At UMass Amherst we like to say that our reputation (and our network of 300,000 alumni) opens doors. On the day we met Yuki, a major in the McCormack Department of Sport Management, she had just been hired for her first post-graduation job, a confirmation of all the great tools the university has to offer to students here — but her path to that point wasn’t easy.

“My journey was a little bit difficult. I actually applied to about 30 internships for Summer 2021 and I was denied by all 30. And you sit there and you cry, and you're upset, and you see your friends and comrades getting them, and you're thinking, ‘What can I do? What can I do different?’," she explained.

One Last Internship Application

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When Chiang saw a listing in a Chase Career Center newsletter for a marketing internship with NASCAR, she wondered if it might be worth applying.

“I said, ‘Well, this is interesting. I definitely don't know much about NASCAR',” she explained.

Figuring it was a possible opportunity to gain experience in marketing and research, Chiang talked over the options with Matthew Katz, sport marketing professor, and Emily Must, a faculty member in sport management and director of internships there. Despite her reservations, she went ahead and applied.

After waiting to hear back about her application, NASCAR recruiters reached out to Chiang for an interview, and then another one. But the position fell through at the last minute. Still, the recruiter reached out one more time to see if Chiang would be interested in an internship with a racing team rather than the NASCAR organization.

Although she was apprehensive about another extensive interview process, Chiang went through with it.

Appreciating her skills and straightforward attitude during the interview, the team offered her the internship. Her boss turned out to be with 23XI Racing, which is owned by basketball legend Michael Jordan and at the time had one driver, Bubba Wallace — the only Black driver in NASCAR.

Applying Skills from UMass Amherst in the Internship

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After finally finding success in the application process, Chiang spent most of her summer interning remotely with 23XI working on the sponsorships that keep the team’s cars running, communicating with sponsorship partners, as well as planning for the next season's sponsorships. 

“We ensured that we were delivering and making sure that each race is on spot, and on point, and the partners were happy,” Chiang explained.

“That was all of our interns' job, making sure that the race days happened on Saturday and Sunday, and then we spent Monday through Friday accumulating all of the feedback and compiling it, and then delivering it, and presenting it to the partners,” Chiang added.

During her internship she drew on knowledge and skills from her education at UMass Amherst.

“Understanding how to analyze the ROIs, the return on investment, and how we budget. I think it was important to understand conceptually, but then when it is really in front of you, and you have a dense amount of information to compile for many important people — being able to present that in a concise deck that is professional, we learn that a lot here at McCormack,” Chiang added.

Another skill she learned at UMass Amherst that came in handy during the internship was professional communication.

“My boss was very pleased with how I construct my emails when I talk to these people that are CEOs. I had to make sure that I'm kind, but I'm also direct in how I need things to be done on behalf of my boss. And he appreciated that. And I think that's what McCormack teaches as well. How to write and how to say things and how to present yourself,” Chiang noted.

She didn’t pick up just professional skills at UMass Amherst though. Chiang also credited the resources available through the Isenberg School of Management for helping provide the framework for her career.

One thing that helped her find success was the fact that many Isenberg professors have previous experience in the corporate world as CEOs and CFOs with major corporations.

“The Chase Career Center, I spend so much time here. Every week, I literally come here every week, to refine my LinkedIn, refine my résumé and cover letter with my Career Coach, Pam Mathison,” Chiang says.

Another resource Chiang relied upon at the career center were the Chase Career Peers. These students gave her feedback on her résumé, and even held mock interviews with her.

“I feel like that's a little bit easier to have your friend ask you questions, and then step into an actual interview. So I used them all the time as well throughout my interview process. To have your friend ask you is really nice,” she explained.

Ultimately this support at UMass Amherst, along with her own hard work, led Chiang to her internship with 23XI in NASCAR, and after graduation she will be working at Wasserman, a renowned sports marketing firm and talent management agency. Reflecting on her success, she had one last thing to add — some advice for students starting their college search.

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"Your school consumes you, right? Studying and exams become stressful and you look to other outlets — 'Do I want to join Greek life?' Or 'Which clubs do I fit into?'," Chiang explained.

“Since school consumes you, being able to have an outlet is very important in the sense that you have to understand climate: do you like the cold, do you like being on the coast, do you want to be in the middle of nowhere, do you like the city, do you like suburbs, do you like a big sports school or small school?,” she continued.

“I can't express how grateful I am that I made sure that my external surroundings were good enough and peaceful enough that when school became tough, I was able to go and clear my mind,” Chiang said. Ultimately, she said, she found that balance at UMass Amherst.