This transcript has been transcribed by Riverside.fm, no edits (please excuse any errors)

Sean Callanan (00:01 .58)

Very happy to welcome a good friend of mine, Jennifer Hinkle. I've been chasing Jen for a long time, been a long time friend. Jen, welcome to the podcast.

Jen Hinkle (00:10 .337)

Thanks for having me.

Sean Callanan (00:12 .298)

Not a problem at all. You know, I always start trying to figure out people's sports business journey and their origin story and how they got into the world of sports. What about yourself? How did you find yourself in the world of sports business?

Jen Hinkle (00:26 .047)

Well, it's an interesting one. I did my senior project at Clemson with the athletic department and I had no idea that all of that was going on behind the scenes while I was out tailgating at all those football games. So I started gaining a little interest in the sports world beyond being a fan then. After college, I ended up getting a job at a mortgage broker. Everyone was refinancing at the time. I figured out how to kind of automate my job. So was poking around a lot.

found a really cool opportunity to work at the Final Four down in New Orleans. Little did I know I was probably about to sign up to be one of the people sitting in a hotel lobby handing out pamphlets of things to do in New Orleans, but ended up getting in touch with the right people and got to work all of the press conferences behind the scenes, which was really exciting in the Roy Williams, Kansas days and Carmelo Anthony was playing in that Final Four. So it was a

a good intro to sports, met some good people from the Saints and they made an intro to my hometown team in Washington and was able to get an internship that summer with the Washington Redskins. So worked all