Liberty University Club Sports Athletics
Club Sports marketing and social media coordinator taking her graphic design skills to the NHL
10/12/2022 6:47:00 PM | Men's D1 Hockey
Liberty University Club Sports Marketing and Social Media Coordinator Caroline Sellers, who has worked primarily with the Flames' ACHA Division I men's hockey team, will bring her talents to the Florida Panthers starting in December after beginning to work remotely as a graphic designer for the NHL franchise this Saturday.
"Here at Liberty, I've been doing graphic design, social media, and marketing for Club Sports," she said. "When I move down to Florida, eventually, I will just be doing graphic design ... whatever they need. They have a really awesome creative team and they are really pushing the boundaries on things for social media, so I'm very excited to learn from them."
A Virginia Beach, Va., native, she is looking forward to continuing to use her creative giftings while being close to the ocean again, with the Panthers based just outside of Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
"I used to live in Jacksonville, Fla.," Sellers said. "My dad was in the Navy, so we lived coast to coast."
Sellers is staying on campus through the end of the semester, completing her M.S. in Business Administration after earning her B.S. in Strategic Communication: Social Media Management with a minor in graphic design in 2019 and spending a year working for the Norfolk Admirals in the ECHL. She walked with her class last spring and will finish her studies at Liberty the same academic year as her undergraduate younger sister, who will also complete her degree in December, and brother, who will graduate in the spring.
"I kind of found my niche within sports in hockey," she said, noting a co-worker from the Admirals works for the Panthers now. "Sports has been my niche and my passion. I'm doing a master's in business administration, so I have three very different areas of focus. It prepares me for a lot of the marketing side of things, graphic side of things, and social connecting, and that's what I told them in my interview. I can look at graphic design from multiple different aspects."
Among the numerous projects she worked on through Club Sports, Sellers created the photo facades featuring Liberty DI men's and women's hockey players on the entranceways to the LaHaye Ice Center and redesigned the home and away uniforms that all five of the hockey teams debuted this season. She also designed the DI men's and women's powder blue jerseys and others for special occasions, including the Oct. 1 Hawaiian-themed "Midnight Mayhem."
She said networking, relationship-building, and time management were a few of the skills she developed the most as she transitioned from a graduate student assistant to a full-time position on staff.
"During the week, it is a little bit hectic … to make sure everything runs smoothly for opening night," Sellers said the week before the DI men's hockey season started in mid-September. "Just making sure all of our graphics are set for social media and for the video board, our social plan is ready, and all of our marketing aspects are intact with giveaways and promotions, keeping that organized and ready."
Most of her in-game responsibilities involved keeping the social media accounts as up-to-date as possible with scores and graphics.
"I did a lot of goal clipping on Twitter during games, which is really fun because you get to re-watch it over and over and send it out for fans who aren't able to watch the game to see," she said.
She said the nature of the job at Liberty was extremely time-consuming, but it was rewarding working with a staff that shared her interests and mindset.
"It was a lot (of work), but it was fun," Sellers said. "My passion for the sport helped me get through all of that."
She said she will most miss the personal relationships she formed on the Club Sports staff, overlapping with the players and coaches on the DI men's hockey team.
"It was a very hard decision to leave," Sellers said, noting that Flames Head Coach and Club Sports Athletic Director Kirk Handy has been an "awesome boss."
"(Assistant Director of Marketing and Promotions) Kaleb VanDePerre and (Assistant Athletic Director) Derek Young, they're also two of my bosses, so I work very closely with them and they have been awesome this whole time," she added. "I work closely with Brett Berthiaume and Christian Conroy. They were both equipment managers at one point. Working with them, they were awesome as well, so it was a very hard decision to leave my Liberty Hockey family. It was more that I felt this was where God was pulling me, toward the next step in my career."
DIII men's hockey senior defenseman Jordan Chamberlain, who served as a Club Sports social media marketing intern over the summer working mostly with the DII women's team, said Sellers was an excellent boss herself.
"She helped me get access to logos and went over branding, so I'd show her work and she would finalize and approve it with Kaleb (VanDePerre)," he said. "Her graphic design work is phenomenal, and that is something that I, as a communication major, love talking to her about a lot."
In Florida, Sellers will have less interaction with the Panthers as she works a 9 a.m.-5 p.m. office job rather than during live games in the rink.
"I will help create social graphics and templates for in-game use and for promotion of the team as well," she said. "I'm excited."
The Panthers, who posted a 58-18-6 record in 2021-22 before losing to the Tampa Bay Lightning in the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, open their new season next Wednesday against the Philadelphia Flyers at FLA Live Arena in Sunrise, Fla., before hosting the 2020 and 2021 Stanley Cup champion and 2022 runner-up Lightning on Friday.
"(The Panthers fan base) seems to be really growing, especially with their season this past year, and they're getting the community very involved within the games, so that's really cool," Sellers said.
By Ted Allen/Staff Writer
