Personal Bio

“Ease is a greater threat to progress than hardship”- Denzel Washington

I am a Sports, Arts, and Entertainment Management Major at Point Park University. I am also minoring in Political Science. Graduating in 2020 with a Bachelors degree. Hoping to attain a Masters degree in the future. Highly motivated individual with great people skills. 

Week of July 15-21

This past week at Heinz Field was a change of pace for me. As the International Champions Cup soccer game approaches, I was planning and mapping out the placement of the Heineken Fan Zone on Art Rooney Ave. I had been in contact with the reps from Heineken for some time now and have also been working closely with the director of food services at Aramark working out all of the details for their setup. Later in the day last Monday, I had the opportunity to sit in on a conference call with reps from the NFL and reps from all 32 NFL teams in a discussion about new broadcast and break the administration rules during live telecast games for 2018. I was able to learn quite a bit about how to time and plan out game breaks during the live broadcast of an NFL game.

On Wednesday I worked on the Steelers first two home preseason games “game schedules”  where I was able to learn even more about how an NFL game works when being broadcast live. Later that day I was asked to go over two separate musical acts’ - Lonestar and Parmalee contracts for their Ribfest performance later this August. After I went through them with a fine tooth comb I gave them to the VP of Stadium Ops to sign off on.

Friday I was asked to cover for the receptionist at the Steelers training facility over on the South Side - the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex. Overall I just answered phone calls and sorted through the mail. I did, however, meet some of the Steelers and the Steelers coaching staff which was a unique experience.

Overall, last week was a nice change of pace and I was able to learn a lot.

Week of July 9th-13th

Last week I remained busy and was helping my supervisor with a multitude of things.

As the Taylor Swift concert approaches, I found myself going over detail sheets containing the information about Taylor Swifts dressing room details, as well as her, meet and greet schedule.

On Wednesday, I assisted my supervisor in mapping out and planning Rib Fest, Heinz Fields annual rib and music festival. I was reaching out to rib vendors, contacting sponsors and going over music acts contracts etc.

Thursday, I continued to review and edit the Rib Fest Details sheet as well as work on Y108′s Never Ever Land set up for the Taylor Swift Concert on Art Rooney Ave. At the end of the day, I assisted our Luxury Suites Manager set up and operate our “suites tasting” event for all of our suite holders, sponsors and season ticket holders.

On Friday, I helped my supervisor edit and reconfigure a game day detail sheet and timeline cue sheet for the Steelers first pre-season game on August 25th. I also created a detail list of new NFL rule changes regarding game timings and media coverage.

Overall, it was another busy week filled with many different things to do and learn.

Tim Litvin performs his hit single “Easier” at Heinz Field. July 4th, 2018

4th of July Celebration at Heinz Field.

The 4th of July celebration was the biggest event so far at Heinz Field this summer. With multiple sponsorship activation sites, 3 free concerts and Zambelli Fireworks, the preparation for this event was rather daunting at times.

For weeks I was reviewing artists contracts, contacting sponsors, planning the layout, making credentials for the vendors and stagehands, preparing meet and greets and familiarizing with parking lists.

Finally, the day had arrived and I got there as early as I could to assist the sponsors and vendors set up their activation sites. Once everyone was parked and set up, I began helping the music acts set up the meet and greets and made sure everyone had what they needed. Throughout the day, I split my time between checking on the vendors on Art Rooney Ave and helping out behind the stage and in the dressing rooms. When the concert was ready to start, I met with two KDKA personalities, John Shumway and David Highfield to brief them on their introductions to each of the artists. The three acts performed in order starting with up and coming country star Tim Litvin, rock band The Stickers and the main act Michael Ray. 

Both Tim Litvin and the Stickers were able to perform but unfortunately, Michael Ray’s performance was canceled due to inclement weather. With that being said, overall the 4th of July was a successful event.

The set-up for the “Crash the Party” event out on Art Rooney Ave.

And I thought last week was busy...

I spent the entire week last week preparing for the Luke Bryan concert and the 4th of July Celebration at the same time. I was in meeting after meeting and conference call after conference call ironing out the last minute details for the Luke Bryan concert as well as figuring out the logistics of the 4th of July Celebration.

On Monday I finished the details sheet for the 4th of July and had a meeting with my supervisors to go over the Luke Bryan Concert details. I also created “stage schedules” for the acts performing on the 4th of July and laminated them. I also began communicating via email with the reps from Y108 about planning a meeting face to face meeting time and day to go over the Luke Bryan pre-concert event hosted by them on Art Rooney Ave.

On Tuesday, I had a meeting with representatives from Y108 going over last minute details about the Y108 sponsored pre-concert event “Crash the Party” on Art Rooney Ave. I mapped out where all of the on-site sponsorship activation areas were going to be. I also compiled a detailed sheet of information about the schedule regarding the pre-concert event; arrival times, load in, load out etc.

