Sports Career Dream Come True

By: Cass Ferguson

Social media is morning, noon and night for Alyssa Turner. Turner is currently the ‘Social Media Manager’ for the NWHL (National Women’s Hockey League). If you read our article on Juliana, you will notice that both these amazing women work for the NWHL. It’s absolutely amazing to see two women who are passionate about not only sports but improving the visibility of women’s sports. 

Along with Turner’s role as ‘Social Media Manager’ for the NWHL, she has also taken on the social media platforms for the new expansion team within the league; the recently announced team from Toronto, Ontario.

Turner, an original Windsor, Ontario native, thought she wanted to start her journey by going to university so she packed up and moved to the good ol’ city of Toronto to pursue her dream. While running all the social media platforms for the league and the new expansion team, she is a student in ‘Media Communications’ at Humber College.

With all the change, Turner has found herself in experiences that have helped her land that “DREAM” career. While at school she applied to work with the Humber College athletic social media department and she said, “I was responsible to cover all 20 sports teams across both Twitter and Instagram, which to be honest, was A LOT OF FUN.”

Running social media is not all what it seems or people may thing. The reality is for one person to the next their days look so different. What does a day look like for Turner? Turner explained, “The season was basically done before the pandemic started, so now my days are different than during season, but that doesn’t mean social media stops. Content right now has a huge focus on re-signings, new signings, and we recently had our draft for the upcoming NWHL season. So basically it’s a lot of off season stuff and planning, but it’s been fun.”

While chatting, Turner brought up something that most, if not all social media managers are experiencing. “During this time, social media has become more and more important for brands. Things are becoming more content heavy and it’s exhausting, but it’s what needs to be done.” 

When you enjoy what you do and work more hours than needed, is it really even a job? Turner LOVES what she does, she’s obsessed with her work, and when she posts something she loves seeing where it can go. She LOVES moderating what she posts, but when you love what you do, there also comes the stuff you don’t always love. For Turner, she knows working on social media means you have to be on social media a lot, but sometimes she wishes she could just turn all screens off and really unplug from her virtual life. 

Have you ever thought of where you are today could be because of someone in your life you see as a role model? Regarding if there was any particular person that has helped her on this she mentioned, “There isn’t just one person or names of people that come to mind, but I tend to follow people on social media (Twitter) who are in a role or have done a role of where I want to be. These people who have shown success in a role that I strive to do one day.” 

We have said this before, but social media impact on a brand can be amazing. In today’s world women’s sports are always fighting for airtime and fighting to be recognized, so when Turner can use social media to improve the stats she said, “It’s probably one of my highlights because I know I’m making a difference.” When she can help out a little girl or boy who inspires to play, she knows she’s doing something right and takes pride in the way she’s able to do that. 

Growing up playing hockey is just one reason she wants to keep going and keep doing what she’s doing. Turner picked the sports industry because sports were her life and was the center of her household. She mentions that, “She could skate better than she could walk.” Sports were everything, but she said, “To be honest, at first I wanted to be a teacher because I saw my mom pursing that career, but when I realized that I could continue in sports without playing, I took that and ran with it.”
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In the end, follow your dreams, do something you love because when you love what you do, it’s not a job.

Connect with Alyssa: Twitter: @aturnz11