Fall 2014 Alumni Spotlight: Lauren Bridges

alumni spotlight series fall 2014

on the RISE

How one grad followed her athletic and academic dreams at the University of California, Berkeley.

An active, involved and compassionate Mulgrave student, Lauren Bridges successfully completed her IB Diploma in 2009 and moved to California to pursue her studies in Media and Mass Communications at the University of California Berkeley on a full scholarship for the Division 1 NCAA water polo team. Five years later, Lauren hasn’t slowed down, and shares with us how she has found balance and success in her career post-Mulgrave.

Q&A

Lauren BRIDGES Mulgrave School Class of 2009 | Interviewed by Chloe Scott | Nov 2014

How did you get your start playing water polo?

I started playing water polo when I was 12. Prior to that, I participated in synchronized swimming for 4 years. I found the schedule of synchronized swimming (30-40 hours a week at 11 years old) far too much and decided to look for a new after-school activity. I knew I wanted to do something aquatic – swimming lengths by myself didn’t appeal to me, and I was scared of heights so couldn’t dive. My friend and duet partner from synchro moved into swimming, and it was her brother who encouraged me to come and play water polo with his team to try it out. After going to two practices, I knew I liked it – then joined the girls’ team. As they say, the rest is history!

As a student-athlete at Mulgrave, how did you balance the rigours of the IB Diploma Programme with your Water Polo career?

Balancing the two – IB Diploma and a blossoming water polo career – was a challenge. My first year at Mulgrave in IB was also the start of my full-time training with the Junior National team and being invited to other Senior National team training camps and tournaments. In addition, I also played with my club team, and we trained 5 days a week. The heightened intensity of both athletics and academics meant I often needed to make choices about what was important and stay focused on my ultimate twin goals – graduating with a full IB diploma and making the Canadian National Water Polo Team. The support

of my teachers at Mulgrave made a phenomenal Cal Berkeley. Additionally, I was not travelling difference to me. Their willingness to accept as much for the National team because our online assignments allowed me to have flexibility NCAA team was priority until the summer time in my academics while also travelling back and when we would play in Canadian National team forth to Montreal for National team training or tournaments. abroad for tournaments.

Most of my homework and papers were written on airplanes or in the middle of the night!

Some teachers deserve special recognition because of their support of me – James Gardiner, Karyn Mitchell and Stella Abblett all worked to ensure I could ‘balance’ two demanding aspects of my life: academics and athletics. In addition, my life wasn’t exclusively academics and athletics. ABOVE Lauren and teammates representing Canada at the 2008 Jr. Pan Am games.

I developed close friendships with a group “...it was precisely the rigour of my high school IB of people and maintain those today.

Did this change at all once you reached university?

programme and Water Polo athletic career that made the transition to University of California, Berkeley much easier.”

Interestingly, it was precisely the rigour of my high school IB programme and Water Polo athletic career that made the transition to University of California, Berkeley much easier. Even though being at Cal Berkeley was academically stimulating and the number of water polo practises per week increased, the university provides so much support for student-athletes (free tutoring, early class scheduling around practices, student-athlete peer advisors, etc.) I was able to work with that support and use the same strategies I learned at Mulgrave while at

Did you have any mentors while in high school who helped you navigate IB and your athletic pursuits?

I had a lot of wonderful support while at Mulgrave. The big standouts for me are Mr. Gardiner, Ms. Mitchell and Ms. Ablett. All three of them went above and beyond to help me with my athletic/academic balance so I could achieve great success academically in the IB programme and with my water polo.

When our final papers were due for IB, I was in

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LEFT Karyn Mitchell and Lauren at the 2008 Upper School Awards. RIGHT Lauren at the 2008 Jr. Pan Am Games. OPPOSITE TOP Lauren and her teammates at their graduation from UC Berkeley.

OPPOSTIE BOTTOM Lauren and her friends showing off their Cal Bears pride on CAL game day.

“All three of them went above and beyond...so that I could achieve great success academically in the IB programme and with my water polo.�

Holland for a training camp with the Netherlands national team, and Mrs. Ablett was able to help me by getting my final paper where it needed to be. She also was constantly supportive of my schedule and helping me find work-arounds (like letting me come into school early to work on my HL art show, or take my spare to catch up on the calculus lessons I had missed) so I could stay on track of everything!

