Newhouse Alumni Profiles: Emily Parker – A Unique Path to Finding Her Dream Job with the Cincinnati Bengals

Every professional has a different path throughout their career. Some head to college knowing what their career desires are, while others find their way as they navigate their life interests. Emily Parker found herself on both paths, in a way.

As the Director of Communications for her hometown Cincinnati Bengals, Parker refers to her current position as her “dream job.” However, it took a while to find her way there despite being a lifelong fan of the team.

Enrolling at Syracuse in 1999 as a Broadcast Journalism major, Parker’s desire to tell stories and passion for sports fueled her ambitions of being a sports reporter. Through her program’s classes and with help from professors, she gained the necessary hands-on experience to earn two sports department internships at TV stations while still an undergrad.

Parker alongside her coworkers at WLFI Lafayette

Following graduation from Newhouse, Parker landed a full-time job as a news reporter and anchor at WLFI, a local news station in Layfette, Indiana. Roughly two years into that role, she decided it was time for a change. Accepting a position at Sloane & Company, a strategic communications firm, Parker moved to New York City.

“During that time, I just kept coming back to the fact that I really wanted to work in sports. So, I found a sports business graduate certificate program at NYU.”

Utilizing the knowledge gained in her classes, network connections and previous career experience, Parker began working for the Heisman Trophy Trust as a Public Relations and Social Media Coordinator. Upon receiving her graduate certificate, she was able to get her foot in the door at FOX Sports, where she’d go on to spend over five years.

Parker worked various special events while at FOX Sports, including the 2011 MLB All-Star Weekend

“I wasn’t necessarily looking to leave FOX, wasn’t looking to leave New York but when the opportunity with the Cincinnati Bengals came up, it was in many ways a dream come true.”

Packing her bags and moving back home, Parker secured her dream opportunity and never looked back. Despite her unique path, Parker has zero regrets about the decisions she’s made.  

“The communications field is constantly evolving. If I knew what I wanted to do and where I’d be at today, I probably would have gone down a different path starting when I was at Syracuse, but a career is a journey and the different steps I’ve made along the way have helped me in this current job to be better at what I do.”

Life as the Director of Communications for an NFL Team

Parker with former Bengals Wide Receiver, Chad Johnson

When looking to ask Parker what she does, perhaps it’s better to ask what she doesn’t do.

To put it simply, Parker oversees all internal and external communications efforts, with both football and business operations. In her role, there’s no such thing as day-to-day because there’s always something different going on. From the combine to free agency, then the draft to players returning, the season rolls around again before one would know it.

“Different times of the year bring up different responsibilities. I do everything from football communications to managing all of the media that goes around players, both proactively setting up interviews for them, as well as managing an open locker room. I serve as the point of contact person for our head coach, director of player personnel, our owner and key executives. And then on the business side, I do a lot with promoting our community relations efforts, our sponsorship deals and just making sure all staff knows what we’re doing and working on as an organization.”

With the various tasks that define her job responsibilities, Parker’s diverse career experiences such as reporting, strategic communications, social media management and public relations benefit her greatly.

“I learned so much as a reporter and my few years at a public relations agency outside of the sports world that really helped me in my job today. A lot of those things come into play on the business side of the organization. I also have a lot of impact on Bengals.com. I work very closely with our digital staff, so I do still get to put my journalism background to use when we’re making editorial decisions on the website. I still go back to the skills that I learned from the early days as a reporter on a day-to-day basis.”

Having her hand in so many different aspects of the organization, Parker finds her influence on her hometown Bengals fulfilling.

Parker alongside Bengals’ staff at the 2020 Senior Bowl, including Newhouse alumni Dave Lapham (second from left) and Geoff Hobson (far right)

“Seeing the projects I work on and the ideas I have come to fruition is very rewarding. Also just being a part of a football team and seeing the behind-the-scenes standpoint is very exciting.”

But as with any important role in an organization, it comes with a cost, especially in the fast-paced environment of working in the NFL.

“Six or seven months of the year I work pretty much every single day. So, when you work in sports you have to understand there will be some sacrifices that you make to work in sports, but when you’re around great people it doesn’t feel like work.”

Working in a place with great people and fulfilling work can make the years seem as if they fly by, and finishing her seventh season as the Director of Communications, one would think Parker has become an expert in her role. However, as anyone knows in Communications, especially athletic communications, situations can arise that are unforeseen.

