Marsha-Gaye Knight creates organization for young people aspiring to work in sports management
September 11, 2023
Waiting almost six years to get her first full-time job in Canada, Marsha-Gaye Knight was obviously over the moon when she joined the National Hockey League (NHL).
Working with different brands, the sports marketing professional thought she had landed her dream role.
It did not take long for Knight to realize she was in a toxic environment.
“I felt like a fish out of water and like I didn’t belong in that space,” the only Black person at the time in the Toronto-based office recalled. “There were things that were done that made me feel very polarized. It got to the point where I started questioning if something was wrong with me and I was the problem. I had a hard time finding a job and what I was going through played on that insecurity.”
Recounting having one good day during the nine months in the position, Knight was relieved after being fired.
With the workplace stress rising, she drove to work a few weeks before her dismissal and spent several minutes in the office parking lot crying before entering the premises.
“I didn’t travel to work by train that day as I normally did because I didn’t want commuters to see me crying,” said Knight. “I also cried at lunchtime that day. The agony was perpetual.”
For a brief moment, she considered leaving sports management and changing careers.
That thought did not last long.
When the going gets tough, the tough gets going.
“You can’t excel in spaces that you are not meant to and you can’t ask a fish to swim on land,” Knight said. “Your environment and where you work dictate how you excel. That environment was not conducive to my growth.”
In response to that negative experience and calls from young Black women facing similar challenges in their work environments, she created Black in Sports Business (BSB) for Black professionals in the business of sport in Canada to network and mentor.
In the process, it is expected this will increase the representation and retention of Blacks in the industry.
“It often occurred to me that if I had more support at the NHL from people that looked like me, I would have been able to navigate that space better and my outcome would not have been so negative,” Knight said. “When I decided to give it one more try and I got a job with CBC Sports & Olympics, I created the community I needed five years ago and did not have. Now with a community of people helping each other, I want other young people to have a better experience.”
To become a member, individuals can apply through blackinsportbusinessbsb.com or LinkedIn.
“Those people behind the excitement of the game, including marketing, operations, and those in national and provincial sports organizations that keep sports running are the people we are targeting,” Knight said. “My plan for this is to create an opportunity for more Black professionals to get educated on what it is like to work in the sports industry and create a pipeline of talent moving forward. When I was coming through, I didn’t have a road map or a mentor. I am creating those pathways for other people coming in so that they can have those connection points I did not have.”
Since 2019, she has been a Partnership Marketing Manager with CBC Sports & Olympics.
What does the role entail?
“I work with brands as they create content around the Olympic Games, whether they have rights or not,” said Knight who was at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. “It is hectic as you get closer to the Games.”
Five years earlier, she attended her first Olympics in Rio de Janeiro as a spectator.
With her Olympic interest heightened after those Games, Knight was among the first cohort of 35 from 32 countries enrolled in the two-year Olympic Studies Master’s program at the University of Peloponnese in Greece.
Trinidadians Avion Ashton, who is the country’s field hockey co-captain and a Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) Project Assistant, and wellness entrepreneur Jeanette Small were the other participants with Caribbean roots enrolled in the program.
“The common bond among the attendees is the love for the Olympics and sport,” said Knight. “Being able to understand what the Games bring to the world and how to get that off the ground from a historical and logistical perspective is something that really intrigued me.”
Despite some negativity surrounding the quadrennial event, she said people interested in working in the sports industry should consider pursuing the program.
“The Olympics is the pinnacle of sport and you can’t get away from that,” noted Knight. “The whole idea around it is to showcase the best possible human beings, not only from an athletic perspective, but wholesomeness and creating that holistic being in terms of like I am good at my sport, but I am also a really good person. Embedding the idea of respect, excellence and friendship together and displaying that all the time is what it is about. Olympic athletes sacrifice a lot and you want the best for them.”
There was a time when she didn’t have a job for several years.
The same day Knight received an acceptance letter to attend university in Greece, she received a job offer from Purolator as a Sponsorship Manager.
Two years earlier, she was an unsuccessful applicant for the position to be the lead on the Canadian Football League (CFL) ‘Tackle Hunger’ national program.
Purolator is the CFL’s official courier and sponsor for the last 20 years.
“I was excited because the two organizations are very committed to championing food security across Canada,” said Knight. “When I got home later that summer afternoon and checked my emails, I saw the offer to go to school.”
Unemployed at that point, she had a big decision to make.
“My mom was excited about me finally getting a job, but I asked myself if I would regret taking it and figuring it out or not going to Greece and figuring that out,” Knight said. “I opted to go to Greece because I wanted to work in the Olympic space. I was already at a low point and I figured I could not get any lower.”
Her leadership skills were honed at St. Andrew High School for Girls where she competed in the sprints, hurdles and jumping events.
“They carve that out of you in different ways,” she pointed out. “You are given a chance to participate, whether it is in sport or other activities. These things are built into you and you realize your power of influence. People listen to what I have to say, people trust my abilities and they know I am capable of doing good things. I want to authentically be who I am and ‘Andrews’ helped to develop those skills really well from an early age.”
The sprint hurdler received five scholarship offers to attend university in the United States.
Knight chose the University of Mary in North Dakota because it offered a full ride.
The first Jamaican to attend the private institution in the Midwestern state relished her five years running track and pursuing a Bachelor of Social Science.
Majoring in social and behavioural sciences with a concentration in pre law, Knight was very active outside the classroom.
The Dakota Athletic Conference indoor and outdoor hurdles champion was a student body President, Dakota Wizards dancer and Homecoming Queen.
“I was a bit uneasy going into this because my other friends were at schools with other Jamaicans and Black students,” said Knight who loves playing golf, watching sports documentaries and attending outdoor events. “I decided to approach it as an extended camp. When I got to the campus, there were 30 Black students, four of them being women. I had no one to converse with in patois. It was, however, a learning experience for me and for other students who wanted to know more about Jamaica and its culture.”
Because of Knight’s presence at the university, roommate Megan Dardis married in Negril in March 2010 and some teammates acquired passports mainly to vacation in Jamaica.
After graduation, she returned to the Greater Toronto Area to rejoin her father, Lincoln Knight, who migrated in 2000 and mom Sharon Graham who joined him a few years later.
“I missed my family and the urban lifestyle,” said Knight who spent some time in Canada after finishing high school. “I figured if I could be employed in sports business in Canada and make it work, that would be okay. I just wanted to be around familiar faces and things.”
Growing up in Gordon Town in St. Andrew, the only child for her first 11 years aspired to be a pilot.
“I remember one of my parents’ friends telling me women are not pilots and I believed him,” the Sports Marketing Council of Canada Board Member said. “I didn’t know at the time that was not true and I regret that. I never thought that sports would be my path. It opened doors for me and I wanted it to do the same for others.”
In addition to working in the sports industry, Knight is a part-time professor at Toronto Metropolitan University and George Brown College.
What is her advice to young people aspiring to work in sports management?
“Join BSB because it is going to give you access to a network of Black professionals working in different facets of sports,” she said. “It’s not what you know or who you know. It is who knows you. You must have connections and knowledge and people must be able to respect you in that space in order to vouch for you. It is super important to build your brand and network. Also, a lot of hard work is required and you have to sacrifice. Lastly, love what you do because if you don’t, it will not love you back.”
