College Sports Information Directors of America

Alisha Alexander is an inspiration. Living by one of her favorite John Wayne quotes of “courage is being scared to death, but saddling up anyway,” she exited her comfort zone by traveling from her southern California roots to work in Idaho. Within a year on the job, she experienced negative temperatures, took a 10-hour bus ride and made an immediate impact with her superb photography.
 
Get to know more about Alexander, who is in her second year as Sports Information Director at Lewis-Clark State, with our Q&A. She talks about dealing with an autoimmune disease, how she and Lewis-Clark athletic department colleagues interject humor and fun into the workday, and shares her perspectives as a young athletic communications professional.
 

 
Is there an achievement or contribution that you are most proud of?
At just 23 I landed my first full-time SID job. I wasn’t an assistant or a grad assistant anymore. I ventured out to a place 1,000 miles from home and earned the title of Sports Information Director in a successful department and made a life for myself out on my own. Not many young women can say that so it is something I am extremely proud of.
 
As a young professional, what’s the biggest career lesson that you’ve learned so far?
You are not always going to work in an environment that you are comfortable in, but those are situations that you can learn the most from. I once worked in a department where I dreaded going to work and did not gel with certain coworkers. That was a huge learning experience for me.

 

 
What might (someone) be surprised to know about you?
I have an autoimmune disease called Ankylosing Spondylitis. It’s really just a fancy way of saying my lower back almost always hurts, but it can’t stop me! It stopped me from playing softball in college, but I realized that if I let it control my life then I would never be able to do things that I enjoy. There are days where the pain is pretty bad, but I am lucky to have a team of coworkers who help me when I need it. The athletics training staff helps me out with ice and heat, and my coworkers help me set things up on game days when I have a hard time bending over or lifting anything.
 
How do you have fun at work?
My coworkers here at Lewis-Clark State College are incredible. They were welcoming from day one and we always find ways to have fun at work. We go out to lunch, play practical jokes, hold our own watch parties and we all really love where we work. I also have gotten to know a lot of our student-athletes and that makes the job way more enjoyable. I can joke around with them and have conversations with them around campus.
 
What have been the most memorable and/or rewarding moments of your career?
When I was an assistant at Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (Claremont, Calif.) I was able to photograph our women’s tennis team winning the national championship on our home courts, so that was pretty cool. Last year, which was my first at LCSC, I was able to travel with our men’s basketball team (a 10-hour bus ride through snowy mountains) to Helena, Montana for our conference tournament championship. We won, so being there for that was great, but I also got to experience negative temps for the first time. Coming from Southern California, I never thought I’d ever see -24 degrees in my life!
 
Last year I orchestrated our first LCSPYs, a student-athlete award show. The president and our AD both said it was a great event, and the student-athletes had a great time. It was nice to get a little recognition for something I worked so hard on.
 

 
Do you have any key mentors or people who deeply influenced who you are, what you believe in and what you’re committed to in your work and life? Tell me about them.
I interned for the PacWest Conference for almost two years, and Jimmy Knodel and Jane Teixeira became mentors for me. I learned so much from Jimmy about what it takes to be an SID and to do it well. Whenever I had a rough day at either my job as a grad assistant or later when I had my first full-time position, Jimmy was always a sounding board for me and still is. He also taught me everything I know about AP formatting.
 
Jane’s top priority is the student-athlete and that is something I greatly admire. We often had life chats in the office and would discuss problems that came up in our personal lives and around college athletics. She helped solidify my moral compass when working in an industry like this.
 
Who is the most important person at work you talk to during your day?
We just hired a new marketing and promotions director this school year, and Melissa (Melissa Weitz, Director of Athletic Operations/Sponsorship & Marketing) has quickly become the person I talk to the most. This is not simply because our work goes hand-in-hand, but because she has a lot of experience in athletics and gives great advice for tough situations. Since I am so young, it can be hard to deal with giving orders or having tough conversations with people who have been here for a lot longer than me, but she helps me navigate through the tough stuff. Melissa also acts like a second mom since I am so far from home.
 
What advice would you give someone who wants to follow in your footsteps?
You have to get out of your comfort zone. Look for jobs that take you to new places and that will challenge you to learn new skills and improve on what you already know. Take advantage of learning opportunities like internships, even if they deal with a sport you don’t know much about. I was not big on golf but was able to intern at both the Ryder Cup and Senior PGA Championship, and learned a lot that I continue to apply now.  
 
We are asking each featured member to provide a professional development tip to share as part of their profile. What is yours?
Get to know as many people as you can. Shaking hands is one thing, but creating a relationship with people is even more valuable. I have been lucky enough to network with people all over the country and it has definitely helped me to where I am today.
 
Do you have a favorite quote to share?
LOL - “Sometimes I’ll start a sentence and I don’t even know where it’s going. I just hope I find it along the way.” – Michael Scott (The Office)
 
Last question: What's one communications/social/PR tool that you could not live without and why?
I could not live without my camera. I take pictures at everything. I recently started getting pics printed to hang on the walls of my office to make it feel more like home, and it is fun for me because I know that student-athletes appreciate having pictures of themselves. I love the feeling of taking the perfect picture and knowing exactly what promotions or graphics you can use it for. During the Avista NAIA World Series I took a ton of pictures around the stadium and during games. Seeing them on posters for the 2020 World Series is the coolest feeling.