Her Story
About Taryn
I originally wanted to pursue biomedical engineering, but after taking chemistry in high school, I realized I hated math and needed a different path. That same year, I got really into watching NHL ice hockey games, and when I went to a Flyers game with my family, everything clicked. I knew this was what I wanted to do with the rest of my life - work in the sporting and entertainment industry and share the specialness that surrounds sports. As an athlete myself, I learned how flexible career paths are in this industry and how if you're good at one thing, you can do so many other things because everything is closely related. As a female athlete, I'm especially driven to break into this male-dominated industry to gain more representation for our female athletes and be an inspiration to other women I grew up talking to who were also interested in working in sports but didn't think they were capable of doing it. My family, my personal experiences, and wanting to inspire other women are what motivate me every day. I'm currently a Division I field hockey player balancing athletics with my academic work, including research on chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a brain condition that causes quickened dementia and Alzheimer's in patients with head injuries and concussions, which impacts many ex-professional athletes. I'm also involved with Women in Sports Helping Inspire the Next Generation (Wishing), where I participate in mentoring and training focused on career readiness, networking, and expanding job experiences. Through that program, I was able to work with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms as a sophomore in high school. Currently, I manage all phone call sales for the Lock Haven University Foundation, running our cold calling cohort and overseeing a team while fundraising for athletic teams. I've also had incredible opportunities like being on field for the College Football Championship and attending the Flyers' Next Shift event, where I worked an NHL game during their women in sports shadow work night.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Taryn
01What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
The first major challenge is that whenever a female broadcasts a sport, they're criticized much more than men are, with questions like 'how is she qualified? How does she know this? She's never even played this sport.' That's a huge issue that needs to change in the future, and hopefully I'll change it one day too. The second issue is that a lot of people think that when a woman is interested in sports, they want to do social media, marketing, or events, and they don't think that women want to work in the executive offices or be general managers. They think females just want to do some sort of fun social media content creation, but that's definitely not everything. Women should be in those general management positions, women should be in the executive offices too. Our voice should be heard just as well as the men's.
02What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Personally and professionally, I'm very much a motivated person. I'm self-driven, I like to see opportunities, and I kind of grab at them at the earliest time I possibly can. I think that motivation is such a good thing to have when you're working in a fast-paced industry like sporting and entertainment. Obviously, there's a lot of things happening all at once, so that also leads me to my second value, which is time management. As a student athlete who also works and goes to class and attends a lot of different events, like the College Football Championship where I was on field for that game, and the Flyers' Next Shift event where I worked an NHL game, time management is definitely important to me, especially when I'm traveling so much and flying places with my Division I field hockey team. Time management is crucial. I also really value respect and integrity, knowing that people might have a different opinion and respecting that, and knowing that that's okay, and that not everyone's going to be the same that you work with ever. That diversity is the very thing that helps us reach more expanded markets. I definitely value respect overall, I would say, is kind of a word that I would describe myself in general.
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