By: Mike Mackin, @Mmackin17
Front Office Sports is pleased to have sat down with Teddi Domann, CMO and COO of 360 Sports LLC. A graduate of the University of Kansas, Teddi received degrees in both communications and journalism. Shortly after graduation, she was hired by one of the top advertising agencies in the country. While there, she started working with the McDonald’s USA Gymnastics Championships. Her success and the experience she gained working with USA Gymnastics propelled her to working with the McDonald’s All-American High School Basketball Game as local event coordinator, marketer and publicist.
“I had the privilege of meeting and working with a number of people within the McDonald’s Corporation, as well as some of their top agencies.”
Those connections she made recommended her to be the national director of the prestigious high school event, a role she accepted, moved to Washington DC and worked for a company called Sports America. They ran a variety of McDonald’s All-Star events working with household names such as Dick Vitale, Grant Hill, Shawn Bradley, Shaquille O’Neal, Ed O’Bannon and Michael Jordan.
After McDonald’s Corporation started a sports marketing department, she joined the team where she marketed the Women’s World Cup in 1994, the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, USA Gymnastics, USA Soccer and the National Football League. Soon after the completion of the Atlanta Olympics, Teddi and a colleague, Jackie Woodward, accepted new roles within the newly formed Global Sports Marketing group.
“I had the privilege of working with people from around the world from a variety of different offices ranging from the McDonald’s Marketing Departments to the Olympic Committee in countries around the globe.”
After working as Partnership Marketing Managing Director and Consumer Products Managing Director for the United States Olympic Committee, she joined with her husband in the athlete representation business where the main focus is to help market the company as well as the athletes.
A proven marketing professional, she shares valuable advice to younger professionals looking to market themselves and build their own brand.
“First and foremost, you have to identify what you want your brand to be. And the best way to do that is to look at who you are already are, because I don’t think most people can live out something they are not authentically.”
For example, if someone is a quiet and reserved person and you say you want your brand to be gregarious, it will be very hard to keep that up consistently.
“Building a brand takes a deeper look at who you are and then identifying what you want your public persona to be, and that needs to be authentic to who you are,” she adds.
“Your personal brand needs to be somewhat focused. Look at Michael Jordan or Madonna, their brands are all very focused as to what they offer, it didn’t focus much on their personal life, more of what their best skills were. Once you find out what your brand is, everything you do is centered around that brand and persona.”
Working with a handful of large corporations in front of millions of people, Teddi adds useful advice for both work and life.
“Everything you do, you must do it with integrity. A person of integrity has nothing to hide and nothing to worry about. You shouldn’t have to lay your head down at night and worry about things that could catch up with you later on.”
Having integrity allows professionals and students to focus more on their work and honing their skills rather than finding the next way to cover up a previous mistake. When gaining experience and honing those skills, do everything with excellence.
“You have to remain focused. It’s okay to let other things go by to focus on the two or three things you want to be great at, and then be great at those things.”
When choosing her career path, Teddi also followed her passion and love of sports to find her calling.
“I really loved sports and music, and when I had the opportunity to work with the McDonald’s USA Gymnastics Championships, there was just something about working with athletes and what makes them tick, that competitiveness, that I really resonate with.”
Each athlete has something that makes each of them special and unique to their own craft. Although not everyone is still an athlete, professionals can also apply that to what they do — be the very best you can be, channel that competitiveness and drive to be successful and use your gifts and talents to help others. That’s success!
“First and foremost, you have to identify what you want your brand to be. And the best way to do that is to look at who you are already are, because I don’t think most people can live out something they are not authentically.”
— Teddi Domann
Teddi adds valuable insight to networking and making connections.
“In everything that you do, make sure that you do it extremely well. Through that, people will recognize your work, your integrity and your effort which will automatically make them want to make a connection with you. People want great people and workers, working on their team.”
Students and young professionals should look at networking as a situation to give rather than receive. Give your connections a reason to want to follow up with you; make yourself stand out to them. To do this, develop relationships with people that you work with and are close to.
“The people you want to stay in touch with are the people you connect with, who most times, are people of excellence. I have many connections that I don’t have a personal relationship with, but I have a working respect and admiration for the work that they’ve done.”
Surround yourself with people of excellence and make authentic relationships.
She also added great networking advice for younger professionals looking for an internship: “Don’t check the box each day just to get your hours in. Those types of people aren’t trying to do things with excellence. They’re not trying to learn everything that they can learn or share their knowledge, talents and expertise.”
One could say that they networked with professionals through that internship, but was that networking experience and impression one they would want to be remembered by?
“Ultimately, you need to work hard. You have got to be totally dedicated and you’ve got to work as hard in the business world towards your goal as athletes are towards theirs. And don’t forget to smell the roses; take it all in.”
Front Office Sports would like to thank Teddi Domann for her time. If you would like to connect with her further, find her on LinkedIn here!
This interview is another edition of “Winning Edge Wednesday” in congruence with our partnership with the Winning Edge Leadership Academy. Every Wednesday we will be featuring the story of a woman or minority working in the sports business industry.If you know of a professional you would like featured, drop us a line at russ@frontofficesports.org.
