“I have always been a sports fan,” said Allison Wozniak, recalling her earliest memories of attending baseball games with her father. Throughout her childhood, Wozniak’s fondness for sports was ever-present and grew as she did, staying active from season to season with soccer, softball, and tennis. More than simply finding entertainment through watching and participating in games, Wozniak was struck by the atmosphere that sports were able to foster—especially amongst young people. The ability to come together as a team, work towards a common goal, and learn from one another were lessons that Wozniak saw as invaluable to a young person’s growth and development.
Despite her lifelong love of the games and all that they could create, when deciding to pursue her MBA, Wozniak said she hadn’t initially considered getting involved in the field from a business perspective. “When I first started graduate school, I knew I wanted a change from what I had previously been doing in my last job. I had learned that the business side of my previous role was what interested me, but honestly, I hadn’t even considered a job in sports until I read about CU Denver’s program, and took my first Sports and Entertainment class. In it, my professor had a plethora of speakers come and talk to us about the various facets of sports and entertainment management. It sounded like something I was not only interested in, but passionate about. After that class, I decided to continue pursuing the Sports and Entertainment Management track.”
It was also through her studies that Wozniak was able to land her first major internship within the field. After enrolling in a digital marketing course, Wozniak was tasked with creating a digital marketing project for a business. Inspired by the 2016 Olympic Games and their inclusion of golf for the first time in more than 100 years, she decided to focus her project on the sport, and reached out to the Colorado Golf Association (CGA). As her project neared completion, Wozniak was formally asked to join the association as an intern for fall 2016.
As a Communications and Social Media Marketing Intern, Wozniak worked on projects within a wide variety of areas, including business development, member communications, marketing, social media analytics, and business management.
A recent graduate, armed with experiential knowledge and a freshly minted MBA, Wozniak plans to take a well-deserved break after beginning a full-time position in January. Reflecting on her time at CU Denver, Wozniak remarked on the tremendous payoff of her hard work, and what the impact of having a graduate degree has had on both her and her career. “I have been challenged more during my MBA than I have in any other collegiate experience. Most of the content was unfamiliar, and I struggled with the processes. Although I struggled, I met amazing people in my classes and made meaningful connections with fellow students, professors, and speakers. Overall, I came out a better-rounded businesswoman. Even at a glance employers see your MBA as a way to set you apart from other candidates, and that is priceless.”
