October 23, 2025 • 26 mins
On this episode of Her Playbook, Madelyn Burke sits down with Chief Operating Officer for NYCFC, Jennifer O’Sullivan. She discusses how she started her career, her journey that led her to working for NYC FC, and building the first soccer-specific stadium in New York City. Presented by Kendra Scott.
:00 - Jennifer’s path to NYCFC
6:50 - What drew her to sports
8:25 - Building a soccer stadium in New York City
13:00 - Building a community
19:30 - Jennifer’s motivation
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to an all new episode of her playbook that.
Her Playbook Podcast is presented by kendras Scott. Game Day
Just got Personal. Find your winning look at Kendra Scott
where team spirit meets personal style. Shop jewelry, accessories and
more at your New York area Kendra Scott store or
online at Kendrascott dot com. I'm Madeleine Burke and I
am thrilled to be joined this week by the COO
(00:23):
Chief Operating Officer of NYCFC, Jennifer O Sullivan. Jennifer, thank
you so much for coming by the studio.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Thank you so much for having me. I appreciate the innight.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
I am so thrilled to chat with you, and I
got to start with the basics right. For our listeners
out there who don't quite know what the role of
a COO of a major sports team is, how would
you describe it.
Speaker 3 (00:40):
I kind of joke that I've got the chief title
that you know, we're all the things that potentially go
wrong go wrong, and it always comes to me, But
it's essentially the right hand to the CEO, so we
together split the business. I really oversee most of the
operational and administrative side of the business, and he handles
a lot more of the revenue side. But because I'm
a lawyer my background and trade, I do a lot
(01:03):
of work with every department in the in the industry,
so in the business rather so you know, I work
a lot with the partnership team, and the marketing team,
and the ticketing team, and in our sporting department, academy,
all of our you know, our elite players, our youth
programs kind of runs the gamuts. So so you know,
I think a CEO like part of my job is
also to like look across the business and figure out
(01:25):
where do we have gaps, where do we have deficiencies,
Where could we be better, Where could we be more
cost effective, Where it could be we be more efficient. Yeah,
And so as a lawyer, I think there are certain
there's certain backgrounds and departments that tend to work across
the business and legal finance, you know, those are sort
of the ones that kind of you know, you have
a more integrated approach when it comes to the business,
(01:47):
and so we have a unique view and insight into
where those areas could be for improvement or where we
could you know, have an opportunity for example.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
Yeah, and you mentioned your legal background. Now you came
to ny CFC, you know from different avenue wrapping, you know,
sports leagues and teams and media companies. What is that
experience like and how did that experience lend to now
being inside of a sports team.
Speaker 3 (02:11):
Yeah, you know, it's funny. If you had asked me
when I was in law school what I was going
to do, I would have been able to tell you
what I was not going to do. I would say,
you know, I'm never going to be a partner at
a law firm and I'm never going to work for
a team, because in my mind that was very limiting
and I didn't want to be limited.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
I was a league. In my mind.
Speaker 3 (02:31):
The league was where I wanted to be right, much
broader kind of opportunity and experience and fast forward. And
I had as a partner in a law firm, you know,
when I was overseeing the sports practice in New York
for that firm and really had a very broad base
of clients and it was very exciting. And one of
my partners said, hey, let me introduce you to my buddy.
(02:51):
He's the new CEO at New York City Football Club.
They're going to be aild a stadium someday, maybe we
can pitch them on our sports practice.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
And I said, sure, let's do that.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
And again, in the back of my mind was never
thinking that this is a path I would go down.
But when it was presented to me and I really
started to think about it, and I started talking to
some other you know, friends in the business and people
that I confided and said, this is the culmination of
everything you've done in your career, right, like this moment,
this opportunity is sort of there's nobody better qualified to
(03:22):
do this than you, and it's and it's such an
exciting opportunity, and so so I.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
Really jumped at it.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
I kind of love those moments, right, It's like that
movie slum Dog Millionaire, Right when you look back and
in hindsight, everything kind of seems to have aligned to
point you in that direction. But in the moment, you
would have never noticed or never seen. But I love
how you've talked about how you were really hesitant to
make that move when that opportunity came with NYCFC. You're like, no,
I don't know, how did you How did you make
(03:48):
that decision?
Speaker 3 (03:49):
Yeah? I was, And you know, again, I never I've
never planned out my career.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
Ye, right.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
I left law school with the idea that I knew
I wanted to work in sports, but like, I didn't
have connections, I didn't have a plan. I didn't really
have anything. And I was really the right conversation with
the right person at the right time that introduced me
to someone who introduced me to my first internship in
law school, which was in sports, and it was working
(04:16):
for David Falk and his agency, Michael Jordan's agent, who
at the time had every NBA player in his you know,
in his stable of clients. And I learned very quickly, Okay,
well that's what I don't want it. I don't want
to be on the agent side. But I really loved football.
I was introduced to lawyers at the NFL and NFLPA,
and I had an opportunity to go to the NFL
(04:36):
right out of law school, and I said, that's it.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
I'm doing it right.
Speaker 3 (04:39):
And every guy that I was friends with, who we
watched football with every Sunday was sort of like, oh
my god, this is amazing.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
You're going to go work for the NFL.
Speaker 3 (04:46):
Like, you know, everyone was very jealous, but I was like, sure,
I'm going to go defer my law school loans. I'm
going to go back to Jersey and live with my parents,
and I'll figure this out. And it was a great
opportunity for me to build my network. It was a
great opportunity for me to get some experience in the
business and really start to have serious conversations with people
who said like, Hey, you really need to hone your
(05:07):
skills as a lawyer. You really need to go to
a law firm or a DA's office or whatever it
is you want to do. And then I spent seven
years in law firms, you know, small law firms to
begin with, getting to progressively bigger law firms, until one
day I woke up saying like I was doing litigation,
and I was like, this is not what I feel
like I want to do, right, and how do I
(05:28):
get out of this? Meanwhile, for seven years, I was networking,
I was papering the city with my resume to try
to bind a job back in sports, trying to get
back to the NFL, trying to do everything that I could.
When again another friend said to me, hey, they need
a senior level lawyer at the Arena Football League, And
you know, you want to throw your hat in the ring,
and I said sure, and I did, and it was
(05:50):
my way back into sports. But it was an opportunity
to get a role that was part transactional, part litigation.