Mr. Gardiner was not only a huge help for me at Mulgrave but he was also my coach for water polo at our club team. This meant he truly understood my schedule and was so incredibly helpful and supportive of me. Not only would

he help tutor me in physics and calculus after practices and on airplanes, but he was so helpful to me in getting me to my goal of playing with the National team and also playing water polo down in the US. He connected me with the coaches of the top 5 NCAA water polo schools and helped me coordinate my recruiting trips, while also guiding me as I figured out which programme would be best for me. James was such an amazing support for me at Mulgrave and we were lucky enough to be able to visit with each other when he was down in California and saw our Cal team play in the Stanford Tournament.

Ms. Mitchell was both a confidante and an academic support person. She had originally taught at Strathcona Tweedsmuir School in Calgary where I first met her as my gym instructor. When I enrolled at Mulgrave she made certain that I got to know other great students, that I learned about my new school and its expectations, and that I contributed to student life, in addition to participating in academics and athletics. I am truly indebted to her for caring so much about me.

What drew you to Berkeley’s Media Studies/Mass Communications programme?

At Berkeley, I was fortunate enough to start with an entire semester worth of credits just from the IB programme! This enabled me to start taking some of the courses immediately that would allow me to work towards my chosen major. I took some preliminary major classes and the Media Studies/Mass Communications class interested me because I loved learning about continued on next page...

the marketing and creative side of business.

Once I was in the major, it was exciting to take more specific classes to a certain media and communication or theory, and this really propelled me toward my goal of going into marketing or advertising after university.

tournament in 2008 hosted in Sao Paulo, Brazil. In the championship game, I scored 4 of Canada’s 5 goals.

Can you share your competitive Water Polo highlights with us?

• I was also part of the Canadian Junior Women’s National team that won a second gold medal at the Pan American Championship tournament in 2010 hosted in Miami, Florida.

• I was part of the first Canadian Junior Women’s National team that won a gold medal at the Pan American Championship

• I played with the Senior National team at the Four Nations Tournament (Italy, China, Canada & USA) and Holiday Cup in 2010.

LEFT Lauren playing water polo for Team Canada in a game against China.

RIGHT Team Canada at Canada Cup 2010.

That was an important tournament for me because, although I had not trained full time with the Senior National Team, I started in several of those games. • I continued to play and train with the Sr. National team for 2010 & 2011. • At UC Berkeley, I was one of the two freshman who got the most playing time and as a freshman, our Cal team qualified for the NCAA tournament for the first time, and we finished 3rd. My sophomore year, I was the

starting set defender, and we finished 2nd at NCAAs. Being part of the National Team programs and the UC Berkeley team opened so many opportunities for me to travel to amazing places for training camps and tournaments with my teammates: Spain, England, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Brazil, and the United States are some of the countries we visited.

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THREE ONE Lauren sporting a gold medal at the Jr. Pan Am games in 2010. TWO Team Canada after winning the gold medal at the Jr. Pan Am games in 2010. THREE The UC Berkeley Women’s Water Polo team at the Oskis Cal Athletics Awards Ceremony in 2013. FOUR Team Canada at the Canada Cup Tournament. FIVE Lauren playing in the Canada Select League. SIX The Cal Bears Women’s Water Polo team in a huddle during a game versus Stanford.

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I’m sorry to hear that you suffered from injury and can imagine that it was an emotional decision to medically retire from water polo. How did you overcome this event in your life and how did you channel your energy into other pursuits?

Getting injured was indeed very challenging, both physically and emotionally. I had my first shoulder surgery with labrum reconstruction in 2011 and continued to rehab and train with the UC Berkeley team and the Senior National Team. Unfortunately, I was re-injured at the end of the Cal season in the spring of 2012, and my surgeon recommended I medically retire due to shoulder damage and potential future tears of my labrum and bicep tendon.

