Caitlin Burns

I would say support from my family. I don't think that I would've been able to do half of the things that I've done, or had the confidence to go after things that I've gone after without people that encourage me, and people that are backing me every step of the way. My sister Megan, specifically, has been incredibly influential. Anytime I had an idea for a career change, or when I was thinking about what I wanted to go to college for, or anytime I thought about what I wanted to do with my life, there was never a question of like, how are you gonna do that? It was just like, okay, how are we gonna make it happen? It wasn't like, how is that gonna work? She has always just said, how are we gonna make it happen? And I think that is really life-changing for someone who maybe doesn't have the most confidence or doesn't have the self-assurance to go after whatever they want. My sister has always been the person that's like, when I say, oh, there's a job I want, but I'm not qualified for it, she's always said, apply anyway. They might want you. She always just encourages me to take the step, even if I'm nervous about it, or if I don't think I can do it. So, I think just having people in your corner has been the biggest influence for me.

The best career advice I've received is to just always go after it, even if you don't think it's gonna work out. The biggest downside to going after something is that you get a no. It's never gonna work out in you getting fired for going after something. So I just think the best thing is to always go after the next growth opportunity, and always go after the things you want, because the worst that's going to happen is someone says no, but the best thing that could happen is it works out, and you get your dream role, or you get the encouragement of the people around you, or whatever. So, I think just going after it, no matter what.

My advice would always be to network. Find women who are in the jobs that you want, and try and connect with them and ask them for informational interviews, because especially being a woman coming up in the sports industry, other women almost always want to help women in the sports industry who are coming up. But I think the biggest thing is just to find something that you love. I loved my job that I was doing in sports, but I started to not love the environment, and that can make work really hard. So I think just find someplace you love, and if you end up someplace that you're not happy, just keep looking. Obviously, we're not all in a position to just wait until the perfect job opportunity comes along, but that doesn't mean you have to say, oh, I'm gonna stay here for 2 years and be miserable before I move on to the next thing. I think it's to just do something that makes you happy and find an environment that's positive, otherwise you'll be dreading going to work every day.

I think the biggest challenges are just the economy right now. The economy is not great, and people have less money than ever. And I think that makes it really hard for us as a nonprofit to be asking people for money. Companies don't want to sponsor as many events because profits are down, because gas prices are up, or whatever. So I think the economy is just a really big indicator and has a big effect on nonprofits. The way the wind blows in terms of the economy, I think, has a big effect on nonprofits. But I think the biggest opportunity is the new generation, like my generation, Gen Z. I think Gen Z is a very caring group, and I think they want to be involved, and I think as they get older and start making more money and start becoming more established in their careers, I think you'll see the nonprofit space kind of tick up as long as the economy kind of settles back down. So I think I'm really excited, and I think it's a big opportunity for Gen Z to kind of come up, because I think they are getting to a point where they care about causes, they want to be involved with nonprofits, they want to give back to organizations, and I think that's going to be really exciting once the economy settles itself, and people start growing into those roles that are more lucrative, and they're able to have more disposable income.

I think listening to people is probably the most important value to me in both my work and personal life. In my personal life, the biggest thing is being there for the people who are there for me. And I feel that way about work, too. I feel like you can't do anything with a team if you're not listening to each other, or if you're so focused on trying to do something yourself. So, I would say probably just listening to people is the biggest thing that I carry between work and personal life.