Being a Maryland native, it felt a little weird switching from wearing Under Armour to Nike for Virginia Tech softball player Kinsey Johnson once she arrived at Tech, a Nike school.
After a while, she enjoyed rocking the swoosh and during her junior year at Tech, the decision of which brand to choose came up one more time.
"Under Armour is right next to where I live and growing up I thought it was so cool," Johnson said. "So, when I told my Dad that Nike has an internship opportunity, he thought I should consider it despite it being on the other side of the country."
Johnson thought it would be great to do an internship with Under Armour one summer since it was in her backyard, but also found the opportunity to work in Beaverton, Oregon at Nike's headquarters a great chance to improve her resume, too.
Tech's athletic department sends out an email annually regarding internship opportunities with Nike. The school recommends it for student-athletes who have completed their junior year. So, after waiting a few years, Johnson filled out the application, which is a little different than your average one.
"The intriguing thing about the Nike application is that you don't have to know exactly what you want to do because they don't let you pick when you apply," Johnson explained. "Instead of a normal application applying for a department, you apply with your resume and if you make it past the first round, based off your answers to behavioral questions in your phone interviews, they'll then suggest where they think you should go."
After the outfielder's second interview, she was skeptical that she would get the job. Traveling to Austin, Texas for a nonconference tournament this past February, Johnson got the call – well, sort of.
"I got a call from my initial recruiter and I missed it, so I listened to the voicemail and it was the first person who interviewed me and they are usually the ones that have to tell the bad news. I then told my parents and Olivia [Lattin], my roommate, who I kept up to speed on the whole process, that I didn't get it.
"Then we were picking up our luggage and I told Liv to get my stuff because I was going to call the recruiter back. She said, 'Yeah, good luck. Sorry.' I walked over and I was on the phone with the recruiter and she said that I got it and I was literally freaking out.
"After the phone call ended, I ran back to Olivia in the airport and my whole face was just in shock. Liv looked up and was like, 'What? Kinsey, what happened?' and the words, 'Liv, I got it!' fell out of my mouth. We had this little celebration at the airport baggage claim, it was a funny memory I'll always have."
After all the fun and games, Johnson flew out to the Beaver State to kick off the summer with Nike and hit the ground running. She got put into the Sustainable Manufacturing and Sourcing Department, specifically working with External Engagement and Partnerships.
A typical day consisted of meetings and phone calls regarding her projects, including the Combine, which is a project led by all of Nike's interns splitting up into twelve groups and trying to come up with a solution relating to a company issue.
Some objectives Johnson would strive for during the week was meeting with individuals who were not in her department at the company, socializing outside of her department area after work and sitting in on a Leaders Unplugged series, which dealt with executives in the company speaking.
"I did a lot of work with sports marketing and communications," Johnson noted. "I met a couple people in Olympics and softball merchandising. I also met with both NCAA sports marketing and regular sports marketing. So, I met with quite a few people and the point of it was for me to learn more about the company and other positions at Nike in case I do have the opportunity to come back.
"A key thing I would work on was with how we engaged our consumers at the collegiate level with Nike, particularly in relation to our sustainable manufacturing methods and products. For example, Flyknit technology is one of the big sustainable components of our products, and it's part of our shoes, which are produced with 60 percent less waste. That, in essence, is my department and I worked particularly with the college engagement side of it."
When asked about how she felt like she did performance wise, Johnson felt led to share about how her time at Tech set her up for succeeding at Nike. The grind of being a student-athlete prepared her well.
"It is such a big company that you have to stay on top of everything, so those skills that you learn as a student-athlete are vital – the little things matter," Johnson said. "Everyone always preaches that the little things matter, employers want that. But me having lift back home at 6 a.m., then conditioning and then finding time to eat, then going to rehab and then class and practice and study hall, that all carried over here.
"From 8 a.m.-5 p.m. I was doing anything and everything to help our work progress and the company progress. So, the organized aspect of it is huge, along with the time management. Those small skills they really came into effect here and they get even more finetuned because you are actually applying them to the business setting."
Johnson's hard work did pay off well, as her group in the combine won the event. Due to them being named the winners of the twelve groups, they each got to customize a pair of NikeID shoes and take them back to their respective homes to wear following the internship.
Walking away with some new kicks back to Blacksburg, the senior did have some positive takeaways from the experience.
"I would say the biggest thing that I have learned is don't let the labels define you," Johnson said. "Every person that I've met at Nike has a crazy story of how they ended up at here. They all majored in something that they are currently not working in and it's all because they were passionate about the opportunity to have a career here, they were willing to work for it and wanted to see their work and the company's work succeed.
"I don't necessarily love talking to people one on one, but I made it a mission to talk to two people every week, so that I could make connections. And that would be the last thing I learned, relationships are everything. A good majority of the people I've met here got their job opportunity because they knew people already here and they have shown them in the past that they are hard workers. This led those who currently work at Nike to feel comfortable putting in a good word about one of their connections because they know they could succeed."
"Building a trustful foundation is huge and it's kind of cool because it's the same thing for athletics. If I want my teammates to listen to me or if my teammates want me to listen to them, we need to build a foundational relationship, trust each other and then we are both looking out for the best for one another. So, it's the same thing in the business world, I just never have seen that applied before, which was great to see."