And the minute I did the litigation and you know,
I said, I really don't want this. This this transactional
stuff is what I enjoy. The light bul went off
and I said, this is what I want to do,
and so I started to kind of more focus on
that side of the business. Soccer came knocking next, and
(06:12):
it was a business role with Women's Professional Soccer as
the CEO and commissioner. And I was a bit shocked
because I thought, I'm a lawyer, Why do they want me?
Why would I Why would I, you know, do this.
But the work I had done at the Arena Football League,
a small league, working very closely with the board of directors,
you know, a league that was struggling trying to get
(06:33):
itself back out onto the field, was sort of that.
That was the what someone saw on me there, and
so I did that and then you know, fifteen years later,
here I'm still working in you know, in soccer and
loving it and that being part of building something is
what I've really totally enjoyed.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
That is cool, and it seems too, you know, so
unique that sports has been such a north star in
your career while having the legal and the business side background.
You know, sports is the arena in WI you wanted
to pursue. Where did that love of sport begin? Where
did that cultivate? What are your early memories of saying, okay,
this is how I knew sports was what needed to
(07:10):
be an integral part of my life.
Speaker 3 (07:12):
So we grew up in I mean I was the
oldest of three kids. I have two younger brothers, and
my dad and his family were athletes, and so it
was sort of from a very young age we played
everything everything but soccer.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
Yeah, interestingly, but my brothers.
Speaker 3 (07:27):
Played football and basketball, baseball. I played softball, volleyball, track
and field, you know, basketball, my dad had a golfing
Like it was just such an important part of my life.
I coached as a you know, young kids as I was, like,
you know, coming up in their high school and college,
and ran our murals when I was in college, and
I just knew that, you know, the law always seemed
to be something that I knew would be My passion
(07:50):
is in terms of like my career, but it was
what do you do with it, right, and how do
you use it in a way that that it's something
that you love. And I knew, hey, lawyers, they're going
to work long hours. It's a lot of work. I
have to love what I'm doing. And that's why I say,
you know, sports was sort of just always in my
mind of like what do I love the most? And
I love the fact that sports teaches so many lessons
(08:13):
life lessons, right, and it's really about leadership and teamwork
and working hard and all of those things. And so
if I could combine those two passions, you know, for me,
that was a it was a win win.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
Yeah. And like in any office or any professional setting,
there's so many sports analogies of working together as a
team and achieving a goal and this is actually quite
literally doing that. And one of the things that you
guys have been working on at NYCFC is a big
one is bringing a soccer specific stadium to New York. Now,
this is something that has been kind of on the
(08:44):
horizon since even before NYCFC was part of Major League Soccer,
but in recent years it's really gotten going and now
it's underway. What's that process been like for you and
how did that even how to you even begin something
like that?
Speaker 2 (08:57):
You know this, I mean the process started long before
I got there. This at this point ten years in
the making.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
You know.
Speaker 3 (09:02):
The club launched in twenty thirteen, played our first game
in twenty fifteen, and I think at the time the
club launched, there was this idea that, hey, it'll take
a couple of years. Yankees were part owners along with
City Football Group, you know, who are also own our
sister team, Man City and now ten other clubs around
the world. But at the time, it was, hey, we'll
take a couple of years, we'll get this stadium, We'll
(09:23):
play at Yankee State Yankee Stadium. Yeah, but anybody who
knows New York City knows the difficulties in building and
developing large scale projects in New York and there were
a number of hurdles that we had to overcome. And
when I joined, I joined in twenty twenty, so, you know,
almost six years ago, five and a half years ago.
(09:45):
And when I joined, there was a deal to have
a stadium in the Bronx. I mean, we were picking
out chairs, we were picking out carpeting, like yeah, the
design was hate watches every yeah, everything, We're ready, and
that deal ultimately fell through in the Land Assembly. You know, projects,
so a number of challenges, right, It's to find available
land to do what we would need to accomplish. What
(10:05):
we need to accomplish to build a stadium is challenging.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
We looked at.
Speaker 3 (10:09):
Dozens, dozens and dozens of sites, spent a lot of
money on, you know, feasibility studies on maybe probably eight
to ten of them. And the original site that was
looked at was in Queen's And when we went back
to the drawing board after the Bronx, it was sort
of the Queen's site kept coming.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
Back up, and.
Speaker 3 (10:29):
We had a really solid relationship with council Member Francisco
Moya with some other politicians in the area who had
formed this Willets Point Task Force and said like, we
think this is the perfect site. And so ultimately we
started a plan before we actually had a deal done,
of like could we make this happen. And you know,
(10:50):
it's a real example I think of, you know, when
you have a group of people in New York City
who really want to get something done and can push
a project through and so it's It took a lot
from community leaders and local politicians, union leaders, a lot
of the support that we built behind the scenes to
sort of say, is this what this community wants? And
(11:12):
then fast forward, you know, to a very challenging public
approvals process called eulrope that New York City has that
I don't think, you know, it is unlike anything else
anywhere in the you know, in this country.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
How does that work.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
It is a very robust community feedback process. So in
the beginning, the local community boards get to vote on
whether or not this is a project they want to support.
It winds its way to the Queensboro President, who also
gets a vote, and it goes to city City Planning Commission,
ultimately culminates in a vote with the entire New York
(11:46):
City Council and then goes to the mayor for signing.
If the project makes its way through all the ways
through all the yeah, and it's a process that can
take a very long time. It took nine months for us,
which is a lot faster than most projects are able
to get through. And I think what the thing that
we were so humble by was the this sheer amount
of community support and unwavering support that was there for
(12:10):
this project. It's not just a stadium. It's a project
that is a mixed use development that's providing you know,
twenty five hundred units with affordable housing, a new six
hundred and fifty seed school, a new hotel, retail opportunities
in an area which if you're a you know, a
fan of of f Scott Fitzgerald, it's it's you know,
rising from the ashes here like this is what this is,
(12:32):
what this land was. It was just underutilized. It had
been desolate for decades and decades. It's the first new
neighborhood in New York City in forty years. So for
us to be part of that project is I mean,
you know, it's a once in a career opportunity for
a lot of us. It's a once in a lifetime
opportunity to be part of that. And we were able
(12:52):
to get that support, get it through and break around
last December, and here we are looking at a you know,
an opening in twenty twenty seven of the first ever
soccer specific stadium in New York City.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
It's fascinating too, because, i mean, when you think about
the approvals process, you know, as grueling as it is.
It's like, you know, a New York City co op
or something like that. It's a it's such a unique process,
but it does kind of make sense in the fact
that you know, real estate and land is so densely
populated and sparse that sure people want to be deliberate
with what they're putting there. So cool though, how quickly
(13:26):
and swiftly it moved along in that nine month process.
