Hitting it out of the Park
Shannon Lapsley, B.B.A.'09, applies her go-getter attitude, along with a passion for baseball, to a career where she does more than promote her organization, she changes lives.
While attending the Haworth College of Business Lapsley interned with the San Francisco Giants' Single A affiliate team, the Augusta GreenJackets, and also with the Baltimore Orioles, which helped her get her foot in the door for a six-month ticket sales representative job with the Tampa Bay Rays. In March 2010, there was an opening for a community relations coordinator with the Rays and after a rigorous interview process, Lapsley was selected.
A community relations coordinator is responsible for increasing awareness and opportunities for collaboration with businesses, nonprofit organizations or educational institutions, managing the organization’s image through special events, partnerships, and volunteer and community outreach programs.
“The great thing about my job is that it is incredibly rewarding. I can actually see the positive changes that my work makes in people’s lives,” says Lapsley.
One of the Rays Baseball Foundation partners is an adoption agency and holds events where parents meet the children they want to adopt at the ballpark, creating “forever families.” Lapsley also gets to help fans and community members on an individual level. In 2010, she invited a five-year-old boy with brain cancer to visit the field and play catch with Rays players Evan Longoria and Matt Garza; he even got to throw out the first pitch at that night’s game. A year later he was eager to return on opening day, cancer-free and smiling ear-to-ear.
“It was amazing to see the improvement he had made. His grandfather told me he thought his grandson made it through last year (which was very rough for him and his health) because of the experience I provided for him.”
As if those events aren’t reason enough to get up and come to work brimming with excitement, Lapsley is constantly meeting interesting and inspiring people on the job – everyone from baseball greats, post-game musical performers, and even Larry King, who threw out a first pitch at a recent game.
“I have met so many people I admire like the kids battling cancer, the family that is dealing with a loved one fighting Lou Gehrig’s disease, and so many more. These are experiences that I learn from every day because the people are so strong and determined to enjoy life to the fullest. I learn something from each and every one of them.”