Nicole Finelli is an Account Manager of Premium Service (Executive Suites) at MLSE. She’s also one of several MLSE employees who help make GroundbreakHERs come to life. Time is ticking! The Summer Social is ONE SLEEP AWAY! So, it’s only right that we chat with the remaining few individuals who take the initiative to make GroundbreakHERs come to fruition.
[showmodule id=”277368″]
And just like Genadyne Charr, Nicole Sefarty, Danielle Henry, Ainsley Northam, Nico Serratore, Marlee Shinoff, Melissa Robinson, and Brittney Pagniello, Nicole Finelli is a co-founder of GroundbreakHERs. She took on the first day back from vacation to chat with us about her role with MLSE, volunteer experience and more.
What is GroundbreakHERs?
A community full of “women empowering women, for the love of the game.”
Females within MLSE’s sales department meet and organize events.
The team currently consists of Genadyne Charr, Nicole Sefarty, Danielle Henry, Ainsley Northam, Nico Serratore, Marlee Shinoff, Melissa Robinson, Brittney Pagniello, and Nicole Finelli.
A female from each sales department within MLSE takes the initiative to meet and organize events.
1 female from each sales department (New Business, Suites Membership, Event Sales, etc.) gets together to organize several events per year.
Please close this now so we can talk to Nicole Finelli.
Tell us about your role as Account Manager of Premium Service (Executive Suites) at MLSE.
I am an Account Manager on the Premium Suites Service Team at MLSE. My role involves managing Suiteholders at Scotiabank Arena (specifically corporate clients on our 200 level – the same floor where Drake’s SHER Club is located).
My day-to-day can vary drastically but mainly consists of communicating with my suite clients to execute any of their needs. My team and I are the direct report with the suite managers on the client end to ensure all their ideas and inquiries are answered.
Meeting my clients is a huge focus both on and off-season to ensure there is always fluid communication between all parties. There are areas where we get to be creative, like creating events, gifting, and executing new communication for clients. Sales is a huge passion for me, so staying on top of what my clients need above and beyond what they already have with us, keeps things fresh and fun!
How did your volunteer experiences while in University help prepare you for your role as Account Manager of Premium Service (Executive Suites) at MLSE?
During my time at University, I was a part of the PR and Marketing Committee that supported the planning of a student-run fashion show called Mass Exodus. To date, this is still something I am very proud of as it gave me a lot of experience and exposure to event planning, marketing strategies, partnership plans, and the legal side of events.
During my time at Ryerson, I decided to get my feet wet in the charity world and joined the Fashion Heals 4 SickKids fundraising committee which I am a part of today. This is an annual high-end fashion show charity event to raise money for cancer research at SickKids Hospital. I believe it is so important to do things outside of work and personal life to give back to a greater good, so this is something I will be involved in for years to come with hopes of creating a charity of my own soon.
I’m sure you notice a theme here, and that would be fashion! Funnily enough, along with Professional Communication one of my majors within the Creative Industries Program at Ryerson was the Fashion Industry. I truly ADORE anything fashion related and there are a lot of commonalities between both the fashion and sports/entertainment industry.
What are three skills you wouldn’t be able to work in sport without and why?
1 Commitment
Since I manage clients who have multiple products with many of our professional teams, it is so key to be organized with all the day-to-day tasks with numerous clients. Being committed to being creative with extra initiatives, projects, customer-focused events, communication, etc. so that our company vision can always evolve.
2 Flexibility
I truly value not only my direct team but every employee at MLSE that I have the opportunity to work with. It is so important to recognize that we can’t accomplish so much as a unit – take the GroundbreakHERs team, for example, each one of us plays a vital role and each event could not be a success without the efforts of all.
3 Confidence
Whether it be competing for the next role, presenting a new idea, or speaking your truth, it is so important to stay confident in your abilities and worth as an individual. Anyone I work with can tell you, I don’t mind rocking a nice pantsuit every so often.
Tell us how you first became involved with GroundbreakHERs and what does it mean to you?
I have been with MLSE for a year and a half now and off the bat grew close to all the female leaders in our Ticketing Department. I always knew that focusing on powerful women in sports would change the landscape of how the industry was built entirely. I first heard about the GroundbreakHERs initiative through my friends who founded it and I knew I had to be involved in any way possible. At that point, myself and 6 other amazing ladies created the first-ever GroundbreakHERs event for the Argos. Now one year into it, our team has grown to 10 fabulous women involved in planning and executing our events across all brands.
What will your role for tomorrow’s Summer Social? Tell us what you’ll be doing.
Each one of the GroundbreakHERs takes a turn on leading specific events, more recently I lead one of our past events with the Toronto Maple Leafs prior to the upcoming Summer Social. Nicole Serfaty, who is the lead on the event this evening, and I work together on the Suites Service Team at MLSE so I was able to be a soundboard for a lot of her ideas to create this phenomenal event. Now as we are approaching the event, it is all of our roles to execute as many ticket sales as possible to reach a greater audience!
Nicole Finelli
Interview by SPMA
Posted July 29, 2019 in Industry Profiles