I was very interested in the connections that I knew I would be able to make from my Sport Communications assignment. I am currently a Student-Athlete Support Services Marketing Intern at Old Dominion University, and one of my roles is to create fun and informational content for our student-athletes. When I originally thought about the pen pal assignment, I immediately knew that I wanted to focus on finding a sport professional that specialized in marketing or media. After receiving my master’s degree, I plan to join a professional sport organization as a sport marketer while utilizing various forms of media to reach a vast amount of people. Over the last two years I have grown increasingly interested in sport media: Interviews, podcasts, and shows. One podcast that I have really enjoyed watching is Club Shay Shay on TikTok which consists of Shannon Sharpe interviewing various celebrities and athletes. Since I knew there could be a potential connection made through my job, I decided to ask my supervisor if he knew of any possible connections for my assignment. I asked if he knew of a sport professional who excelled in sport media, and right away he thought of Mikayla Sayle. In my initial message to her, I explained that my supervisor thought of her for the assignment, and I told her that I was a graduate student interested in learning more about sport media. After messaging her, she agreed to be my pen pal for the semester!
Mikayla Sayle is a sport professional working in media. Before she became a popular Podcaster, she played basketball at Hampton University where she majored in sport management with an emphasis in marketing. While she played at Hampton University, she was All-Academic for all four years. Later, she worked with the marketing team within Hampton University Athletics where she helped with the development and execution of the marketing plan. She has also worked as a Marketing/Corporate Partnerships Intern with the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference. Present day, she has a podcast called “Sport Xposure Podcast” with over 20,000 followers on Instagram, and over 6,000 subscribers on YouTube. She asks various athletes about their journey in sports and what they have learned over the years. I know that I will be inspired by her journey through the sport world and gain more knowledge in the process of completing my assignment.
