Alumnus mentors student during summer and fall internship

This past summer, public relations student, Brigette Ramirez, interned for Grady alumnus, Jeremy Friedman (ABJ ’96), at Outlyr in Dallas, Texas. Following is an interview with Ramirez and Friedman about the internship.

Friedman is the the vice president of public relations and communications at Outlyr, a global sports marketing agency that manages multiple professional sporting events around the world, including golf tournaments across each of the professional golf tours.

Provide a brief overview of your role and its associated responsibilities.

Ramirez: This summer, I had the opportunity to intern under Jeremy at Outlyr, a sports management and marketing company specializing in professional golf. As a public relations and marketing intern or “Mavrk” for Outlyr, I helped Jeremy to facilitate public relations, marketing and communications efforts for golf tournaments on the LPGA Tour and Korn Ferry Tour. At these tournaments, Jeremy and I worked together to coordinate media center operations, manage website content, compile news clips, create and distribute daily media notes and write and edit news releases and articles for the tournament websites. I also contributed to the tournaments’ social media strategy and content creation across digital platforms. At the corporate level, I helped to advance Outlyr’s marketing initiatives by managing the company’s LinkedIn and social media accounts.

How has your mentor/mentee impacted your personal or professional growth?

Ramirez: Jeremy was integral to my professional growth this summer by teaching me how to coordinate media center operations at professional golf tournaments, create media notes and write daily recaps and feature stories about professional golf. He also helped me to develop as both a professional and person by entrusting me with greater responsibilities as the summer went on, helping me to become more confident and sure of myself as a sports media professional. Even after the conclusion of my internship with Outlyr at the end of September, Jeremy remains a wonderful mentor to me. I know I can reach out to him any time and he’ll always be in my corner supporting me and vice versa.

Friedman: Brigette was a tremendous asset to our communications team this summer. Her attention to detail, outgoing personality and ability to juggle multiple tasks with ease and always with a smile on her face went a long way with our tournament teams this summer.

What was your experience working with one another this summer?

Ramirez: I absolutely loved working with Jeremy this summer. From the first time we talked over the phone during the interview process, I knew Jeremy was someone I wanted to work for. We get along really well and have similar work styles, so it made working together this summer so enjoyable. Despite early wake up calls during tournament weeks (4 a.m. to be exact) and long days filled with hard work, Jeremy and I were almost always having a good time together. I remember one of our coworkers at the Dow Championship even said it seemed like we were always on the same wave length without having to say anything out loud. When Jeremy was focused on meeting a deadline and not chatting much, I was doing the same. When I had a break in work and was able to share my excitement over something on the course, he was excited to chime in and share in my elation.

Friedman: Brigette took the initiative on several projects and programs this summer across our events and executed them flawlessly. From media center operations, to filing that critical game story on time and under deadline, to being flexible and prioritizing during event week when multiple tasks were needed to be done at the same time, Brigette was the consummate tag team partner for me this summer in running media/PR across our events on the LPGA Tour. 

What is the most valuable piece of advice you gained from your mentorship experience?

Ramirez: The most valuable piece of advice I gained from my experience with Jeremy this summer isn’t something that Jeremy told me, although I learned a lot from talking to Jeremy too, but something I watched Jeremy do. Oftentimes, I feel like kindness is overlooked in the professional setting, but kindness is a quality Jeremy exhibited every day. He treated every member of the media, and everyone he encountered for that matter, with utmost respect and goodwill. He was generous when he didn’t need to be and when no one was watching, and he was met with admiration and equal respect in response. Jeremy taught me the importance and value of kindness in the workplace by doing nothing more than be himself.

Friedman: PR is one of the more stressful yet rewarding professions in sports. When you see your hard work come to life in a feature story, television segment or the like, it makes all of the behind the scenes work worthwhile.

What is your most significant takeaway from this connection?

Ramirez: Outside of mentorship and personal and professional growth, my most significant takeaway from our connection is how many people want to help me as a young professional entering the workforce, and specifically as a Grady student. The reason I had the opportunity to work for Outlyr this summer is because Jeremy is a Grady alumnus and wanted to take a current Grady student under his wing and help them develop as a sports media professional. I feel so fortunate to be a student in Grady with so many people who want to see me succeed and are willing to help me, even if I may not know them. The Grady connection runs deep and I’m so grateful it brought Jeremy and me together.

Friedman: Teamwork and collaboration. Those two go hand in hand when executing PR/media relations at professional sporting events.

Editor: Lily Alarcon, lia524567@uga.edu