And also cool to be a part not just of
just bringing a new stadium, but almost a community to
a new part of town. That's just such a huge impact.
I think when people think about, oh, they're building a stadium,
they just think about that building and where they're going
to go to the game now.
Speaker 3 (13:44):
One hundred percent. And I think, you know, for us,
it's never just been about a stadium. Yes, we've needed
our own home because when you when you play in
buildings that are not purpose built for your sport, it's
a challenge and it's a challenge we have to load
things in and load things out every week. I mean,
there's a certain amount of inefficient see in the way
that we operate when it's not your own stadium and
(14:04):
a baseball stadium is not a perfect design for for
soccer games, and even.
Speaker 2 (14:09):
Fan experience is built differently.
Speaker 3 (14:11):
You're not yeah, yeah, you have a you have a
less than you know, perfect experience for your fans, for
your partners, for everybody, for your for your players, for
your coaches, and so you know this. It's game changer
for us from a business perspective because we now get
to control our game day experience, We control our revenue,
we control a lot more than we do you know currently.
(14:32):
But it's also for us and been part of our
DNA to be part of the community, and I think
more than any other you know, team, we really have
sort of from the very beginning. Our roots are born
out of community. That's that's our DNA. We provide free
soccer programming to kids all across the five boroughs. We've
served over fifty thousand kids thus far over the last
(14:54):
ten years we're in it. I think at the last
time I checked, it was like eighty six or eighty
seven percent of neighborhoods in New York. Whether that's our
soccer programming or a mini pitch. We've built over fifty
mini pitches in the last ten years. We're going to
be building another twenty six before the World Cup comes
in twenty six. So, you know, providing kids with safe
(15:14):
spaces to play and access to those spaces and programming
is really important to us.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
And so we've looked at this building in a way.
Speaker 3 (15:21):
To say, Okay, how does this become a real home
for the community as well, how does this building become
a community resource, and how do we impact even more
lives through this through this stadium? And so it really
becomes more than just a place to play.
Speaker 1 (15:34):
Games, sure yeah, and more than just changing of destination
from going to a game in the Bronx to go
into a game in Queens. But you know, maintaining that
fan base and maintaining that culture while also kind of
setting some more permanent route, that's right. Yeah, And it's
got to be great too to have, you know, this
on the horizon as the team is doing so well too.
I mean, twenty twenty five season is an incredible success
(15:56):
right here. Pascal Jens in his first year at the
Helm playoffs secure the highest win percentage in club history.
How much easier does it make your job when the
team on the field is playing as well as they are, No,
it's as easier when the team is playing well.
Speaker 3 (16:10):
I mean, I think there's there's just a certain amount
of excitement, you know that, and rallying that you can
get around the team when that's happening, And so it's
always easier to sell season tickets, it's always easier to
get people to come out to games. But the team,
over the course of our last ten years, like it,
has been incredibly competitive. And and MLS, similar to the NFL,
(16:31):
is a league where parody sort of rules, and the
way that the league is set up, when you win
an MLS Cup, you're not supposed to come back the
next year and I'm supposed to be the playoffs next year, right,
there's so much there's.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
So much turnover.
Speaker 3 (16:44):
And the year we won the Cup in twenty one,
came back the following year in the Eastern Conference finals.
And we've been in the playoffs for eight of the
last ten seasons, and so we have an incredibly competitive squad.
But you're right, this year there's something a little bit,
you know, special about that and having a coach who
really is focused on player development and young players and
bringing them up through the ranks and giving them opportunities.
(17:05):
And I think they've really reacted well to him in
the locker room, and fans have really reacted well to that.
So yeah, it does make our job a little bit
easier to be able to say, like, Okay, they're not
complaining about what's going on in the field, They're not
complaining now about the stadium.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
It's coming.
Speaker 3 (17:19):
You know, it's all kind of coming together, and I
think it makes it. It makes the job a little
bit easier, you know, when you're that successful.
Speaker 1 (17:26):
And that's got to be kind of an incredible experience
to be a part of not just a successful season,
but a successful season when the league as a whole
is on the rise. I mean, you're seeing so much
international talent coming over to the MLS. You know, there's
so much more fan engagement, fan interest in the United States,
whereas you know, soccer is such a global game, the
beautiful game.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
The World Cup, I mean.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
Just dominates in numbers, but domestically, you know, there are
other sports that kind of seem to take the attention away,
but MLS is kind of coming for the yields. How
much have you felt that growth of the league huge?
Speaker 3 (17:59):
It's been huge, and I think, you know, like I
said before, being a part of building something, which is
what I really really love. That's the feeling that we
get here, the feeling that you can be so much
more impactful in this sport because we are sort of
riding this wave of growth and opportunity. There are more
kids playing soccer you know, today than any other sport,
(18:19):
and there are kids that are growing up with parents
who also played and are familiar with this sport right.
And we also have, you know, at least particularly in
this area, like a hugely diverse population of people who
come from you know, all over the world, who speak
so many different languages and ethnicities that are represented, who
have soccer in their DNA. So you have this just
sort of built in demo here in New York of people.
(18:42):
You're not introducing the sport to them, they know it already.
What we're basically saying is, hey, you can still be
fans of your teams back home, you know, wherever your
family connections are, but let us be your local team here,
you know, in New York. And I think with the
World Cup coming with so many eyeballs, we've had Club
World Cup here this past summer, you know, to have
the World Cup here with eyes on New York and
(19:04):
New Jersey in this entire area which is so talent
rich in soccer. You know, the the the idea that
like we're now in the room for conversations that you know,
maybe we wouldn't have been before because there is so
much global attention that companies are starting to invest more
and there's there's a lot more excitement around the sport. Yeah,
it's it's definitely something that's a thrilling, you.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
Know, ride to be on as you see the sort
of rise of it, and it's so much fun to
be a part of it. I mean, the world of
sport the world of business coming together in this way
and and you know, looking at what you do as
a whole is just so fascinating to me and so
impressive to me. What what is your biggest motivation every
day in your career?
Speaker 3 (19:43):
You know, it's funny because when we talked about soccer,
I didn't grow up playing soccer, but I grew up
with a family who were fans.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
My mom.
Speaker 3 (19:52):
So I'm the daughter of immigrants, right. My mom came
from Scotland with her family. My dad's family came from
Slovakia and grandfather was a referee back in Scotland, and
so we always knew about the game, knew about the sport.