On Wednesday, I began creating a map layout for the 4th of July event as well as a vehicle parking list for all of the sponsors that are going to be on-site for the 4th as well as logistical schedules for product deliveries from Pepsi - one of our sponsors - for the 4th of July. I also received a call from Bubly, a sparkling water company who wanted to have an activation space for the 4th of July. I gave them a brief rundown of the 4th of July event and then I scheduled a conference call for the next day. I also communicated via email with a representative from the U.S. Navy who also was inquiring about activation space for the 4th of July.

On Thursday, I had a conference call with the rep from “Bubly” and ironed out the details regarding their set up for the 4th of July.  I added their set up and schedule to the 4th of July details sheet and ran it by my supervisors boss for approval.

On Friday I had another meeting with my supervisors to go over last minute details regarding the concert. I also stayed late and assisted the ticket office tag the on-field seats for the concert.

Saturday was the day of the concert and I arrived at 7:30am and helped supervised the load in for the pre-concert event. After load-in was finished, I split my efforts in multiple different directions for the remainder of the day. I assisted any issues that arose for the “Crash the Party” event, assisted the setup process for the artist meet and greets backstage and I got them whatever they needed. Once gates open to the public, I oversaw and helped manage the on-field seating patrons enter the stadium. As the night wore on, I continued to help the artists and performers backstage. 

Overall it was a very long, but enjoyable night where I was once again able to gain great experience. 

A very busy week

This past week was perhaps the busiest I’ve been since I started at Heinz Field. With the Luke Bryan Concert only a few days away and the 4th of July right around the corner and the soccer game right after that, last week was chalk full of meetings, deadlines, phone conference calls, long hours and lots of coffee.

On Monday I had a phone conference call with representatives from Heineken - the sponsors of the upcoming International Champions Cup soccer match on July 25th at Heinz Field. My bosses and I went over all of the details regarding the soccer game as well as Heineken’s sponsorship activation activity.

Tuesday I was working out the final in-house details regarding the 4th of July while contacting our sponsors for that regarding their on-site set-ups.

Wednesday I  was busy hammering out a detailed map of the Y108 pre-Luke Bryan concert event, “Crash Our Party”. I designed a detail map layout, contacted the sponsors about their setups and designed, laminated and cut out credentials for the Y108 radio staff as well as the vendors and media passes.

On Friday, I had another meeting with Aramark about the sale of alcohol for the Luke Bryan concert. I also finished the final adjustments to the “ Crash Our Party” map and created a details sheet with a timeline that outlines everything needed for the Luke Bryan concert, similar to how I did for the Chesney concert.

Overall it was a good week. I learned a lot and kept busy. Its safe to say that I love this internship and it has been an invaluable experience for me.

A picture of Stage AE where we had the Steelers Employee and Heinz Field Staff Appreciation Party.

Week of 06/11 - 06/15

As TopGolf began the long and arduous process of tearing down their set up, I stayed in the office and helped my boss prepare for the Luke Bryan concert coming up on the 25th of June. On Monday I began preparing map layouts of sponsorship activation sites in and around Heinz Field; similar to how I designed map layouts for the Kenny Chesney Concert only much more condensed. After I completed that, I did some various errands for my boss, such as shipping packages, getting his mail and reading through his emails to find the most important ones and discard the unimportant ones.

On Wednesday I helped my boss prepare for the 4th of July festivities we have at Heinz Field. I started by making dressing room signs for the performers on the 4th of July. After I got my boss’s approval I began making multiple copies and then I laminated them. Later I began sending emails out to our radio station sponsors and gave them the general layout of how things were going to work for the 4th of July this year.

Friday was a fun day. On Friday, we had the Steelers and Heinz Field Employee Appreciation party at Stage AE. I was asked to help set up the event. I helped set up food, games, seating, tents and other activities. The party was thrown as a thank you to all of our staff for their hard work over the course of the year. The party was very successful and everyone had a good time including myself. Overall It was a pretty easy week - a nice change of pace from the hard work required from the previous two.

TopGolf Crush meets Heinz Field

This past weekend, TopGolf Crush came to Heinz Field for the first time ever. TopGolf is a fun and interactive driving range for all ages. Participants who compete hit golf balls into large colored targets. When the golfers hit the target in certain areas they accumulate points. Each target and each area in and around the target have a different point value. For example, the three red targets, which are roughly 25 yards away from the tee box are worth 20-80 points. The yellow targets which are roughly 125 yards away are worth 20-100 points. The big blue target which is 200 yards away is worth anywhere between 80-400 points depending on where your golf ball lands.

As an avid golfer myself, I really enjoyed working at this event. Production started last Monday morning. On Monday, a few of my bosses/supervisors and I had a brief meeting with the two TopGolf representatives to go over the event and all of its details from the big important details all the way down to the smallest detail. After the meeting, we walked up to the Ford Fan Zone and watched as the production team began to assemble the targets, platforms and tee boxes. On Wednesday, we had another brief meeting to go over any last minute details. 

