Aly Clauson: Senior Social Media Coordinator | Boston Celtics

Aly Clauson discovered her interest in pursuing a career in sports social towards the end of her junior year at Temple University. This was just the start. Committed to building her resume in the industry and landing a job in creative media, Aly embraced an array of internship opportunities across all areas of the industry—including ticket sales, gameday operations, community outreach, and corporate partnerships. Experiences which, as she highlights, strengthened her knowledge of the business side of sports and inched her closer to the world of sports social and digital. It was up from there. Upon graduation, Aly embarked on a yearlong position with the Philadelphia 76ers as their social media and content fellow. This was it. This was her first-ever sports social position, and the one that would propel her journey as a sports creative professional. The rest is history! From there, Aly worked for Penn State University Athletics before joining the reigning NBA champions—the Boston Celtics. Currently working with the Celtics as the team's Senior Social Media Coordinator, Aly remains driven by her love for digital media, content creation, and storytelling. Along with this, she has also fostered her personal brand in the space through her digital series on TikTok where she provides insights and advice to rising professionals interested in pursuing a similar career in sports. Amazing!

Take us all the way back! When did you discover that you were interested in the creative side of sports?

I honestly didn't even know that sports media was even a thing. I think that was just from being from such a small area…I didn't realize any of that was even possible for myself. I actually got an e-mail from Temple (University) in the middle of my second semester my junior year—I’ll never forget—, and it was for a Sports Media Certificate. I was like, “I don't even know what that really means.” I just did research from that point (on) and I came across a lot of social media influencers or people who kind of do similar things to what I do now—that's really how I kind of figured out the path I wanted to take. From that moment, I was just like: “Yeah, we need to figure out how to get there.” So I applied for my first-ever internship in sports in the summer before my senior year as a game day intern. I kind of knew I wanted to do social that whole time, but I knew that I just needed a foot in the door anywhere I could.

Throughout your journey thus far, you’ve worked with an array of organizations including the Philadelphia Phillies, Philadelphia Flyers, and Philadelphia 76ers. Take us through that journey! Could you share more with us about your work and roles with these different organizations?

I've had quite a few (*laughs*). That first position was literally just a game day internship for a Minor League Baseball team. It wasn't too far from where I had grown up. I grew up going to this team’s game, so it was a full circle moment. That was kind of my real first internship and it basically allowed me to get a really good intro into the business side of the industry—which I really didn't know much about. At that internship, I did a little bit of everything. I got to work with a bunch of different departments in the Minor League Baseball team and while I was there I actually had someone on LinkedIn reach out to me about doing the ticketing internship for the Phillies. I was in shock at that point. I knew I didn't want to do ticket sales, but I was like: “Sign me up.” When I got back to campus for my senior year in the fall, I was a ticket services representative for the Phillies. Basically, I sold single game tickets, answered anyone who called, and did a lot of different things. It was really cool to learn the ticketing scene and see a little bit more details behind the scenes of how the business side of sports operates. Then, for my spring semester my senior year, I had a corporate partnerships internship with the Philadelphia Flyers. This I would say was the first internship where I kind of really was getting closer to where I wanted to be. I got to do a little bit of photography there for a lot of our activations and our sponsored content. Sometimes too, we would have activations on the concourse and I’d get to do a little bit more creative stuff there—I would have to put together some presentations for clients with a lot of the photos I took. I enjoyed that internship a lot. It was also really my first time ever getting to see hockey, which was cool. It introduced me to the sport as well, so that was exciting. Then I graduated, and a month or so later, that's when I started with the Sixers as their social media and content fellow—this was a yearlong contracted full-time position. It was the perfect position for a recent graduate and I really did learn so much when I was there. Obviously, I wouldn't have gotten to where I am today without that position.

That was my first-ever sports social experience directly, which is kind of crazy because I had already graduated and honestly didn't think I'd be able to get into the social side because I wasn't able to obtain any real sports social experience (while in college). But, the Sixers loved that I had the experience in different departments and could connect all of those back to social media. I always like to throw that out there: any type of experience really is valuable. I did a little bit of everything social (there). I did a lot of iPhone content. I also did a lot of analytics work for them when I was there. You know, just working all the games was really fun for me. I got to do my first game live-tweeting for an NBA team, which was crazy. I had a lot of fun times and have a lot of good memories. For sure, I learned so much there. After that, I actually was unemployed for like three or four months. That was a really hard time. I was just trying to get a full-time position anywhere I could throughout the country in sports social media. It took me a little bit, but then I got an offer from Penn State University Athletics to do their social media for their athletics department. I accepted the offer and it was my first full-time non-contracted position. I worked there for about 10 months. That's kind of all the positions I've had up until the current one that I have now with the Celtics.

Let’s dive into that! You’re the Senior Social Media Coordinator for the Boston Celtics. If you could give someone insight into your work there, how would you describe it?

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