And when my family came, you know, they were sixth
grade educations at best that they had. They were factory workers,
they were cleaning people, and so they sacrificed a lot
(20:14):
for us to have better opportunities. And so I always
have that in the back of my mind that like, hey,
it's about making sure that I don't.
Speaker 2 (20:21):
Waste that sacrifice, right, and so that I.
Speaker 3 (20:23):
Am continuing to sort of move forward and motivate myself
and my kids. So you know, for me, like I
want my kids to be motivated by seeing what I'm
able to do, what I'm able to accomplish, right, Because you.
Speaker 1 (20:34):
Were the first person in your immediate family to go
to college, yeah, I was. And to build what you've
built on that is so fascinating too. I'm sure obviously
your family is so proud. But also, like you said,
setting that example for your kids and all that, is
there a pressure in that, you.
Speaker 3 (20:47):
Know, I don't know that I look at it as pressure,
but I look at it as an obligation and a responsibility,
and I say it to my kids all the time.
Speaker 2 (20:53):
I mean, like my joke to them is like.
Speaker 3 (20:55):
You have no barriers in your way, right, Like are
your ancestors can here with a lot of barriers, language barriers,
they came here with socioeconomic barriers, they came here with
like religious barriers. There were a lot of reasons why
they could have failed, but they worked really hard so
that they're better, you know, better opportunities for future generations.
Like you don't have those excuses, so you had better
(21:17):
be able to sort of move the ball forward even
further right, right, because you just don't have that. So
I feel like it's not necessarily that it's pressure, but
it's just that that's what motivates me to make sure
that they appreciate everything that's been given to them and everything,
you know, the opportunities that have been afforded to them,
and that take advantage of those opportunities.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
Yeah, you know, I mean hindsight always twenty twenty, When
you look back at your career, at your life, is
there a piece of advice that you wish that you
could give your younger self, or that you would perhaps
give a younger person who is watching this or listening
to this, thinking, wow, that is such a fascinating career journey,
how do I even begin to approach that.
Speaker 3 (21:52):
Yeah, you know, I think there's a couple of things.
One thing that I I think that I wouldn't change,
and I would make sure that I didn't. This was
who bringing my whole self and knowing who I was,
and I didn't know that what I was.
Speaker 2 (22:06):
Doing in my career was building a network.
Speaker 3 (22:08):
It was just my personality to stay friends with or
to be friends with, or to build relationships with people
that I worked with, and to this day, from that
first internship that I had, you know, with David Fox,
I still have friends from that that opportunity, from friends
at the NFL to every law firm that I've been to,
to every job I've had in between, like building relationships
because in this in this business, it's your name and
(22:31):
your reputation that mean everything, but it is your network
that are the people that you can lean on in
times of need or in every opportunity for a job
that I've had.
Speaker 2 (22:40):
But one has come from my network.
Speaker 3 (22:42):
And so you know that, I would say, like to myself,
don't ever change that, and I would tell other younger
people that is one of the most important things that
you can do is real, genuine relationship.
Speaker 1 (22:52):
Well, and the genuine part too, because I'll give this
piece of advice to people as well. And I think
sometimes it gets lost in the whole. You know, relationships
versus transactional, right, there's a difference, and I think people
feel that. But it's like if you invest in just
knowing people and maintaining contact with people versus Hi, you know,
how can I benefit you or you benefit me? It
(23:13):
feels very different.
Speaker 2 (23:14):
It's very different. It is very different.
Speaker 3 (23:15):
And that's why I say a lot of it is
they were friends, friends who picked up the phone and said, Hey,
I heard about this opportunity. I want to put your
name in or hey, we have this opportunity. Can we
can I introduce you to someone? I mean, that's what
it became, became friends, And so I wouldn't I wouldn't,
you know, sort of change that.
Speaker 2 (23:30):
The other thing I think I would say is I
worried a lot.
Speaker 3 (23:35):
I stressed a lot about oh if I don't get
this greater, I don't get this opportunity, like you know,
what's going to happen. And when I look back at
my career and I see the twists and turns that
my career took.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
I tell younger people now enjoy the ride a little
bit more.
Speaker 1 (23:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (23:51):
You know, when I talk to people that are in
college or in grad school and they're worried about I've
got to get this internship or I've got to get this,
and I always say, like, your first internship for first
jobs not going to make or break you.
Speaker 2 (24:02):
You know, it's just as important to figure out what
you don't want to do as what you do want
to do, and.
Speaker 3 (24:07):
Try to make sure that every opportunity, even if it's
not where you want to be, you're taking lessons from those.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
Right.
Speaker 3 (24:14):
So I spent seven years in law firms really kind
of miserable, not doing what I wanted to do. But
when I look back at each of the places that
I was, even the partner who you know, the one
person in my career that I did not stay in
touch with because I didn't want that relationship to begause
I just didn't enjoy it. I didn't want to be
part of it. Even he, I look back and can say, well,
(24:36):
you know what he taught me as a lawyer, how
to sell something that like no one tells young lawyers, Right,
you're the value as a lawyer, sometimes it's how much
business can you bring in or how much can you build?
Because it's money, it's revenue. What are your revenue are
you generating for the law firm? If you're in a
law firm.
Speaker 2 (24:51):
He taught us how to sell. He taught us how.
Speaker 3 (24:53):
To build a book of business, and I value that right.
He also taught us how to build team of people
that were going to be there for one another. And
if you were leaving the office but your you know,
fellow associate or partner was still sitting there doing you know,
god knows what until two in the morning you jumped
(25:13):
into saying it, how can I help you to get
out of here earlier?
Speaker 2 (25:15):
How can I help you? What can I do for you?
Speaker 3 (25:16):
And so, you know, there are a lot of reasons
why I didn't love that time and that experience that
I worked for him, But I walked out of there
with two things that were solid that really have like
resonated with me throughout my career. So even if you're
stuck in a job that you just don't love or
experience you're not thinking is going to be for you,
that's fine. You can still learn something from it.
Speaker 1 (25:36):
Yeah, And kind of taking those moments being where your
feed are, because I think we all do this no
matter where you are in life, You're looking towards the
next goal or the next.
Speaker 2 (25:46):
Hopeful at chet, how do I climb the ladder? How
do I get to the next opportunity?
Speaker 1 (25:49):
And instead of remembering, oh, you know, once upon a
time I was hoping that I would get to where
I am right now, kind of that's right, yeah, and
so that's great, it's great insight too, and also recognizing
that each step along the way, even if it's not
the best experience, is something we can learn from.
Speaker 2 (26:02):
Absolutely, I love that this is a great insight.
