Have you ever thought what it’s like to work in sports? All the glitz and the glimmer walking next to “A-list athletes,” well, what if I told you, there’s none of that. Working in the sports entertainment field, it’s nothing but building Grit resilience, all while lifting 40 lb of equipment.
Ode to the working Girl
 A tale Old As Time “Network” I’ve seen HR pass up degrees & experience just for someone who knew somebody. On the flip side, I have seen it not go anywhere, meaning no full-time job offer after networking; the rest is up to you. In my experience working with a group of young adults who had a degree in the department, we worked in i.e., communications, marketing, business, Kinesiology, and nutrition, yet when internships or full-time/part-time jobs appeared, they did not hire within our department.
 Despite already working in the stadium, they went as far as hiring out-of-state employees. You may be wondering, “Why did this happen?” Honestly, girl, I can’t tell you why. What I can tell you is “when you know better, you do better.” It’s 2026, and it’s time to start networking and being the one who always knows someone; your network is your net worth. Don’t forget to work hard, ask questions, and be of good use.
 Second on the agenda “Appearance.” Little backstory, I’m a Creole (AA) woman, and for some of y’all that don’t get it, that means I was never allowed to leave the house looking like a mess. As my mom used to say, “you are a representation of me,” so how does this play out in the workplace? First, let’s start with the fact that we do have uniforms.Â
Sports uniforms do not always include hair or facial appearance however, your girl came to work dressed to the nines, many people assumed that I was a cheerleader, but I think they would just try to gas me up, y’all!… Well, I am stunned when I think about it.
Why did I bring this up? Unfortunately, stereotypes played a role in who did and didn’t receive sidebar conversations with my boss over their overall appearance. I’ll give you an example, some young ladies came to work with appropriate length skirts, but a tattoo shows that means “it’s too short,” or is the tattoo just far down? Many of us were asked to buy new skirts, which we didn’t, as we were only getting paid $10 an hour, and skirts range from $50 to $80.
 Alongside with that as most of us young ladies came to work in skirts or in dress pants presenting a professional appearance during setup, per usual, the boys were allowed to wear janky old basketball shorts, dressing like they’re in the early 2000s and not a word was said to them… interesting. Example two: like I said, my female co-workers and I came to work beyond presentable, our uniforms fit appropriately, neat hair, makeup, and jewelry complementing our uniform. Now I’m going to need you guys to put two and two together. There were “specific” coworkers who were allowed to come to work with oversized clothing (not professional wear) and messy hair, which was okay for them, only while representing a high-profile organization company… interesting.
This might be a little bit shocking, “Inappropriate behavior,” but never punished. What if I told you at the workplace, I became numb to adults yelling and belittling other adults all over egos, “I’m the one with the full-time job, and you’re the one with a part-time job,” kind of deal, not knowing what career we have outside of this oval building. I’ll just share my quick and personal experience. The shift that broke the camel’s back, I felt like a little kid forced to hold the teacher’s hand in kindergarten, y’all know what I’m talking about. Not only was I treated as if I was incompetent by having my name yelled out multiple times within a span of 3 minutes (after responding each time), but I was micromanaged by full-time employees asking me unnecessary and irrelevant questions while I’m just trying to do my job.Â
 For example, I was grabbing equipment off the back of a cart, and a coworker of mine yelled, “Hey Madelyn, do you want to come grab this?” We lock eyes as I hear her, and I’m going to grab said equipment in the middle of this, when the micromanaging employee called out my name, “Madelyn do you want to come grab this?” I ignored her, I’m focused after I grabbed the equipment, and I responded. Once I did, she said, “Oh, never mind…” To make this situation more irritating, she was standing right next to my coworker, who called my name, which was aggravating.Â
I’m sure this is all of our favorite parts, “Write-ups”. I want to share a quick story from my co-worker/associate who has private medical issues that might impact whether they are smiling or have a straight face. I know you guys are thinking there’s no way somebody gets in trouble for having a straight face. Employees pushed the issue into calling them rude when all humans have a straight face. As I said before, we were a kindergarten class, which comes with punishments including not being scheduled and not working during the game, sitting in the break room for 3 to 4 hours, and how do I know this because it happened to me. A temporary intern at the time, who was once my coworker, got a little ego boost and called my boss. They said a group of us was not helping when the job was being done by a big enough group of people. This has been an issue all season, yet management seemed not to understand the difference between productive and counterproductive. My boss made rounds of phone calls, unfortunately, called me as well, so that meant I no longer had game day jobs and consistently had shifts requested, ignored, or canceled. One thing I would never let someone do is play with my money.
IÂ learned what I would and would not deal with, to not be fearful of speaking up against behavior you do not agree with, listen to yourself, leave an environment that does not serve you, and lastly, when someone or an organization shows you who they are, believe them the first time. Additionally, most importantly, my experience showed what I will not allow in my company, and I now have a blueprint for workplace conduct.
Due to this being an article and not a blog, I’m not going to share more experiences or details that will come later down the line, most likely when I own my own business. When I become a film writer and producer, be on the lookout! Ladies, don’t let my experience discourage you. Everyone has different experiences. My path may be different than yours. Go ahead and apply for that job. We need more women in sports!
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