蘑菇短视频

Wherever Asha Evans鈥� career has taken her, her love for words has followed.

The 蘑菇短视频 alumna has told stories of student-athletes at small private colleges to Division I powerhouses 鈥� and now she鈥檚 sharing them at a national level.

Starting this past December, Evans joined the National Collegiate Athletic Association as an assistant director of internal and member communications.

鈥淪port has a really strong, connective tissue between people,鈥� Evans said. 鈥淚t doesn't matter your class, your race, your socio-economic status.

鈥淚f we're able to put great stories out there that make people feel good and you're able to rally behind something, I think, especially in a time like this, it's very, very beneficial to do that, and I'm honored to be a part of that.鈥�

After graduating from 蘑菇短视频in 2016 with degrees in communications and sport management, the Newton native climbed a few steps before getting to the top organization in collegiate sports.

Evans took her first full-time job at Newberry College, a small Division II school in South Carolina, as an athletic communications assistant.

After almost a year there, she took on the same position at the University of Connecticut as a primary contact for four sports and a secondary contact for the Huskies鈥� powerhouse women鈥檚 basketball team.

Evans then took on a role as an athletic communications coordinator at Radford University in Virginia for a year and a half, an assistant director of communications at the University of Kansas for six months and an associate director of communications at Vanderbilt University for over a year.

Soon after completing her master鈥檚 at Northwestern University, Evans took a job outside of the sports world as an associate marketing manager at GEODIS, a construction engineering company, before she took her current position at the NCAA.

鈥�(Moving around is) difficult, but it's also part of the landscape of being a sports information director or media relations professional, especially at the collegiate level,鈥� Evans said.

鈥淗aving a family, logistics definitely come into play, but it was something that I was very passionate about, so I think I just kind of overlooked the rest of the struggles and tried to figure it out. The different stops were really cool. I was very fortunate at each stop.鈥�

In just a few months at the NCAA, Evans has been 鈥渄rinking out of a firehose.鈥� Though her first few weeks were quiet at the national office in Indianapolis, Evans and her team went right to work on highlighting some NCAA student-athletes competing in the Winter Olympic Games in February.

Evans has also already written one of her stories at the NCAA, writing on three sisters who play or have played major Division I basketball.

鈥淎s fans, we get caught up in the wins and losses, but I think once you really understand who this person is and where they come from and why you should even be cheering for them, I think that that makes the fandom more passionate, but also more authentic,鈥� Evans said.

Evans knew early on that she wasn鈥檛 going to make her greatest impact on the field, but off of it. Her time at 蘑菇短视频helped her see how she could do that.

She took on a few roles with 蘑菇短视频Athletics, which led to internships, including one with the Greenville Drive, the Boston Red Sox鈥檚 Single-A affiliate.

Evans also received a lot of help from her advisors and professors with her double major, particularly Charlie Parrish, school director for the marketing, entrepreneurship, sport management and hospitality and tourism management programs.

鈥淚 think it was just the culmination of being in the right place at the right time while I was at Western,鈥� Evans said. 鈥淭hat meshing of sport management and my communications degree helped me (work) with the athletics department, which kind of blasted open the door for other internships and things like that.鈥�

Now, Evans鈥� impact in sports isn鈥檛 found in dribbling a basketball or running down the field 鈥� it鈥檚 in telling the stories of those who do.

鈥淚'm not going to lie. I'm a softie, so sometimes I'll cry, but I think that's the beauty of it,鈥� Evans said. 鈥淚 get to be somewhat of a vessel to take these really compelling stories and these amazing people and shine light on just who they are."