This is the second of member Q and A’s in a series entitled "
Communicators Outside the Lines: Better Yourself, Better Your Community" that the CoSIDA Goodwill & Wellness Committee will be producing leading up to our #CoSIDA16 convention in June
.
First profile: Bryan Marshall, Millikin
HAVE IDEAS OR MEMBERS TO NOMINATE FOR THIS SERIES?
If you have any ideas for this series, which will revolve around CoSIDA member volunteerism and health and wellness, please contact Goodwill and Wellness Committee chair
Chris Mitchell, Washington University in St. Louis Assistant AD for Communications, via cell (618-560-9280) or email (
mitchell@wustl.edu).
REMINDER: SEND IN YOUR VOLUNTEER 15 COMMUNITY SERVICE FORMS
All CoSIDA members are encourged to participate in our
Volunteer 15 program, where we recognize those members who have completed 15 or more hours of community service during the academic year. We will acknowledge Volunteer 15 participants in the spring with certificates, CoSIDA.com mention and acknowledgment at the 2016 CoSIDA June convention in Dallas.
Q and A With Kim Ling
Ole Miss Associate Director of Media and Public Relations
by Jessica Poole
Ole Miss Assistant Director of Media and Public Relations
CoSIDA Goodwill & Wellness Committee Vice-Chair
Ling, Ole Miss associate director of media and public relations, is a great example of a working women in the sports information field. Ling has been at Ole Miss for 21 years and has been in the athletic communications profession for 23 years. She is a wife and mother and works with the volleyball, rifle and men’s and women’s tennis teams at Ole Miss. In this Q&A she shares some thoughts on “making it all work.”
How long have you been in the business and what got you interested in joining this field?
The Ling family: Kim, son James and husband Al
LING: I have been in the business for more than two decades. I was working as the sports editor at the school paper for my alma mater, Stephen F. Austin State University, and was looking for something different to do. The sports information director asked me if I wanted to come spend my last semester working in his office. I did that and enjoyed it so much that I interned in the office following graduation for a year. After that I was hooked.
As a wife and mother, can you talk about how you and your family handle the work-life balance during the year?
LING: I have a very supportive family. My husband helps out around the house and with our son. He cooks, does laundry and helps out with homework. If I did not have that, I would not be able to do my job as well. While it takes me away from them a lot, we do try and find time to spend together whenever possible, even if it’s just having dinner together out somewhere.
As we enter the holiday season, what are some pieces of advice you would give others in the profession on managing work and life throughout the busy holiday season?
LING: You don’t have to do everything.
Less is sometimes more. I used to stress out with trying to manage work and the end of the school semester with getting ready for Christmas. Now I don’t worry about getting the decorations up by a certain time or stressing about buying presents for everyone. I find time here and there to put out decorations and then I use my lunch break to shop online. It all works out.
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever gotten on work-life balance and what made it so helpful?
LING: Not to try and be superwoman, you can only do so much. Take time for yourself and time with your family. The work will be there an hour later or the next morning.
The season and sports overlap periods are also times where things tend to be stressful. How do you handle overlap in your sports throughout the year?
LING: I am fortunate to have some pretty great coaches to work with who understand what all I have to do. I communicate with them on what they can expect from me. For example in the fall when I am traveling with volleyball, it’s often hard to do tennis recaps for fall tournaments every day, so I try and get something on social media and then do a big recap the last day of the tournament. In the spring when I am heavy into tennis, I try to catch up with the volleyball team at least a couple times a month until the spring season and then do a preview and a recap of the spring. I think you just have to communicate with your coaches and find a solution that works best for each program.
What is one thing that that you know about work-life balance now that you wish you knew when you first started in this field?
LING: It will all get done. Don’t stress about it.