Working with the Portland Trail Blazers

Mazama High School business leadership and accounting students listen to a panel of Portland Trail Blazer staff members talk about how they ended up with careers for the NBA team. Pictured are: Back row: Brazil Cisneros, left; Daniela Garcia, right. Second to back row: Jake Healy, left; Gordon McCreadie, right. Second to front row: Sebastian Short, left; JoAnna Henry, right. Front row: Brooklyn Mattson.

Staff members with the Portland Trail Blazers and Rip City Management talk with Mazama High School students Monday during a career panel discussion. Pictured are Todd Bosma, director of game operations and events; Willen Sin, manager of game ops and events; Kenny Katz, a freelance videographer; and Amara Baptist, digital content and social media manager.

Ambassadors and staff with the Portland Trail Blazers talk with Mazama High School students

How did seven people from diverse backgrounds end up working with the Portland Trail Blazers?

Mazama High School business leadership and accounting students had a chance to find out Monday during a career panel discussion with staff and ambassadors for the NBA team. The message: Find your passion, be flexible, and don’t give up.

The six Trail Blazer and Rip City Management staff members and the director of marketing and branding for Moda, Inc., which partners with the NBA team, spent an hour with students, answering their questions and taking about their educations and career paths. Most of the Blazers staff work in marketing, communications, social media and event coordination.

The ambassadors were in Klamath Falls on the first stop of an annual five-city tour called the Rip City Rally. They spent an hour at Mazama before traveling to Mills Elementary School for an assembly. Rip City Rally also hosted a public celebration from 4 to 6 p.m. Monday at Veteran’s Memorial Park downtown. They travel to Bend on Tuesday and then to Prineville, Madras and Hood River.

Todd Bosma, director of game operations and events, told the students to follow their passion and use that to pursue a career path.

“I didn’t really know what I wanted to do, but sports was a passion of mine,” he said, adding that he was not skilled enough to be a professional athlete. “You work a lot throughout life. If you find something you enjoy doing, it makes a difference.”

Sergio Cisneros, a business teacher and FBLA advisor at Mazama High School, was contacted by a Trail Blazer representative about hosting the career panel. In previous years, Cisneros, with the help of a college connection, has taken students to the Trail Blazers’ Moda Center in Portland for a tour and to learn about careers in sports entertainment.

“Essentially the goal is to connect our students with options they can pursue after high school or a post-secondary education,” Cisneros said. “We live in a diversified world with a variety of opportunities, but how do you work for an organization like the Trail Blazers?”

Career panel members included Bosma; Amara Baptist, digital content and social media manager; Hilary Gorlin, corporate communication specialist; Willen Sin, manager of game ops and events; Kenny Katz, a freelance videographer; Kali Krisik, partnership marketing specialist; and Erin O’Brien, Moda Inc. director of marketing and branding.

Gorlin, a graduate of the University of Colorado, originally worked public relations in the tech industry before taking a job with the Trail Blazers organization.

Her message to the students: Don’t give up, and don’t let failure break you. She applied for three jobs with the Blazers before she was offered the job she has now.

“In high school, I thought everything mattered so much,” she told the students. “But there’s so much more life to live from there. Don’t sweat the small stuff.”

Bosma added: “Take in everything. Be a sponge. Don’t be afraid to fail. That just means you’re putting yourself out there.”

Bosma also talked about how the organization has rebuilt the Trail Blazer brand over the past 15 years. “We had an era where we had tremendous talent, but the fans weren’t coming because they didn’t like the character (of the team),” he said. “Now we have some amazing personalities, and even on a losing streak, the fans still supported the team.

“We’ve walked that line: character versus talent.”

Other advice for students: Travel, communicate clearly, meet deadlines, and learn soft skills such as collaboration and flexibility.

Press release provided from Marcia Schlottman, Public Relations, Klamath County School District.