Students gathered at the King Auditorium for Pizza with the Pros at 6 p.m. on Monday, Feb.3. This week’s Pizza with the Pros was centered around women in sports leadership. Featured speakers included Senior VP and General Counsel of The Philadelphia Eagles, Aileen Dagrosa, VP of Marketing for NBC Sports Philadelphia, Cynthia Weiss, Founder and CEO for POV Sports Marketing, Molly Arbogast and VP of Communications for the Philadelphia Eagles, Bonnie Clark.

Students not only got to sit in and listen to these four experienced women tell their success stories and how they got to rise to the top, but were also given the opportunity to ask questions and interact with the panelists. Refreshments were offered at 5:30 p.m.

Neil Hartman, director of the Center for Sports Communication and Social Impact, has been running the event since September. 

“Pizza with the Pros is a networking opportunity for not only our sports communication and media majors, but also all students on campus to take advantage of hearing from industry professionals to talk about their career path, internships, how they got to where they’re at, and to really give our students the opportunity to hear first-hand from people who have been very successful in their line of work,” Hartman said.

 The Center for Sports Communication and Social Impact has been around for over a year, and Pizza with the Pros was started in the fall of 2018 by Dr. John Giannini, who is now Rowan’s athletic director. The event is held for 12 weeks, every Monday, 6 p.m. at the 301 High St. Art Gallery.

Hartman says his favorite part about Pizza with the Pros is seeing students take an opportunity to interact with industry professionals.

“I enjoy seeing the students taking advantage of what Rowan is offering them. I think we offer a lot! Pizza with the Pros is cool, you never know you’re gonna come see and hear and what you might learn and who you might meet,” Hartman said. “I really hope in future we can continue to grow the program so that we can help more students, not only just from the sports communication major but also from other colleges as well.”

Kierstyn Koutsogiannis, junior marketing major with a minor in sports communication studies, attended the event, her first Pizza with the Pros experience. Koutsogiannis is interning with the Eagles this summer as Ticket Sales and Guest Services. 

“I was really excited to go to this because its women in sports and it had speakers that relate to my internship which was helpful,” Koutsogiannis said. “It’s so interesting since obviously a lot of them started with smaller end jobs or internships with other companies and then work their way up to be so successful, and it is really impressive and something to look forwards to hopefully get to that point.” 

Koutsogiannis plans on attending more Pizza with the Pros events.

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