{"id":16594,"date":"2026-10-08T12:52:04","date_gmt":"2026-10-08T16:52:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/harrington\/?p=16594"},"modified":"2026-10-08T15:49:48","modified_gmt":"2026-10-08T19:49:48","slug":"22-siobhan-richards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/harrington\/news\/2026\/10\/08\/22-siobhan-richards\/","title":{"rendered":"A Career in Sports: Siobhan Richards \u201922 on Persistence, Opportunity and Finding Her Path"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

For most college students, landing a dream job doesn’t happen overnight. For Siobhan Richards \u201922, it involved trying different careers, taking on opportunities that weren’t part of the original plan, earning three majors in journalism<\/a>, public relations<\/a> and sports media<\/a> and being willing to put herself out there. From showing up to an event with a resume in hand to eventually working in professional soccer, Richards’s career shows how much can come from simply being persistent and taking a chance.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How did your interest in storytelling and media begin?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

My interest in storytelling began with photography. In high school, I worked for my school newspaper, where I covered sports, managed social media, took photos and interviewed people. I thought I might pursue teaching or journalism, but a public relations course at a journalism conference opened my eyes to even more possibilities. <\/p>\n\n\n

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What did your path look like when you first came to URI?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I started at URI as a double major in public relations and history. Then I discovered sports media. I kind of always had this path of wanting to be creative, wanting to do things with photography, loving social media and wanting to pursue that. By graduation, I had earned three majors: journalism, public relations, and sports media, along with a minor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What experiences beyond the classroom shaped you?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was involved with the Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) as president for my junior and senior year as well as on the executive board all 4 years, The Good 5 Cent Cigar<\/a>, a sorority, the Harrington Social Media Agency<\/a> and URI Clubs Sports. During COVID-19, I also helped restructure PRSSA to create more leadership opportunities and helped organize a virtual regional conference. The pandemic could have thrown a huge wrench in all of my college plans. Instead of moping over the fact that my college experience wasn’t going to be the way I pictured it, I instead took that as a challenge to make it the best I could.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After graduating in 2022, did you know exactly what career you wanted?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I knew I wanted to work in sports PR, but getting there took some trial and error. My first job was at a PR agency working with technology clients, but I quickly realized it wasn’t the right fit. I then joined a community bank, where I gained experience in marketing, social media, email, web content and communications. At the same time, I kept pursuing sports. I photographed for the Worcester Red Sox, became a brand ambassador for the New England Revolution, and continued making connections in the industry. <\/p>\n\n\n

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How did you eventually make the move into professional soccer?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Boston’s new National Women’s Soccer League team was announced in 2023, I immediately saw the potential for a dream job. When the team began hiring, I even showed up early to an event with my resume printed and ready and handed it to their Chief of Staff. The team later reached out about a social media coordinator role. It was perfect. It was exactly what I wanted to do. I joined the organization in September 2024 as one of its earliest employees and eventually contributed to the club’s rebrand, including its new Boston Legacy identity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What advice would you give Harrington students who are still figuring out their career path?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your first job probably won’t be your dream job, and that’s okay. Never give up. Never stop trying. You’re going to have a lot of trial and error when you first graduate. You’re not always going to land the dream role right away. My time at the community bank, for example, gave me a wider range of marketing experience that eventually helped me land a job in sports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Say yes to opportunities that might not seem directly connected to your end goal. You never know what skills or connections you’ll gain from an experience. I also think networking is really important. I recommend doing informational networking and building genuine connections instead of simply collecting LinkedIn connections. And don’t underestimate the value of persistence. Sometimes you have to put yourself out there and make the opportunities happen. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How do you stay organized while searching for jobs and building your career?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I tracked everything in a spreadsheet. I tracked applications, positions, salaries, connections, interviews, and follow-ups. It was a simple system, but it helped me see what was working and where my experience was getting the most attention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What’s one final piece of advice you’d give students entering the industry?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think you need to be a little insane in order to stand out, especially in sports. That persistence and the willingness to just be you, to say yes and to be excitable about things are the things that I think pushed me over the edge and make you stand out. There isn’t one perfect path from college to your dream job. Sometimes it’s photography, sometimes it’s PR. Sometimes it’s a job you thought you’d hate. Sometimes it’s showing up with a resume in your hand. Sometimes saying yes to the next opportunity is what gets you where you want to go. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This story was written by Sydney Capello, an intern for the\u00a0Harrington School Social Media Agency<\/a>.<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For most college students, landing a dream job doesn’t happen overnight. For Siobhan Richards \u201922, it involved trying different careers, taking on opportunities that weren’t part of the original plan, earning three majors in journalism, public relations and sports media and being willing to put herself out there. From showing up to an event with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3771,"featured_media":16595,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[23,98,12,94,111,93],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16594","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni-profile","category-journalism","category-news","category-public-relations","category-social-media-agency","category-sports-media"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/harrington\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16594","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/harrington\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/harrington\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/harrington\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3771"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/harrington\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16594"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/harrington\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16594\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16601,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/harrington\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16594\/revisions\/16601"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/harrington\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16595"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/harrington\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16594"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/harrington\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16594"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/harrington\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16594"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}