It was a Monday – I awoke to my alarm, hit the snooze and rolled over. Five minutes later I awoke again to my alarm, hit the snooze and rolled over. I waited about two minutes and heard my roommate playing music and singing her Broadway tunes in the shower (as expected). It has only been eight days since MSBA 2016 began, but my roommates and I have already established definitive morning patterns. We take turns in the mirror while someone plays music and we all prepare for work. Casey leaves first because her internship is the furthest away, while Eliza and I follow shortly after. Next, I meet my fellow work companion, Ryan, at the Starbucks where we both get a coffee and head to the subway together. Our destination is Mission Athletecare, located right across from Grand Central Terminal. We swipe our key cards at our building and catch up with everyone in the office about their weekends. This is only our sixth day in the office, but thanks to the connections formulated by MSBA and business etiquette lessons they gave us, Ryan and I adjusted to our working lives quickly. More importantly, we are lucky MSBA paired us with a company as welcoming and supportive as Mission.
“We have learned more about the sports industry in the past six days than we have in our many years of school, all thanks to Mission and MSBA.”
Our previous week (our first week at Mission) had been a whirlwind of exciting events, including participating in a Mission photo shoot, meeting Dwyane Wade and learning hundreds of new lessons on the entire sports retail industry. Now, on Day 6 of our internship, Ryan and I were beginning to settle into a pattern and realize how much we really enjoy it, regardless of the task we’re asked to take on. This particular Monday morning, we completed a project in which we designed a model for a booth that would serve as a display at the Outdoor Retail Trade Show. We separated 21,000 coupons to be distributed to customers; while the task was not a glorious one, the afternoon flew by with help from our managers and a little background music. Despite this one tedious task, Ryan and I found ourselves agreeing at the end of the day that, while school has no doubt helped us get to where we are today and will continue to help us further our career interests, we have learned more about the sports industry in the past six days than we have in our many years of school, all thanks to Mission and MSBA.
That night, after our internship, we had the honor to learn from sports and entertainment entrepreneur Mark French. This speaker was especially important to Ryan and me because Mark is Founding Partner of Mission Athletecare and Inventor of Court Grip™. He discussed his business endeavors and walked us through how he became so successful in executing his ideas. Moreover, he discussed his professional setbacks and how he overcame them as he built his businesses. For example, he discussed the issues accompanying the packaging design for Court Grip™ (his first Mission invention). You would think a minor packaging setback might be detrimental to the product’s reputation, but Mark’s work ethic and meticulous care in handling the situation allowed Court Grip™ to come back even stronger. His presentation was intriguing and, despite a long workday, I found myself completely engaged. His advice inspired me to actually look at my own ideas as possible and legitimate, business endeavors. As always, each moment of the day was filled with memories and exciting realizations. So thank you to Mark French, thank you to Mission, and thank you to MSBA for teaching me lifelong lessons in just eight short days. I look forward to learning more over the next seven weeks.