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CSC Women to Watch Feature Archive
This is another feature of our 2024-25 CSC Women to Watch series, a series which spotlights a variety of female members in our association. CSC Women is a subdivision of College Sports Communicators, dedicated to serving the women in the athletics communications and creative field. CSC Women aims to encourage, empower and educate, while providing a positive and united presence for women in our field, both veterans and newcomers, and serving as their collective voice.
Monthly CSC Women Monday Meetup informal Zoom chats
The CSC Women Wind Down informal Zoom chats have been moved to a Monday Meetup. CSC Women hosts an informal Zoom monthly chat on a Monday in the late afternoon/early evening. The time is
8 PM (ET) / 7 PM (CT) / 6 PM (MT) / 5 PM (PT) every month.
Join other female CSC members for discussions, idea-sharing and problem-solving assistance, and some light-hearted trivia and giveaways, too! All CSC female members are emailed a link to the Zoom chat (they are also posted in the #CSCWomen Slack channel and included in the weekly CSC email).
CSC Women to Watch
Chelsea Norris
Dalhousie Senior Manager, Marketing Communications and Events
by Alivia Dieterlen, CSC assistant director of communications and creative content
Chelsea Norris has this month’s CSC Women To Watch spotlight. Currently, she serves as the senior manager of marketing communications and events at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. She was promoted to this role last summer after five years with the university as the event and communications coordinator.
In addition to her work at Dalhousie, she is deeply embedded in her local sports community. She currently serves as the director of communications and marketing for her local soccer club, Suburban FC, and works as the match director for the Halifax Wanderers Football Club.
An Acadia University alum, she graduated with a Bachelor of kinesiology degree and represented the Axewomen as a varsity curler.
An active member of CSC, she currently serves as the Atlantic University Sport (AUS) Representative on the Canadian Institutions Cabinet. This week, she was named a recipient of the CSC convention attendance grant, which is awarded to 22 deserving CSC members. She will be attending her second CSC Unite convention in June at the Marriott World Center Resort in Orlando, Fla.
Norris in action capturing content for the Dalhousie Tigers.
How did you get started as a college sports communicator? What drew you to the profession?
CN: I got started in college sports as a bit of a fluke. I didn’t even work in our athletics department when I went to Acadia! I was living in Ontario and looking to move back out east when the Dalhousie job was posted. At the time there were limited opportunities to work in sports outside of the post-secondary world in Canada, but this has change a lot in the six years I’ve been out here.
What’s your favorite thing about your job?
CN: My favorite thing is cheering on our student-athletes!
...Least favorite thing about your job?
CN: The long hours. Our Marketing and Communications department has three people, one of which is a graphic designer, and we cover 18 sports, plus all the marketing and communications for the wider athletics department. There are a lot of weekends where I am up late writing recaps for away games!
Norris with a medal following last year's 5k fun run / 2-mile walk at CSC Unite in Vegas.
Last year, you attended your first CSC Unite convention. What were some of your biggest takeaways from Las Vegas?
CN: I had such a great time at the convention last year and learned a ton! The most impactful session I went to was on media days. We have never really done media days before at Dal so I was feverishly taking notes and was able to implement several things from that session in our media days this season!
You were recently selected as a recipient of a 2025 CSC Unite convention attendance grant. Congratulations! What are you most looking forward to? This year, CSC will make history in Orlando as Mary Beth Challoner becomes our first Canadian President…
CN: We are so proud of MB and it will be exciting to see her become the first Canadian President! She is a lot of the reason why you have seen the growth in the number of Canadians involved in CSC.
Getting the grant this year has allowed me to be able to attend the convention. I am excited to connect with other people who understand the job and learn from them. The wide range and volume of people who work in college sports in the States give you the opportunity to see many different ways things are done and find things that can be applied to your own institution.
Norris and her mom at a Canadian Men's National Team soccer game.
What do you wish you had known before you started in this industry?
CN: How all-consuming it can be and how invested you will become in it… in a good way! Your life does become dictated by the game schedule and playoff trips, but I love being around the athletes and seeing them win. I also did not realize how invested in the programs and in their success you become. This is not something I experienced at my last non-collegiate sports job.
What’s your best advice to other young female professionals who are beginning their careers in athletic communications?
CN: To take a deep breath; it will all work out. When things are going wrong or you have a to do list a mile long, just take a deep breath. This is something I still try to focus on at work and try to do so that I don’t get overwhelmed.
Norris volunteers with Touchdown Atlantic, and is pictured here with the CFL's Grey Cup.
Rapid fire with Chelsea
What emojis do you use most? The laughing crying emoji 
Favorite way to unwind after a busy day: Throwing rocks at houses (curling)
Your walk-up song: Black and Yellow
You have a free evening, what are you doing? Curling or playing soccer
What is something most people don’t know about you? Most people don’t actually know that I curled at Acadia.
Norris on vacation at Prince Edward Island.