Hockey-mad student lands ‘perfect’ first employment in sports marketing

Victoria Stewart (22) joined the MSc International Marketing and Management course at Dundee’s School of Business with hopes of one day working in sports media. She has now taken the first steps on the career ladder after taking up a role as media manager with digital marketing agency Key & Eagle, where she will promote the company’s sports clients.

Victoria’s journey to this point began back in 2016 when she was invited to a Dundee Stars ice hockey match by a friend. Even though she had never watched the game before, she was instantly transfixed and was soon a committed Stars season ticket-holder. From there, she gravitated towards North America’s National Hockey League (NHL), the world’s top ice hockey competition, and the Toronto Maple Leafs in particular.

Her musings on the fast-paced, physical sport have earned Victoria a following of around 20,000 across Twitter and YouTube, many whom are from ice hockey’s spiritual home of Canada. The Maple Leafs even tweeted to their two million followers to welcome Victoria to their Scotiabank Arena when she visited for the first time back in November.

Her videos and writing also led to her being offered freelance commissions and, eventually, the role with Key & Eagle that she will now balance with her studies for the rest of the academic year.

Victoria, who was born in Dundee and completed an undergraduate degree in History at the University before pivoting towards her masters subject, says she is delighted at the way her various passions have aligned.

“I was always creating things as a kid,” she explained. “I was the one running around with video camera at family parties and recording everything and that interest stayed with me. Making videos for YouTube and other content gives me an outlet to be creative. Over the years, I have worked with Tayside Council on Alcohol and ended up producing podcasts and managing social media. I love the digital side of things and now hockey is in the mix as well.

“I fell in love with hockey right away and fell hard. I have been to pretty much every Stars home game since that first one I went to but my YouTube and freelance stuff is more focused on the NHL. It’s the biggest market and the best standard. 

“I am a massive Maple Leafs fan and I managed to get over to Toronto for the first time a couple of months ago and it was amazing. The time difference doesn’t make it easy to be an NHL fan in this country. I’m up to 3am most nights watching games and creating content around them. I must be a glutton for punishment because I’ve got into baseball and American football now as well.

“The people in America and Canada are so friendly and welcoming. There are so many connections with Scotland that it has helped me be accepted by them. It’s a novelty for some random girl from Scotland to be talking about North American sports on Twitter and Facebook!

“I’ve learned so much already from my masters degree, but in particular studying place branding and strategy have been really beneficial to me. We are covering project management and digital marketing this semester too, both of which will be useful to me in my future career.

“I came to know the owner of Key & Eagle through the UK hockey scene. He knew about what I was doing on social media and invited me for an interview when this job came up. I love sports marketing and it’s the perfect place for me to start my career and it is amazing that it has happened while I am still studying.

“That said, if the NHL ever want to employ a UK marketing manager they should give me a shout!”

The University enjoys a strong connection to her favourite sport. A long-standing partnership sees the School of Business offer scholarships to talented players who continue their studies while turning out for Dundee Stars.

This partnership also informs the Managing and Leading in Sports module which sees students explore the challenges of managing a sports team as well as wider community engagement in terms of branding, marketing, and sponsorship.