Speaker 1 (26:05):
Jennifer O'Sullivan, Thank you so much for taking the time
today and sharing your story and sharing some of your
wisdom with us. Jennifer O'Sullivan, the COO of n y CFC,
thank you so much for joining us on. Thank you
by Kendra Scott
Welcome to an all new episode of her playbook that.
Her Playbook Podcast is presented by kendras Scott. Game Day
Just got Personal. Find your winning look at Kendra Scott
where team spirit meets personal style. Shop jewelry, accessories and
more at your New York area Kendra Scott store or
online at Kendrascott dot com. I'm Madeleine Burke and I
am thrilled to be joined this week by the COO
(00:23):
Chief Operating Officer of NYCFC, Jennifer O Sullivan. Jennifer, thank
you so much for coming by the studio.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Thank you so much for having me. I appreciate the innight.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
I am so thrilled to chat with you, and I
got to start with the basics right. For our listeners
out there who don't quite know what the role of
a COO of a major sports team is, how would
you describe it.
Speaker 3 (00:40):
I kind of joke that I've got the chief title
that you know, we're all the things that potentially go
wrong go wrong, and it always comes to me, But
it's essentially the right hand to the CEO, so we
together split the business. I really oversee most of the
operational and administrative side of the business, and he handles
a lot more of the revenue side. But because I'm
a lawyer my background and trade, I do a lot
(01:03):
of work with every department in the in the industry,
so in the business rather so you know, I work
a lot with the partnership team, and the marketing team,
and the ticketing team, and in our sporting department, academy,
all of our you know, our elite players, our youth
programs kind of runs the gamuts. So so you know,
I think a CEO like part of my job is
also to like look across the business and figure out
(01:25):
where do we have gaps, where do we have deficiencies,
Where could we be better, Where could we be more
cost effective, Where it could be we be more efficient. Yeah,
And so as a lawyer, I think there are certain
there's certain backgrounds and departments that tend to work across
the business and legal finance, you know, those are sort
of the ones that kind of you know, you have
a more integrated approach when it comes to the business,
(01:47):
and so we have a unique view and insight into
where those areas could be for improvement or where we
could you know, have an opportunity for example.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
Yeah, and you mentioned your legal background. Now you came
to ny CFC, you know from different avenue wrapping, you know,
sports leagues and teams and media companies. What is that
experience like and how did that experience lend to now
being inside of a sports team.
Speaker 3 (02:11):
Yeah, you know, it's funny. If you had asked me
when I was in law school what I was going
to do, I would have been able to tell you
what I was not going to do. I would say,
you know, I'm never going to be a partner at
a law firm and I'm never going to work for
a team, because in my mind that was very limiting
and I didn't want to be limited.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
I was a league. In my mind.
Speaker 3 (02:31):
The league was where I wanted to be right, much
broader kind of opportunity and experience and fast forward. And
I had as a partner in a law firm, you know,
when I was overseeing the sports practice in New York
for that firm and really had a very broad base
of clients and it was very exciting. And one of
my partners said, hey, let me introduce you to my buddy.
(02:51):
He's the new CEO at New York City Football Club.
They're going to be aild a stadium someday, maybe we
can pitch them on our sports practice.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
And I said, sure, let's do that.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
And again, in the back of my mind was never
thinking that this is a path I would go down.
But when it was presented to me and I really
started to think about it, and I started talking to
some other you know, friends in the business and people
that I confided and said, this is the culmination of
everything you've done in your career, right, like this moment,
this opportunity is sort of there's nobody better qualified to
(03:22):
do this than you, and it's and it's such an
exciting opportunity, and so so I.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
Really jumped at it.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
I kind of love those moments, right, It's like that
movie slum Dog Millionaire, Right when you look back and
in hindsight, everything kind of seems to have aligned to
point you in that direction. But in the moment, you
would have never noticed or never seen. But I love
how you've talked about how you were really hesitant to
make that move when that opportunity came with NYCFC. You're like, no,
I don't know, how did you How did you make
(03:48):
that decision?
Speaker 3 (03:49):
Yeah? I was, And you know, again, I never I've
never planned out my career.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
Ye, right.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
I left law school with the idea that I knew
I wanted to work in sports, but like, I didn't
have connections, I didn't have a plan. I didn't really
have anything. And I was really the right conversation with
the right person at the right time that introduced me
to someone who introduced me to my first internship in
law school, which was in sports, and it was working
(04:16):
for David Falk and his agency, Michael Jordan's agent, who
at the time had every NBA player in his you know,
in his stable of clients. And I learned very quickly, Okay,
well that's what I don't want it. I don't want
to be on the agent side. But I really loved football.
I was introduced to lawyers at the NFL and NFLPA,
and I had an opportunity to go to the NFL
(04:36):
right out of law school, and I said, that's it.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
I'm doing it right.
Speaker 3 (04:39):
And every guy that I was friends with, who we
watched football with every Sunday was sort of like, oh
my god, this is amazing.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
You're going to go work for the NFL.
Speaker 3 (04:46):
Like, you know, everyone was very jealous, but I was like, sure,
I'm going to go defer my law school loans. I'm
going to go back to Jersey and live with my parents,
and I'll figure this out. And it was a great
opportunity for me to build my network. It was a
great opportunity for me to get some experience in the
business and really start to have serious conversations with people
who said like, Hey, you really need to hone your
(05:07):
skills as a lawyer. You really need to go to
a law firm or a DA's office or whatever it
is you want to do. And then I spent seven
years in law firms, you know, small law firms to
begin with, getting to progressively bigger law firms, until one
day I woke up saying like I was doing litigation,
and I was like, this is not what I feel
like I want to do, right, and how do I
(05:28):
get out of this? Meanwhile, for seven years, I was networking,
I was papering the city with my resume to try
to bind a job back in sports, trying to get
back to the NFL, trying to do everything that I could.
When again another friend said to me, hey, they need
a senior level lawyer at the Arena Football League, And
you know, you want to throw your hat in the ring,
and I said sure, and I did, and it was
(05:50):
my way back into sports. But it was an opportunity
to get a role that was part transactional, part litigation.
And the minute I did the litigation and you know,
I said, I really don't want this. This this transactional
stuff is what I enjoy. The light bul went off
and I said, this is what I want to do,
and so I started to kind of more focus on
that side of the business. Soccer came knocking next, and
(06:12):
it was a business role with Women's Professional Soccer as
the CEO and commissioner. And I was a bit shocked
because I thought, I'm a lawyer, Why do they want me?
Why would I Why would I, you know, do this.
