Paige Majdic (CBM, 2021)
Everything always comes back to soccer. It all began when I was three years old, and the sport continues to have a significant impact on my life.
During high school, I realized I wanted to play Division I soccer. I traveled five days a week from Williamsburg to play on an elite travel team in Richmond. We attended tournaments across the country, and during this time I learned how to juggle my schoolwork with soccer, and how important time management was. All of this paid off when I was recruited to play for the VCU Women’s Soccer team.
Fast forward to my sophomore year at VCU. As a marketing student, I was browsing through business electives and came across a variety of “BRND” courses. They piqued my interest immediately; these classes represented everything I wanted to do in my career. I realized these classes were a part of a master’s program—the Brandcenter at VCU. At this moment, my sight was set on attending the Brandcenter after graduation.
It was also during my sophomore year that I learned I could not give 100% to both soccer and schoolwork. I decided to transfer to James Madison University to finish my undergraduate education. Of course I wasn’t ready to give up playing soccer altogether, so I joined the JMU Women’s Club Soccer team. After graduating in 2018, I followed my plan and applied to the Brandcenter. It is hard to explain, but I felt like everything had happened for a reason. I felt as though soccer led me to a career in advertising.
I have applied the skills I learned from soccer during my time at the Brandcenter. How to be a leader. How to find my role within a team and excel at it. How to understand the job everyone has in order to bring out the best in each other. Coaches often told me I excelled at “seeing the field,” which means seeing the big picture. In projects, I can be quite detail-oriented, but I never lose sight of our goal and what we need to accomplish.
As a female athlete, it’s no surprise that I’m now seeking a career that involves sports and empowering women. My time as a soccer player and as a Brandcenter student have set me up perfectly to graduate and enter into the world of advertising. I know I will be successful—because passion drives happiness, and happiness drives success.
Plus, winning is fun too!
Paige Majdic (CBM, 2021)