After playing water polo for 10 years and still wanting to go further with my athletic career at that point, it was very difficult to stop playing! In my senior year the transition from full time athlete to full time student enabled me to participate in several things that I did not have the time for because of our training schedule. I worked for BARE magazine and directed the photo shoot for the publication in my last semester at Cal Berkeley.

In addition, I worked at the University Athletic office and learned how to write bulletins about student athletic performances and publish them on Berkeley’s website. My newfound freedom gave me a chance to develop relationships with individuals not on athletic teams and also sustain those friendships today. The switch from being an athlete although difficult, was also a big step for me moving forward after university and helped me get to my job today.

In your senior year, you had a taste of being on the ‘other side’ of athletics, working in the Cal Bears Athletic Media Relations office. What did you enjoy most about working in sports media?

Being involved with Cal Athletics from “behind the scenes” was a really fun and great experience! It allowed me to stay involved in the athletic world while getting a great work and learning opportunity. I wrote press releases for the Cal Bears website, headed the social media platform for the Women’s Volleyball team, Women’s Water Polo team, and Men’s Basketball team and also wrote the post game reviews with player and coach interviews. One of the coolest parts was being able to attend the football games and sit in the press box to do stats and gather notes from the games and be part of covering the press meetings for the rebranding of the Cal Bears logo and partnership with Nike!

“...whether it’s a sports team or magazine team, there are lots of different roles needing to come together in creating success!”

What skills did you acquire through sport that you were able to lend to your creative pursuits with BARE Magazine?

Being part of the BARE magazine was like joining a new team. And whether it’s a sports team or magazine team, there are lots of different roles needing to come together in creating success!

Having been part of a valuable team experience with water polo, joining the BARE team was a natural transition for me, and I loved being involved in many ‘teams’ on BARE: Creative, Editorial, and Events. Having team experience definitely helped me take a larger role with the BARE team, allowing me to co-lead the centerspread photoshoot during my first semester and then lead my own photoshoot during my second semester with the magazine. continued on next page...

LEFT On site at the BARE photoshoot that Lauren coordinated. RIGHT Lauren at the BARE launch party Fall 2012. BELOW Lauren in action at the BARE photoshoot in the Spring of 2013. OPPOSITE Lauren at a client work event in Las Vegas. FUN FACT A photo from the photoshoot that Lauren co-lead was not only picked as the cover and centre spread for BARE magazine, it was also featured on Teen Vogue as one of the best college fashion magazines to watch.

Can you describe your role as the Branding and Marketing Account Manager at a branding company?

In my role at Jack Nadel International, I work with large key accounts and assist those clients in devising and developing branding and promotional strategies and items for their organization. This also entails offering creative and strategic suggestions and placing orders, while also following up to make sure everything runs smoothly. I get to use my artistic flare while executing strategic business branding approaches.

I manage two account coordinators who help follow-up and run production for client orders and work with my Account Executive to execute the necessary actions for our clients! Additionally, I help develop strategies and programs such as a loyalty or referral program and I prospect to generate new business for our account team.

“One of the coolest parts of my job is that everyday is different!”

This job is exciting because you can work in all industries andwork with companies you are really passionate about. Two of the high profile accounts I manage are DIRECTV, T-Mobile, and the Dallas Mavericks. With DIRECTV, we headed the entire NFL Sunday Ticket merchandising and branding strategies and coordinated all of their “swag” gear with the logo, that was a really fun project to work on! DIRECTV has also just been bought by AT&T, and our team is part of the rebranding committee for these two companies to merge and will help consult them on strategies of cobranding. Additionally, we work with a lot of apparel and put together a yearly uniform program for DIRECTV and T-Mobile, and do a lot of fan apparel and products for the Mavericks. My job is a great combination of bringing together my passion for sports and fashion for my clients, which I really enjoy!

What does a ‘day-in-the-life’ look like working as a Branding and Marketing Account Manager at Jack Nadel International?

