The sport management major and Elon women’s soccer player served as a marketing operations intern in New York City.
Following the conclusion of her summer internship in New York City with Major League Baseball, supporting the organization’s marketing operations staff, Emilia Cappellett ’24 said she feels a greater sense of confidence in her abilities – and her future.
During the past summer, the sport management major’s main focus was on special projects, supporting her supervisor, Melanie McHugh ’18, MLB’s manager of marketing special projects. Additionally, the Elon senior also assisted with internal communications and vendor projects. Cappellett is particularly proud of her contributions to the MLB Moments campaign, an initiative that offers fans once-in-a-lifetime opportunities to participate in the All-Star Game and MLB Draft festivities.
“Following my MLB internship, I feel more confident in myself and my abilities, and I owe a lot of it to my team at MLB and everything they did for me. I cannot thank them enough,” Cappellett said. “Melanie manages a lot of different projects at Major League Baseball, and she guided me through her day-to-day work. I was able to learn and grow from everything she does with each project, and it was truly amazing to be a part of.”
Cappellett said her experience interning in MLB offices reinforced her desire to work professionally in the sport industry. She credits the MLB staff for creating an environment for her and her fellow interns to feel comfortable, valued and supported.
They are “some of the kindest, hardworking, intelligent, and funny people I have ever met, and they made every single one of my days this summer one to remember,” she said of her MLB colleagues. “They allowed me to gain so much knowledge and experience, and have set the standard for corporate culture for me.
“Everyone at MLB was incredibly welcoming and enlightening and truly couldn’t have made me more excited to go into the workforce,” Cappellett added.
As part of the Department of Sport Management’s internship requirement, students gain real-world experience each summer with organizations across the sport industry. The internships are often completed with professional sports teams, league offices, media companies, college athletic departments, communications agencies and non-profit organizations.
This summer-long experience working in the sport industry has immense value, explained Assistant Professor Mark Cryan.
“The internship is one of the most important parts of the sport management major and Emilia’s experience is a great example of that,” the professor said. “Internships like Emilia’s give a student high-level professional experience and a chance to develop relationships with people in the industry. Emilia, of course, did an outstanding job at her internship. As a result, she has people inside Major League Baseball who know what a great employee she would be if given a chance to work there.”