But the work I had done at the Arena Football League,
a small league, working very closely with the board of directors,
you know, a league that was struggling trying to get
(06:33):
itself back out onto the field, was sort of that.
That was the what someone saw on me there, and
so I did that and then you know, fifteen years later,
here I'm still working in you know, in soccer and
loving it and that being part of building something is
what I've really totally enjoyed.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
That is cool, and it seems too, you know, so
unique that sports has been such a north star in
your career while having the legal and the business side background.
You know, sports is the arena in WI you wanted
to pursue. Where did that love of sport begin? Where
did that cultivate? What are your early memories of saying, okay,
this is how I knew sports was what needed to
(07:10):
be an integral part of my life.
Speaker 3 (07:12):
So we grew up in I mean I was the
oldest of three kids. I have two younger brothers, and
my dad and his family were athletes, and so it
was sort of from a very young age we played
everything everything but soccer.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
Yeah, interestingly, but my brothers.
Speaker 3 (07:27):
Played football and basketball, baseball. I played softball, volleyball, track
and field, you know, basketball, my dad had a golfing
Like it was just such an important part of my life.
I coached as a you know, young kids as I was, like,
you know, coming up in their high school and college,
and ran our murals when I was in college, and
I just knew that, you know, the law always seemed
to be something that I knew would be My passion
(07:50):
is in terms of like my career, but it was
what do you do with it, right, and how do
you use it in a way that that it's something
that you love. And I knew, hey, lawyers, they're going
to work long hours. It's a lot of work. I
have to love what I'm doing. And that's why I say,
you know, sports was sort of just always in my
mind of like what do I love the most? And
I love the fact that sports teaches so many lessons
(08:13):
life lessons, right, and it's really about leadership and teamwork
and working hard and all of those things. And so
if I could combine those two passions, you know, for me,
that was a it was a win win.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
Yeah. And like in any office or any professional setting,
there's so many sports analogies of working together as a
team and achieving a goal and this is actually quite
literally doing that. And one of the things that you
guys have been working on at NYCFC is a big
one is bringing a soccer specific stadium to New York. Now,
this is something that has been kind of on the
(08:44):
horizon since even before NYCFC was part of Major League Soccer,
but in recent years it's really gotten going and now
it's underway. What's that process been like for you and
how did that even how to you even begin something
like that?
Speaker 2 (08:57):
You know this, I mean the process started long before
I got there. This at this point ten years in
the making.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
You know.
Speaker 3 (09:02):
The club launched in twenty thirteen, played our first game
in twenty fifteen, and I think at the time the
club launched, there was this idea that, hey, it'll take
a couple of years. Yankees were part owners along with
City Football Group, you know, who are also own our
sister team, Man City and now ten other clubs around
the world. But at the time, it was, hey, we'll
take a couple of years, we'll get this stadium, We'll
(09:23):
play at Yankee State Yankee Stadium. Yeah, but anybody who
knows New York City knows the difficulties in building and
developing large scale projects in New York and there were
a number of hurdles that we had to overcome. And
when I joined, I joined in twenty twenty, so, you know,
almost six years ago, five and a half years ago.
(09:45):
And when I joined, there was a deal to have
a stadium in the Bronx. I mean, we were picking
out chairs, we were picking out carpeting, like yeah, the
design was hate watches every yeah, everything, We're ready, and
that deal ultimately fell through in the Land Assembly. You know, projects,
so a number of challenges, right, It's to find available
land to do what we would need to accomplish. What
(10:05):
we need to accomplish to build a stadium is challenging.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
We looked at.
Speaker 3 (10:09):
Dozens, dozens and dozens of sites, spent a lot of
money on, you know, feasibility studies on maybe probably eight
to ten of them. And the original site that was
looked at was in Queen's And when we went back
to the drawing board after the Bronx, it was sort
of the Queen's site kept coming.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
Back up, and.
Speaker 3 (10:29):
We had a really solid relationship with council Member Francisco
Moya with some other politicians in the area who had
formed this Willets Point Task Force and said like, we
think this is the perfect site. And so ultimately we
started a plan before we actually had a deal done,
of like could we make this happen. And you know,
(10:50):
it's a real example I think of, you know, when
you have a group of people in New York City
who really want to get something done and can push
a project through and so it's It took a lot
from community leaders and local politicians, union leaders, a lot
of the support that we built behind the scenes to
sort of say, is this what this community wants? And
(11:12):
then fast forward, you know, to a very challenging public
approvals process called eulrope that New York City has that
I don't think, you know, it is unlike anything else
anywhere in the you know, in this country.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
How does that work.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
It is a very robust community feedback process. So in
the beginning, the local community boards get to vote on
whether or not this is a project they want to support.
It winds its way to the Queensboro President, who also
gets a vote, and it goes to city City Planning Commission,
ultimately culminates in a vote with the entire New York
(11:46):
City Council and then goes to the mayor for signing.
If the project makes its way through all the ways
through all the yeah, and it's a process that can
take a very long time. It took nine months for us,
which is a lot faster than most projects are able
to get through. And I think what the thing that
we were so humble by was the this sheer amount
of community support and unwavering support that was there for
(12:10):
this project. It's not just a stadium. It's a project
that is a mixed use development that's providing you know,
twenty five hundred units with affordable housing, a new six
hundred and fifty seed school, a new hotel, retail opportunities
in an area which if you're a you know, a
fan of of f Scott Fitzgerald, it's it's you know,
rising from the ashes here like this is what this is,
(12:32):
what this land was. It was just underutilized. It had
been desolate for decades and decades. It's the first new
neighborhood in New York City in forty years. So for
us to be part of that project is I mean,
you know, it's a once in a career opportunity for
a lot of us. It's a once in a lifetime
opportunity to be part of that. And we were able
(12:52):
to get that support, get it through and break around
last December, and here we are looking at a you know,
an opening in twenty twenty seven of the first ever
soccer specific stadium in New York City.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
It's fascinating too, because, i mean, when you think about
the approvals process, you know, as grueling as it is.
It's like, you know, a New York City co op
or something like that. It's a it's such a unique process,
but it does kind of make sense in the fact
that you know, real estate and land is so densely
populated and sparse that sure people want to be deliberate
with what they're putting there. So cool though, how quickly
(13:26):
and swiftly it moved along in that nine month process.
And also cool to be a part not just of
just bringing a new stadium, but almost a community to
a new part of town. That's just such a huge impact.
I think when people think about, oh, they're building a stadium,
they just think about that building and where they're going
to go to the game now.
