From Sports to Business, ENTR Plays a Large Role in Graduate’s Career
December 2016 graduate, Olivia Stasiuk, was set on playing collegiate soccer until being injured her senior year of high school. She found a way to stay connected to sports while pursuing business management and the Certificate in Entrepreneurship and Innovation.
Olivia Stasiuk played soccer for most of her life and was prepared to play at the collegiate level until three concussions her senior year of high school pointed her in a different direction. The business management, BS ’16, and Certificate in Entrepreneurship and Innovation graduate was being vetted from top soccer teams, but she decided business would be a healthier, equally satisfying, option. Stasiuk’s dilemma was staying connected to sports if she wasn’t a player.
After starting at Purdue, Stasiuk quickly learned that business and sports could easily be paired for a successful career. While on campus she was an intern in the Purdue Athletics Department, started the Purdue Sports Management Club and connected with mentors and professional colleagues in the area of sports management. Her entrepreneurial spirit led her to the Certificate in Entrepreneurship and Innovation program.
“I heard about the certificate program from several guest speakers in many of my introductory courses,” Stasiuk said. “My father is an entrepreneur, the courses paired well with my business degree and I wanted to understand how businesses operate. I found the entrepreneurship courses gave me a better understanding of what my father does to successfully run his business. The courses help students work through different scenarios of a business without having to take financial and personal risks.”
Stasiuk took ENTR 48200 and had a genuine appreciation for the course, which is known for bringing in experts to help students review their business plan assignments. This was her favorite part of the class and liked the experience so much, she became a teaching assistant (TA) the following semester.
“I felt like the class was an expansion from ENTR 20000 and 31000. ENTR 48200, Venture Creation, was a class that had an impact on how I viewed businesses because developing business plans are a huge part of the course. As a TA I was able to share entrepreneurial experiences with current students and help organize Expert’s Night.”
Networking events are something Stasiuk encourages people to attend. Having a successful story of her own she would often share in ENTR 48200.
“I was invited to a networking event and was contemplating whether I should attend. I RSVP’d but was considering backing out at the last second. I was talking to my grandma and she encouraged me to go, if nothing else I would get a free meal. At past networking events there was never anyone related to sports that I could connect with. I took my grandma’s advice and decided to go. I spoke to an accountant most of the event, not knowing he had a connection who was involved in sports management. He connected me with his contact, who connected me with five potential mentors. Two of those mentors got back with me, one of which works at ESPN. It seems like a lot of work to get one connection, but for me it was worth it.”
She pulled from her experiences in her academic major, the certificate program and the Purdue Athletics Department to prepare for and complete her internships with the Nashville Predators, New York Red Bulls and Charlotte Hornets assisting with database management and analytics.
“My experiences at Purdue and hard work helped me obtain these internships. My entrepreneurship education helped me see the organization as a whole. My part of the organization was small in comparison, but what I did and how well I accomplished my task had a direct effect on the organizations success.”
After graduating in December 2016, Stasiuk started a job with the Dallas Cowboys as a CRM data analyst.