One of the coolest parts of my job is that every day is different! A typical day for me means waking up at 6:30am to check my emails making continued on next page...

sure there is nothing urgent I need to respond to or make a call for (we work with many East Coast clients, so many mornings I am already typing responses or may be needing to do “damage control” with an order). I get to the office by 7:30am and get updated on all of our in-house orders and what is going on with all of our accounts and clients. I usually have anywhere from four to twelve conference calls scheduled for the day with clients. I will create a portfolio of what our discussion will be about and have a ‘product-deck’ made for the client based on their specific needs that we are working with them on.

Usually there will be between two to four decks that we will go back and forth on until things become finalised. Along with the everyday calls, Holly (the Account Executive I work with on the accounts) and I attend weekly meetings with DIRECTV about their uniform programme team and the NFL Sunday Ticket team to stay updated on the stock, revenue, projections, orders from the DIRECTV dealers, and what is going well/ what needs to change, etc.

suppliers/partner manufacturers for me to call and take over a production project to make sure it is executed properly if there was an issue.

By 6:30pm, I am usually finished all scheduled calls for the day and a last wave of proposals and quotes come in for me to work on. Amy, Tom and I go over the quotes that need to be done and they will follow up on timing, pricing and stock for the items, allowing us to move forward with the information for the clients.

I typically leave for the day between 7:30pm8:30pm after writing emails back to clients and vendors that didn’t get sent during the day, and sending out my calendar meetings for the next day to clients that have requested a meeting or call with Holly and me.

All in all, my day consists of lots of client calls/meetings and pulling together branding/ promotional ideas for our clients and working with them to make sure everything is exactly what they want, all with exceptional customer service! On top of client meetings, we have many meetings and tradeshows we attend with our partner manufacturers to stay on top of the industry and the newest ideas that can work for our clients.

“Do the very best you can, work hard, and make sure you have fun!”

For lunch, I typically will either eat at my desk while frantically trying to finish a proposal, attend a lunch meeting with a partner manufacturer at our office (we are presented with their line and “latest & greatest” of product and our benefits as a company with them), or I will attend a lunch meeting with a client and Holly to go over current or new potential business.

During each day I am constantly meeting and communicating with Tom & Amy (Account Coordinators on our team) to discuss production and order progression, making sure everything is on track with stock, artwork, timing, events, etc. for the clients. Many times during these meetings, there will be a new list of

What advice would you give to students interested in working in a creative field like branding and promotion?

Some of the best advice I have gotten is “do the very best you can, work hard, and make sure you have fun”. It seems so simple, but it has resonated with me for the past 10 years in the different stages of my life! The idea of being part of the IB programme while playing on the National Team was incredibly daunting, but I did have a lot of fun continued on next page...

RIGHT Lauren and a friend at the Golden Gate Bridge BELOW Lauren after running the annual Manhatten Beach 10km run.

ABOVE Lauren and her teammate at an Aquatic Gala fundraising event while at UC Berkeley.

OPPOSITE Lauren’s mom Yvonne visiting in Los Angeles.

with my classmates and teammates during that time of extremely hard work. This continued while at university and now in my current job.

I also highly recommend to stay connected with your contacts and get involved in different clubs or internships that interest you! Building a strong network Is what has truly helped guide me. Although my job is a lot of hard work, very fast paced and long hours, at the end of the day really like what I do and am surrounded by great people at a great company. It has been an honour to be part of a family like like Mulgrave, Cal, and even Jack Nadel International; it’s helped shape and direct me to where I am today.

I was fortunate to have a great support system by my elder peers and professors, but am even more lucky to have them continue to be my mentors after the years have passed. I’m truly grateful to be featured in the Alumni Spotlight series for Mulgrave and hope to inspire and one day be a mentor to my fellow Mulgrave community. Please

feel free to reach out to me at laurenbridges1@gmail.com .

Do you have a favourite Mulgrave memory you would like to share with our readers?

Our Grade 12 trip to Whistler was so much fun! It was great to go as a graduating class and do fun activities like zip-lining. We enjoyed each others’ company, and it was a great way to spend time together before we all went in different directions to go to post-secondary school or to work or to travel. I am grateful to Mulgrave for helping me achieve so much in such a short period of time.

Lauren Bridges, November 2014 As interviewed by Chloe Scott Know an amazing Mulgrave grad you would like to see featured? Contact alumni@mulgrave.com.