Speaker 3 (13:44):
One hundred percent. And I think, you know, for us,
it's never just been about a stadium. Yes, we've needed
our own home because when you when you play in
buildings that are not purpose built for your sport, it's
a challenge and it's a challenge we have to load
things in and load things out every week. I mean,
there's a certain amount of inefficient see in the way
that we operate when it's not your own stadium and
(14:04):
a baseball stadium is not a perfect design for for
soccer games, and even.
Speaker 2 (14:09):
Fan experience is built differently.
Speaker 3 (14:11):
You're not yeah, yeah, you have a you have a
less than you know, perfect experience for your fans, for
your partners, for everybody, for your for your players, for
your coaches, and so you know this. It's game changer
for us from a business perspective because we now get
to control our game day experience, We control our revenue,
we control a lot more than we do you know currently.
(14:32):
But it's also for us and been part of our
DNA to be part of the community, and I think
more than any other you know, team, we really have
sort of from the very beginning. Our roots are born
out of community. That's that's our DNA. We provide free
soccer programming to kids all across the five boroughs. We've
served over fifty thousand kids thus far over the last
(14:54):
ten years we're in it. I think at the last
time I checked, it was like eighty six or eighty
seven percent of neighborhoods in New York. Whether that's our
soccer programming or a mini pitch. We've built over fifty
mini pitches in the last ten years. We're going to
be building another twenty six before the World Cup comes
in twenty six. So, you know, providing kids with safe
(15:14):
spaces to play and access to those spaces and programming
is really important to us.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
And so we've looked at this building in a way.
Speaker 3 (15:21):
To say, Okay, how does this become a real home
for the community as well, how does this building become
a community resource, and how do we impact even more
lives through this through this stadium? And so it really
becomes more than just a place to play.
Speaker 1 (15:34):
Games, sure yeah, and more than just changing of destination
from going to a game in the Bronx to go
into a game in Queens. But you know, maintaining that
fan base and maintaining that culture while also kind of
setting some more permanent route, that's right. Yeah, And it's
got to be great too to have, you know, this
on the horizon as the team is doing so well too.
I mean, twenty twenty five season is an incredible success
(15:56):
right here. Pascal Jens in his first year at the
Helm playoffs secure the highest win percentage in club history.
How much easier does it make your job when the
team on the field is playing as well as they are, No,
it's as easier when the team is playing well.
Speaker 3 (16:10):
I mean, I think there's there's just a certain amount
of excitement, you know that, and rallying that you can
get around the team when that's happening, And so it's
always easier to sell season tickets, it's always easier to
get people to come out to games. But the team,
over the course of our last ten years, like it,
has been incredibly competitive. And and MLS, similar to the NFL,
(16:31):
is a league where parody sort of rules, and the
way that the league is set up, when you win
an MLS Cup, you're not supposed to come back the
next year and I'm supposed to be the playoffs next year, right,
there's so much there's.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
So much turnover.
Speaker 3 (16:44):
And the year we won the Cup in twenty one,
came back the following year in the Eastern Conference finals.
And we've been in the playoffs for eight of the
last ten seasons, and so we have an incredibly competitive squad.
But you're right, this year there's something a little bit,
you know, special about that and having a coach who
really is focused on player development and young players and
bringing them up through the ranks and giving them opportunities.
(17:05):
And I think they've really reacted well to him in
the locker room, and fans have really reacted well to that.
So yeah, it does make our job a little bit
easier to be able to say, like, Okay, they're not
complaining about what's going on in the field, They're not
complaining now about the stadium.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
It's coming.
Speaker 3 (17:19):
You know, it's all kind of coming together, and I
think it makes it. It makes the job a little
bit easier, you know, when you're that successful.
Speaker 1 (17:26):
And that's got to be kind of an incredible experience
to be a part of not just a successful season,
but a successful season when the league as a whole
is on the rise. I mean, you're seeing so much
international talent coming over to the MLS. You know, there's
so much more fan engagement, fan interest in the United States,
whereas you know, soccer is such a global game, the
beautiful game.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
The World Cup, I mean.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
Just dominates in numbers, but domestically, you know, there are
other sports that kind of seem to take the attention away,
but MLS is kind of coming for the yields. How
much have you felt that growth of the league huge?
Speaker 3 (17:59):
It's been huge, and I think, you know, like I
said before, being a part of building something, which is
what I really really love. That's the feeling that we
get here, the feeling that you can be so much
more impactful in this sport because we are sort of
riding this wave of growth and opportunity. There are more
kids playing soccer you know, today than any other sport,
(18:19):
and there are kids that are growing up with parents
who also played and are familiar with this sport right.
And we also have, you know, at least particularly in
this area, like a hugely diverse population of people who
come from you know, all over the world, who speak
so many different languages and ethnicities that are represented, who
have soccer in their DNA. So you have this just
sort of built in demo here in New York of people.
(18:42):
You're not introducing the sport to them, they know it already.
What we're basically saying is, hey, you can still be
fans of your teams back home, you know, wherever your
family connections are, but let us be your local team here,
you know, in New York. And I think with the
World Cup coming with so many eyeballs, we've had Club
World Cup here this past summer, you know, to have
the World Cup here with eyes on New York and
(19:04):
New Jersey in this entire area which is so talent
rich in soccer. You know, the the the idea that
like we're now in the room for conversations that you know,
maybe we wouldn't have been before because there is so
much global attention that companies are starting to invest more
and there's there's a lot more excitement around the sport. Yeah,
it's it's definitely something that's a thrilling, you.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
Know, ride to be on as you see the sort
of rise of it, and it's so much fun to
be a part of it. I mean, the world of
sport the world of business coming together in this way
and and you know, looking at what you do as
a whole is just so fascinating to me and so
impressive to me. What what is your biggest motivation every
day in your career?
Speaker 3 (19:43):
You know, it's funny because when we talked about soccer,
I didn't grow up playing soccer, but I grew up
with a family who were fans.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
My mom.
Speaker 3 (19:52):
So I'm the daughter of immigrants, right. My mom came
from Scotland with her family. My dad's family came from
Slovakia and grandfather was a referee back in Scotland, and
so we always knew about the game, knew about the sport.
And when my family came, you know, they were sixth
grade educations at best that they had. They were factory workers,
they were cleaning people, and so they sacrificed a lot
(20:14):
for us to have better opportunities. And so I always
have that in the back of my mind that like, hey,
it's about making sure that I don't.
Speaker 2 (20:21):
Waste that sacrifice, right, and so that I.
