College Sports Information Directors of America

This feature is one of the many profiles we are doing to showcase our diverse CoSIDA membership during 2016 CoSIDA Membership Recognition Week. To see all the feature stories leading up to - and during - CoSIDA Membership Recognition Week, please click HERE.

OUR STORIES

Kenisha Rhone
Belmont University Director of Digital Media & Social Strategy
CoSIDA Convention Programming Committee member
CoSIDA FAME group (Female Athletic Media Relations Executives) member
 
by Rob Knox, Towson University Associate Director of Athletic Media Relations
CoSIDA 2nd Vice President/CoSIDA Membership Recognition Week committee

Kenisha Rhone is much more than Belmont University’s Director of Digital Media & Social Strategy.
 
Rhone, who was just promoted into her current role less than six weeks ago, comforts nervous student-athletes taking their first flights by holding their hands or offering soothing words. She leads prayers before pre-game meals as well as team bible studies. She has delivered countless motivational messages and written numerous recommendation letters for the many student-athletes she has been privileged to work with during her memorable career.
 
“All of those things may appear minute but have had lasting impressions,” Rhone said. “Being a part of any student-athlete’s story is an accomplishment. Meaningful falls incredibly short in describing how that feels.  I am so blessed they trust me enough to share in this experience with them. How we live our lives in public and private matters. We can get so caught up in trying remain a professional distance away from the programs we cover but we have to remind ourselves that the teams are comprised of young people still trying to figure out life.”
 
In addition, the affable Rhone has served on numerous committees since arriving at Belmont including the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Planning Committee and the Staff Affairs Council. She has also served as on-campus advisor for the Black Student Association, and undergraduate chapters of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. (Tau Nu) and Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc (Gamma Alpha Eta).
 
“I’m very grateful that my parents instilled giving back as a way of life,” Rhone said. “Whenever there is an opportunity, I am always trying to squeeze in just one more thing, which my graduate assistants constantly tease me about! I wholeheartedly believe when much is given, much is required so it is an honor to pour out what I have been given to various organizations.

"I’m very fortunate Belmont has always supported me when I’ve spoken to youth groups, visited local schools on career day (because who has EVER heard of our line of work as job?), spoken on panels, or led workshops,” she finished.
 
Kenisha is respected by her colleagues and her work with student-athletes haven’t gone unnoticed.
 
“I have enjoyed working with Kenisha during her time here at Belmont University,” Belmont volleyball head coach Tony Howell said. “She is very strong in her faith and loves what she does for the student-athletes. I see her time and time again sitting down and talking with our young ladies not for work but to get to know them. We consider her a part of our team and the ladies do as well. She has a strong heart to help others. I have seen her help many people not just here at Belmont University but in other areas as well. I truly have enjoyed working with her these past few years. She is an amazing person in so many ways, always has a smile on her face and has a very contagious laugh that will just light up a room.”
 
Rhone spreads her effervescence throughout the Nashville area as she’s heavily involved in community

service. Rhone is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., serves on the steering committee for the Greater Nashville Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure and volunteers frequently to speak to various youth groups including the Girls Scouts of Greater Nashville.
 
“Kenisha is an outstanding representative of Belmont University Athletics who takes great pride in engaging our student-athletes and the campus community,” Belmont Associate Athletic Director/SWA Renee Schultz said. “She has assumed numerous leaderships positions and is peerless with her command of social media. But beyond that, Kenisha seeks out opportunities to share her expertise and gifting with others.”
 
Rhone began her 13th year at Belmont last month. In addition to her new role at Belmont, she remains the primary contact for the volleyball, softball, and men's and women's tennis teams. Rhone has been an active CoSIDA member, where she has been a member of the convention programming committee for four years.
 
Rhone is also a member of the Black College Sports Information Directors of America (BC-SIDA), now serving as the chair, Female Athletic Media Relations Executives (FAME), the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) and NABJ-Nashville, where she has held an executive board position for eight years. She has also started working with the national association MOAA (Minority Opportunites Athletic Association).
 
“I got into the athletic communications business purely by accident,” Rhone said. “I took a year off from school to reconsider my teaching track - which is now ironic because I’m still teaching - and worked that year for the former St. Louis Rams. Well, that was the year they won the Super Bowl. That's even more ironic because I now help on game days with the Tennessee Titans, the team we beat to win Super Bowl XXXIV!  Everyone got a ring….except me and the other part-time staff. I wanted a ring and was told I had to get a job in league and have a sports marketing background to get one of my own. So I returned to campus and hustled for a minor in sports marketing and management in my final year at Indiana University and convinced my first boss, Carla Shultzberg Zighelboim, to bring me on at the University of Pennsylvania as an athletics communications assistant.”
 
Working at Penn, Rhone was fortunate to work the Penn Relays and Philadelphia Big Five games before working a year at Tennessee State. Rhone remembers conversations with the late CoSIDA Hall of Famer information Mary Jo Haverbeck of Penn State, who challenged and encouraged her. Rhone also is grateful to Debbie Copp (University of Oklahoma), who got her involved with the Committee on Committees as a newbie at a CoSIDA Convention. 
 
In addition to those wonderful women, Rhone has been mentored and influenced by some additional giants of the profession in the late Wallace Dooley and LeCounte Conaway along with BC-SIDA executive director Eric Moore.
 
“(Teresa’s) open door policy let me pick her brain about what it was like being one of the few women of color to lead a Division I athletics department,” Rhone said. “I owe it to (Mary Jo’s) memory to instill in others what she took the time to instill in me. I’ve been quite fortunate that women have been in leadership all along the early part of my career to encourage me to remain in collegiate athletics. With the new leadership of BC-SIDA, I have the privilege to stand on some legendary shoulders and have great partners around the country who are just as eager as I am to forge ahead in the industry.” 

Rhone continues to pay it forward by mentoring and blazing a trail for future leaders of our business.
 
“Kenisha is a well-respected, first-class professional in her field," said Belmont Assistant Athletic Director for Sport Operations Colette Keyser. “What I appreciate most about her is her willingness to mentor young professionals who are pursuing careers in media relations and sports information. She dedicates countless hours to teaching and coaching our graduate assistants, who perform vital functions in our department. I recognize this takes a lot of dedication and patience on Kenisha’s part, but she seems to enjoy the opportunity to mentor and approaches the role with patience and positivity.”