The previous UNC varsity athlete sharpened her sports activities information and writing abilities at Carolina earlier than becoming a member of Nike World Headquarters.
Kelly Baker ’24 got here to Carolina undecided however, via lessons in exercise and sport science and the Hussman School of Journalism and Media, merged her passions for sports activities and advertising.
Now, the Raleigh, North Carolina, native works at Nike as a North America companion advertising specialist for working, the place she manages relationships with specialty companions throughout digital, in-store and experiential advertising efforts. In her free time, Baker is an avid runner who enjoys dabbling in all areas of sport. At Carolina, she was a varsity athlete on the ladies’s rowing group.
She shared extra about beginning her profession and her favourite Tar Heel recollections.
What led you to Nike to start out your profession?
I bought my foot within the door via Nike’s internship program, which I stumbled throughout on Handshake whereas checking my spam mail throughout my sophomore 12 months. After an unbelievable expertise throughout my first internship, I felt I’d solely scratched the floor of the influence this model might have on me (and vice versa). After my second internship, I used to be lucky to obtain a full-time supply.
What’s a “typical” day in your life at Nike?
It often entails a exercise on Nike’s campus, conferences round working workstreams I’m concerned with (not too long ago, the After Darkish Tour and Chicago Marathon), sending product to shops to bolster advertising efforts, creating advertising property in tandem with company companions and extra! Day by day is slightly totally different and the work is all the time evolving, so it retains me on my toes.
What do you’re keen on most about your job?
I really like working in efficiency sport, particularly working. I match Nike Working’s shopper muse like a glove, so it’s been enjoyable to serve a demographic I carefully determine with.
The individuals I’ve all the time thought-about to have the “coolest” jobs had been these near the product, shopper or athlete. My position offers me ample entry to all three. I’m concerned in work throughout our working footwear assemble, keep near shoppers via companions who work together with them every day and sometimes have athletes assist our bigger activations.
What had been your favourite lessons at Carolina? What made them particular?
I beloved how properly my two majors complimented one another. I all the time seen the mix as permitting me to pair what I beloved (sports activities) with what I used to be good at (advertising).
“Fundamentals of Sport Advertising” was my favourite sport administration class. We labored with ESPN to construct partnership briefs round participating shoppers via their girls’s sports activities initiatives. That’s an area I’d like to work in sometime, so the venture straight aligned with my pursuits.
At Hussman, I beloved each class I took with Gary Kayye, however particularly “The Branding of Me.” In my expertise, the most effective lessons had been these during which the professor allow you to make the category your personal, and Gary did simply that. The semester concerned writing LinkedIn blogs to creatively leverage our private model earlier than getting into the job market. My community expanded drastically from this class, and it has opened many doorways for me since graduating.
Is there a lesson that you simply realized from rowing at Carolina that you simply apply in your profession?
I walked on to UNC’s women’s rowing team throughout COVID-19 after lacking the hustle and bustle of student-athlete life in highschool. By no means would I’ve imagined it might be the most effective choice I made at Carolina.
Rowing taught me lots about myself, together with how one can push previous limits I didn’t know existed, the undervalued energy of sheer self-discipline, holding the smallest element to the best customary and compelling individuals in direction of excellence.
One lesson that has caught out as I’ve began my profession entails balancing ardour with credibility. Ardour wasn’t sufficient to justify choosing up a demanding Division 1 sport; I additionally needed to show to my coaches and teammates that I not solely wished to be there however had each intention of doing no matter it took to remain there. Balancing these successfully has been immensely useful as I’ve realized the ins and outs of a brand new chapter of life.
In the event you might time journey again to being a Carolina pupil for a day, what would you do?
I’d go for a run round campus on the 5-ish mile loop I beloved in school, spend time with pals on the NC Examine Middle, watch UNC males’s basketball beat Duke within the Dean Dome and end the night time dashing Franklin St.
What’s your recommendation for present college students?
First, when you have the time, take an impartial research. Throughout my senior fall, I constructed my very own sport administration impartial research in regards to the enterprise case for ladies’s school sports activities. The subject straight aligned with my private {and professional} pursuits and allowed me to conduct deep analysis, consider the present panorama, kind my very own conclusions and communicate with people throughout the trade. It’s probably the greatest issues I did at Carolina.
Second, don’t sleep on Handshake, and use LinkedIn to showcase the passions, credibility and persona that your community wouldn’t have perception into in any other case.
By Jess Abel (B.A. ’19, M.A. ’25)
