Alum reaches Sports Illustrated dream job

BY SARAH MCDONOUGH
Cardinal Staff

For our seniors, graduation is right around the corner, and with that the stress and pressure of finding an internship or landing “that” job is at a high level. Alum Amy Van Etten’s ’93 philosophy: Start at the bottom and work your way up. It worked for her, and she is enjoying the many benefits of being a franchise manager for Sports Illustrated (SI).

Van Etten has had quite the journey since walking in her cap and gown on graduation day in the spring of 1993. She received her bachelor’s degree in Social Services at Saint Mary’s College (SMU became a university in 1995). Through a student exchange program on campus, Amy lived with a family in Mexico working twice a week with children that were diagnosed with Down Syndrome as well as working at a juvenile detention center on the opposite days. While she expressed it was an amazing experience, it also involved a lot of hard work and proved to be very emotional for her.

While on the path of figuring out exactly what she wanted to do for a career, she experienced “an interesting string of jobs post-college,” Van Etten said in an e-mail. She sold insurance, worked at a medical supply company, set up and worked trade shows and even worked in corporate collections. A friend told her about an open assistant position at Time Inc. for their magazine, Health Magazine.

“When I walked in the offices of Time Inc, I knew this is what I wanted to do and that I would have to start at the bottom and work my way up,” Van Etten said. “It worked.”

Van Etten’s current position allows her to serve as a liaison between national advertisers and SI, focusing on the West Coast. She works with tying in a brand that an advertiser wants to target to SI’s audience at a given event. An example of this would be her having SoBe water available at the SI swimsuit issue launch party last week in Las Vegas for attendees to enjoy. Some of her current advertisers include Sony Electronics, Jaguar, Mazda, Red Bull, Asics, Turbo Tax, ABC Network and KIA, among many others.

Her job offers many perks, perks that she enjoys.

“I just threw an event last night for advertisers to meet Shaun Phillips, one of the San Diego Chargers, to help promote his charity, After School All Stars,” Van Etten said. “In the past, I’ve been lucky enough to attend the Emmys, the Oscars, Sundance, too many Lakers games to count, the occasional movie premier, and I’ve met countless athletes and celebrities.”

While Van Etten enjoys where her life is now, she often reflects on her time spent at SMU — everything from a night out with friends at Langs (now known as Gabby’s Bar and Lounge), to playing the Black Crows over and over again, to celebrating “epic Halloween parties” and pig roasts, she said.