Darlene Camacho has served as Associate Atheltics Director, Athletic Communications at Columbia University since October of 2008. She has served in athletic communications at the Ivy League school since 2003, holding roles as assistant SID (2003-05) and then as associate SID for the next three years. She will leave the athletic communications profession next week, and the feature below was written by a staff reporter at Columbia's student newspaper the Columbia Daily Spectator.
See online: The most powerful woman in Columbia athletics: Darlene Camacho by Kyle Perrotti, Columbia U. Daily Spectator
25 September 2015
If you’re a student athlete, or if you’ve ever even been to a Columbia sporting event in your time in Morningside Heights, chances are that you know Darlene Camacho.
In 13 years of working at Columbia Athletics’ Office of Communications, Camacho has made her mark in the athletic community.
“Through the course of my career here, I’ve covered practically every sport except squash,” she said.
Camacho was named the interim associate athletic director for communications in the spring of 2008, a position which was made permanent in October of the same year.
But, Monday will be Camacho’s final day on the job.
She is moving to Berlin to become the Chief Operating Officer for Pros4Pros Sports Consulting, a small sports management firm, where she will manage professional athletes. Camacho said she is excited for the opportunity to apply the communications skills she mastered in her time at Columbia to her new position.
“That’s something that is pretty close to my heart, making sure that people are taken care of,” Camacho said. “And I’m definitely service-oriented by nature, so this is exciting for me.”
Taking over for Camacho on an interim basis is Mike Kowalsky, who has been with Columbia Athletics for three years and has worked primarily with the football, men’s basketball, and baseball programs.
Kowalsky said that it was Camacho’s unique sense of humor that made her so relatable in the athletic community and successful in her work.
“Your job is to try to get student athletes and coaches to be as outgoing as they can be,” Kowalsky said, “and she gets a lot of them outside their shells. Her sense of humor and her ability to relate to so many different types of people is amazing to me.”
Camacho is known for making an effort to get to know each of the student athletes who fall under her umbrella. She was a trusted resource in the athletic department.
Senior Cameron Molina, one of the football team’s top running backs, said that Camacho has been a mother figure for him ever since he arrived on campus.
After Molina’s first semester at Columbia, he was beginning to think he was in over his head and that he’d made a mistake. Once he started making his intentions of dropping out of school known, Camacho was able to convince him to stay.
“I had a really rough freshman fall semester, and I told her what was going on,” Molina said. “And I was getting to my breaking point … and she quickly went to a nurturing vibe.”
Molina said Camacho has been called the team mom, known to all the players on the football team as being someone they can rely on to help them stay out of trouble.
“We’re just a group of guys,” Molina said. “We’re not perfect, and we’ve made several mistakes, but she’s been the one that’s always been there to tell us how to handle certain situations, she’s coached us through interviews. As far as I’m concerned, she’s the best at what she does.”
Camacho takes her job seriously, and expects the same of those around her. But there is no doubt that she cares deeply about well-being of student athletes, journalists, and co-workers alike.
Those who have had an opportunity to work alongside Camacho know she has another special talent—her cooking.
On any given Saturday, the press box at Lawrence A. Wien Stadium is filled with snacks that come fresh from Camacho’s kitchen. From empanadas to buffalo chicken dip, there is rarely a hungry reporter covering Columbia football.
“Darlene is an amazing cook,” Kowalsky said. “Again, that’s another one of her traits. She’s always looking to make sure everyone is comfortable and having a good time when they’re working, and that’s part of the thing that she brings to the table.”
Regardless of what lies ahead for Camacho, she said there is one thing that she knows will be a consistent part of her life moving forward—she’ll always have a little Light Blue in her heart.