Speaker 3 (20:23):
Am continuing to sort of move forward and motivate myself
and my kids. So you know, for me, like I
want my kids to be motivated by seeing what I'm
able to do, what I'm able to accomplish, right, Because you.
Speaker 1 (20:34):
Were the first person in your immediate family to go
to college, yeah, I was. And to build what you've
built on that is so fascinating too. I'm sure obviously
your family is so proud. But also, like you said,
setting that example for your kids and all that, is
there a pressure in that, you.
Speaker 3 (20:47):
Know, I don't know that I look at it as pressure,
but I look at it as an obligation and a responsibility,
and I say it to my kids all the time.
Speaker 2 (20:53):
I mean, like my joke to them is like.
Speaker 3 (20:55):
You have no barriers in your way, right, Like are
your ancestors can here with a lot of barriers, language barriers,
they came here with socioeconomic barriers, they came here with
like religious barriers. There were a lot of reasons why
they could have failed, but they worked really hard so
that they're better, you know, better opportunities for future generations.
Like you don't have those excuses, so you had better
(21:17):
be able to sort of move the ball forward even
further right, right, because you just don't have that. So
I feel like it's not necessarily that it's pressure, but
it's just that that's what motivates me to make sure
that they appreciate everything that's been given to them and everything,
you know, the opportunities that have been afforded to them,
and that take advantage of those opportunities.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
Yeah, you know, I mean hindsight always twenty twenty, When
you look back at your career, at your life, is
there a piece of advice that you wish that you
could give your younger self, or that you would perhaps
give a younger person who is watching this or listening
to this, thinking, wow, that is such a fascinating career journey,
how do I even begin to approach that.
Speaker 3 (21:52):
Yeah, you know, I think there's a couple of things.
One thing that I I think that I wouldn't change,
and I would make sure that I didn't. This was
who bringing my whole self and knowing who I was,
and I didn't know that what I was.
Speaker 2 (22:06):
Doing in my career was building a network.
Speaker 3 (22:08):
It was just my personality to stay friends with or
to be friends with, or to build relationships with people
that I worked with, and to this day, from that
first internship that I had, you know, with David Fox,
I still have friends from that that opportunity, from friends
at the NFL to every law firm that I've been to,
to every job I've had in between, like building relationships
because in this in this business, it's your name and
(22:31):
your reputation that mean everything, but it is your network
that are the people that you can lean on in
times of need or in every opportunity for a job
that I've had.
Speaker 2 (22:40):
But one has come from my network.
Speaker 3 (22:42):
And so you know that, I would say, like to myself,
don't ever change that, and I would tell other younger
people that is one of the most important things that
you can do is real, genuine relationship.
Speaker 1 (22:52):
Well, and the genuine part too, because I'll give this
piece of advice to people as well. And I think
sometimes it gets lost in the whole. You know, relationships
versus transactional, right, there's a difference, and I think people
feel that. But it's like if you invest in just
knowing people and maintaining contact with people versus Hi, you know,
how can I benefit you or you benefit me? It
(23:13):
feels very different.
Speaker 2 (23:14):
It's very different. It is very different.
Speaker 3 (23:15):
And that's why I say a lot of it is
they were friends, friends who picked up the phone and said, Hey,
I heard about this opportunity. I want to put your
name in or hey, we have this opportunity. Can we
can I introduce you to someone? I mean, that's what
it became, became friends, And so I wouldn't I wouldn't,
you know, sort of change that.
Speaker 2 (23:30):
The other thing I think I would say is I
worried a lot.
Speaker 3 (23:35):
I stressed a lot about oh if I don't get
this greater, I don't get this opportunity, like you know,
what's going to happen. And when I look back at
my career and I see the twists and turns that
my career took.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
I tell younger people now enjoy the ride a little
bit more.
Speaker 1 (23:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (23:51):
You know, when I talk to people that are in
college or in grad school and they're worried about I've
got to get this internship or I've got to get this,
and I always say, like, your first internship for first
jobs not going to make or break you.
Speaker 2 (24:02):
You know, it's just as important to figure out what
you don't want to do as what you do want
to do, and.
Speaker 3 (24:07):
Try to make sure that every opportunity, even if it's
not where you want to be, you're taking lessons from those.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
Right.
Speaker 3 (24:14):
So I spent seven years in law firms really kind
of miserable, not doing what I wanted to do. But
when I look back at each of the places that
I was, even the partner who you know, the one
person in my career that I did not stay in
touch with because I didn't want that relationship to begause
I just didn't enjoy it. I didn't want to be
part of it. Even he, I look back and can say, well,
(24:36):
you know what he taught me as a lawyer, how
to sell something that like no one tells young lawyers, Right,
you're the value as a lawyer, sometimes it's how much
business can you bring in or how much can you build?
Because it's money, it's revenue. What are your revenue are
you generating for the law firm? If you're in a
law firm.
Speaker 2 (24:51):
He taught us how to sell. He taught us how.
Speaker 3 (24:53):
To build a book of business, and I value that right.
He also taught us how to build team of people
that were going to be there for one another. And
if you were leaving the office but your you know,
fellow associate or partner was still sitting there doing you know,
god knows what until two in the morning you jumped
(25:13):
into saying it, how can I help you to get
out of here earlier?
Speaker 2 (25:15):
How can I help you? What can I do for you?
Speaker 3 (25:16):
And so, you know, there are a lot of reasons
why I didn't love that time and that experience that
I worked for him, But I walked out of there
with two things that were solid that really have like
resonated with me throughout my career. So even if you're
stuck in a job that you just don't love or
experience you're not thinking is going to be for you,
that's fine. You can still learn something from it.
Speaker 1 (25:36):
Yeah, And kind of taking those moments being where your
feed are, because I think we all do this no
matter where you are in life, You're looking towards the
next goal or the next.
Speaker 2 (25:46):
Hopeful at chet, how do I climb the ladder? How
do I get to the next opportunity?
Speaker 1 (25:49):
And instead of remembering, oh, you know, once upon a
time I was hoping that I would get to where
I am right now, kind of that's right, yeah, and
so that's great, it's great insight too, and also recognizing
that each step along the way, even if it's not
the best experience, is something we can learn from.
Speaker 2 (26:02):
Absolutely, I love that this is a great insight.
Speaker 1 (26:05):
Jennifer O'Sullivan, Thank you so much for taking the time
today and sharing your story and sharing some of your
wisdom with us. Jennifer O'Sullivan, the COO of n y CFC,
thank you so much for joining us on. Thank you
by Kendra Scott
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