Communications When Crises Arise

Such an unforeseen situation arose during the past season when the Buffalo Bills travelled to Cincinnati to take on the Bengals late in the NFL season. Whether you’re a football fan or not, nearly everyone knows the story of Bills Safety Damar Hamlin suffering cardiac arrest just minutes into that game following a routine hit.

“I’m on the field for games, so I was down on the field when the injury happened, and it didn’t take long to realize that this was a different situation than a normal injury. I was able to witness the urgency first-hand that the medical staff on both sides of the field reacted with, as well as the personal side of things with players and coaches. Players who knew Damar and what they were going through.”

Being on the field for such a traumatic incident was difficult for everyone but being the professional that decision-makers and media turned to made both processing and managing the situation all the more challenging. As the already frightening event developed quickly, Parker was involved in the decision-making firsthand.

“When we were able to go back to the locker room, I was around the players when everyone was trying to process what we just saw. Our captains decided to go talk to the Buffalo captains and while I was over there, I was called over to talk with the league, just discussing how we were going to communicate that the game is being postponed.

“There were a lot of things going on in real-time. We had to make a lot of decisions on where media had access in the building because there were certain areas we did close off to the media to ensure that the players, coaches and the league had enough space to make the decisions that were needed to be made in those moments.”

Parker seen on the ESPN broadcast, discussing the situation with Bills and NFL staff

Considering all aspects of the situation on that night was not only crucial for Parker, but it was also important to consider what was to follow for the players, coaches and staff who witnessed such an emotional event.

“You have to consider what makes the most sense at that moment, but what also makes sense over time. Damar was obviously top of mind for everybody, and his health was the most important thing that was taken into account in the days following, but how do you then resume normal football activities? We worked very closely with our players, with our coaches and with our media to discuss what made the most sense. The league was great as well, allowing each team to do what made sense for them versus following a normal weekly media schedule.”

“It’s interesting to look back on that situation because a lot of the decisions being made in real-time proved to be the right decisions and that’s what happens when you have smart people who are able to see the big picture in the face of uncertain times.”

And of course, a big part of working through uncertain times is trusting in the people alongside you as a professional.

Cuse Connections in the Industry

Parker with Otto The Orange

Throughout Parker’s experiences in the industry, she’s been fortunate to work alongside great people, but also many fellow Syracuse graduates.

“Just at the Bengals, we have quite the Syracuse connection. Geoff Hobson is our Bengals.com senior writer, Dan Hoard is our play-by-play announcer, as well as Dave Lapham who is our radio analyst. Many days we all talk about our time at Syracuse and through that, we all have different connections of people we have stayed in touch with.”

But the Syracuse connections go past just the Bengals for Parker. With all the media she interacts with, connections from other teams and contacts at the league office, the list is endless.

“Just recently one of my classmates from the broadcast journalism program, Tim Schlittner, joined the NFL Communications department so I was able to connect with him over the course of our playoff run. It’s also great to have a connection in the league office. Another person who’s called quite a few of our games and I’ve built a good connection with is Mike Tirico. With so many broadcasters out there, you cross paths with so many of them. I think that’s the thing about Syracuse, there are so many people in sports jobs in all different areas that it’s hard not to come across people when you’re working in this industry.”

Parker meets up with former Newhouse classmate, Tim Schlittner

It’s no secret that Syracuse, and in particular Newhouse, has an incredible list of alumni, unlike any other school. The connections between alumni are special and transcend eras of the school, but it’s also the connections between alumni and current students that make the university so extraordinary. Parker believes that connection comes from sports.

“I think it’s always fun to go back to campus and that is what makes sports great. A lot of the reasons we go back is to go to a football game or a basketball game and that’s what consistently keeps people united from an alumni standpoint.”

Advice for Current Students

Parker also touched on pride being a big part of alumni’s passion. A big part of pride is continuing the legacy that Newhouse has created. For the next era of Syracuse alumni, Parker shared her advice from her career experience.

“Sometimes that experience involves working in sports, but don’t be afraid to really step outside of sports and really learn the different opportunities that are out there. The sports world is so much bigger than working for a team or a league, those are obviously great opportunities, but there’s so many opportunities to work in sports on the sponsorship side, on the media side, agencies, brands, players representatives, it’s really important to think big picture.”

But with the competitive nature of sports and the industry itself, it can be difficult to find the opportunities that one desires. Parker had advice for those tough times as well, which nearly every young professional is sure to meet at least once in their career.

“It’s also important to understand that careers are a journey and where you start is not where you’re going to end. Really look at each opportunity as a learning experience and grow within that organization, but also leading to future opportunities as your career continues.”

Parker knows just how wonderful that journey can be.

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