Thursday was the day of the event. It was a private event for our sponsors that lasted from 12 noon til about 11:45 pm. We also had a few celebrity appearances, including Franco Harris, Rocky Bleier, and Marcus Allen. My duties for Thursday ranged from golf ball collector to tee box host. Everyone had a great time and the event went smoothly.

On Friday and Saturday, TopGolf Crush was open to the general public. For both of those days, I was a golf ball collector and I was signing people in at the check-in station. Like any event, there were a few hiccups here and there but any rough patches were eventually smoothed out.

Overall TopGolf Crush was a fantastic event that many people including myself enjoyed. This event served as a great marketing tool that accomplished its goal of generating awareness and positive publicity of the TopGolf location opening in Bridgeville later this summer. I can't wait!

TopGolf production team sets up their driving range at Heinz Field.

6/6/2018

Kenny Chesney Concert Recap

Overall, the Kenny Chesney concert this past Saturday was a smashing success. Roughly 40,000 plus people attended and it was a very profitable event for Heinz Field and the city of Pittsburgh.

The week leading up to the Chesney Concert was very busy and packed full of important matters to attend to. As an intern one of my jobs was to oversee the production of Tiki Town, a pre-concert event held on Art Rooney Avenue. Part of my job was ensuring that the sponsor - Y108 had everything they needed for the event. We booked a DJ and two live country music acts as well as numerous vendors as well as other activities. First I designed a map of Art Rooney Ave and accounted for each of the vendor stations, buses, trucks, stage and construction vehicles etc. Once everything on the map was laid out and made to scale i emailed it to the representatives from Y108 as well as Blue Chair Bay Rum, the sponsors of the Chesney Tour who also had a “ Rum Garden” featured out on Art Rooney Ave that I was in charge of overseeing the production of as well.

Later in the week, I had a phone conference call with the reps from Blue Chair Bay Rum and a face to face meeting with the reps from Y108. In these meetings, I went over how everything was going to work for Tiki Town, from construction to tear down. These meetings were very productive and got everyone on the same page.

On Friday, the day before the Kenny Chesney concert I met the tenting service company outside on Art Rooney and oversaw the construction of the tents that were going to be used for Tiki Town. Later that day, myself and the other interns helped the Steelers Ticket office count and tag the chairs for on-field seating for the concert.

The day of the concert started roughly at 7am. I oversaw the construction of Tiki Town and for the first few hours, I made sure everything ran smoothly. As the day went on I did various other tasks that pertained to security for the stadium. After 18 hours Everything ended and it went very well overall.

Second Week as PSSI Stadium LLC Intern

My second week as an intern for PSSI Stadium LLC at Heinz Field was packed with preparations for the Kenny Chesney Concert on Saturday, June 2nd. On Monday I finished the final touches on the media credentials. 

On Wednesday, I created a detailed map layout of Heinz Field and surrounding lots with detailed plans for each radio station’s set up as well as where Kenny Chesney and his crew will be able to park and set up their equipment.

On Friday, I compiled a list of all radio stations contacts so that if need be we can talk to them and inform them about any changes to their setup.

Overall I'm really enjoying my time at Heinz Field and I’m looking forward to working the Kenny Chesney Concert.

First Week Complete

The first week of my internship went by fast. I worked 4 days the first week starting on Monday the 14th of May and finished Thursday of that week. Each day I worked from 10 a.m. to roughly 5:30 p.m. The only exception to that came when my supervisor allowed me to leave early on Wednesday to avoid rush hour traffic. I made up for the lost hours on Thursday by staying until after 6:30 p.m. as I finished up sending out Fed Ex packages.

Some of my duties for the week included creating working credentials for the 4th of July Festivities at Heinz Field and making copies of press releases for activities related to Heinz Field. Additionally, I created fan packages consisting of Steelers memorabilia and sent them to fans who served in the military as a “thank you” for their service and sent them out via Fed Ex. I also learned how laminate documents and add a company letterhead on official letters.

Overall, my first week was enjoyable and a great learning experience. As the summer events at Heinz Field get closer, my anticipation and eagerness grow  I’m really enjoying my internship at Heinz Field thus far!

1st Day as PSSI Stadium LLC Intern 5/14/18

Today was my first full day as a PSSI Stadium LLC Intern at Heinz Field. I worked directly with the Director of Stadium Operations. I was eager to get started and he put me to work right away. I did whatever I could to help him as he prepared for the Kenny Chesney concert. First, he gave me the opportunity to design media passes for the Kenny Chesney concert. 

Next, he asked me to compile a master list of local media resources; their names, emails, and numbers were all collected and transferred to one document. 

Finally, I was asked to help review and edit game day directions for various entertainment groups, such as the pre-game ceremony entertainers as well as Family Fun Fest Entertainers.

My office hours run from 10am-5pm with a 1/2 break for lunch. 

Overall I really enjoyed my first full day as an intern for PSSI Stadium LLC at Heinz Field and I look forward to the rest of the week.