experience just this once in their life. But when the tournament gets going there are so many things to think about and get right that it’s hard to focus on that mission. But I had a 21-year-old athlete remind me of how important the things we do are important and make an impact on others, even if we don’t’ think so.

This situation happened as I was running around on the concourse during the Women’s Division I NAIA basketball championships and all of a sudden, I see a player running my way.  My first thought was, ‘oh, no, what’s wrong now? But when she approached me, she slowed down, took me by the arm and told me that she appreciated all I was doing for her and all the players at the tournament. She said she saw how hard I worked, how little sleep I got and how much I cared and that it meant the world to her. Then she gave me the longest hug and told me she would never forget that.  This taught me that we can learn from those younger than us and anyone of any age can make you feel valued. To this day this is one of the highest compliments I feel I have ever received.

Our peers also teach us that we can learn and grow no matter the situation. I have a peer and friend that I’ve known for 15 years now and we are about the same age and worked in the same field for a long time. She is someone I try to live my life by. I try to remain as positive as she always is and really live to serve others. She is a Godly Christian woman and I admire and love her. We live in different states and don’t talk all the time, but I know I can always turn to her for help and I hope she knows the same of me.  So, those in our same age also encourage and teach us. They can be mentor and be friends just by going through the same things we go through and loving us no matter what.

Finally, we can learn from those older than us as well. As I said earlier, they are living history books and can teach us so much about the past and share first-hand knowledge with us that we might not be able to find elsewhere. But what stands out most to me is that I have learned how to always keep going, how to use your past to better your future and that hard work does take you places. I had a friend from church that helped me learn the value of being thankful for what we have. Her name was Thelma and I started visiting her when she was 88. She was spit fire then and was still working part-time, driving and volunteering more hours in a day than most people did in a week. When I first started visiting her, I wasn’t sure why the church thought I needed to call her on her, but I wasn’t giving it up because I got so much out of our visits. She looked out for me, she cherished me, and we became fast friends. Over the years she become much more than a person I visited, she became my mentor, friend, confidant, cheerleader, teacher, coach, lay leader, disciplinarian, and most of all she became family. Even though there were more than 50 years difference in our age, she taught me that people can always find commonalities. She even told me that she was convinced that we were related somewhere, somehow in our family trees. She loved fiercer than anyone I know and appreciated everyone and everything she had. She taught me how to be thankful for whatever I had and to be kind to myself.  She thought the world of me and because of that I thought better of myself as well. She passed at age 101 a couple of years ago, but I will never forget the bond we had.

I believe Thelma shared all these things with me so that I can share them with others, others of all generations and although she has passed, I can now pass on everything she gave me to everyone I know.