Sky Blues in the Community are joining in with the rest of the world on Friday 8 March supporting and celebrating our female members of staff for International Women’s Day and felt it was a great opportunity to highlight a certain individual's journey with us.
Sami, SBitC's Marketing & Communications Coordinator, has been involved in football right from an early age. Being born into a family of sports enthusiasts, she would watch her older brother play and as soon as she was old enough to run around herself, she started to kick a football too.
Throughout Sami’s school years, she always excelled at two subjects, P.E and Art. Sami commented: “I was never really great academically at school but give me some sports equipment or a piece of paper and colours and I would be in my element.”
At the age of 10, Sami attended a football camp where she was scouted for Aston Villa Centre of Excellence Academy. She spent many years there, right through to the ladies first team, before joining West Bromwich Albion Ladies and, not too long after, making the move to Coventry City Ladies FC.
Both left and right footed, she spent most of her game out on the wings. A talented ‘Bend it like Beckham’ crosser, she created many assists in her time with CCFC. Sami also supported a number of Sky Blues in the Community events where she would represent the Ladies Football Club, alongside players such as William Edjenguélé from the men's squad.
Sami attended college where she studied Sports and Exercise Science and then went on to complete an apprenticeship in Fitness Instructing. Whilst juggling her playing career, she had a full-time job developing her marketing skills in sports and town centre events. However, in 2019 she merged both her passion for football and creative design and was successful in obtaining the role of Marketing & Communications Officer at Sky Blues in the Community.
A full circle moment – from representing SBitC as a CCFC player, fast forward 10+ years and after several promotions within the organisation, Sami now leads on the Marketing & Communications for the charity arm of the club.
David Busst, Head of Community commented: “When interviewing Sami for the Marketing & Communications Role with SBitC, I remembered her from a charity event in Nuneaton back in 2012, where she was representing Coventry City Ladies FC, working alongside ourselves to promote Womens and Girls football.
"I remembered how she had great interaction with the public, good communication skills, alongside an enthusiasm for what she was promoting. These were all the skillsets we were looking for in the vacant position of Marketing & Communications which she had later applied for in 2019."
David went on to add: “She was a standout candidate with great presentation skills along with knowledge and prior experience of what SBitC were all about. It seemed a perfect fit and now 5 years later, she is an integral part of how SBitC promotes itself in an inspiring, impactful way across all channels of communication. Sami is a great role model to endorse, promote and celebrate women's roles in the football industry”.
Adding to our female workforce and showing the diverse job roles we offer at Sky Blues in the Community, we also have Marianne Botterill – Community Engagement Coordinator, Siobhan Newbold – Finance Coordinator and Sarah Lissaman – Football Development Administrator. Keep an eye out over the coming months to follow their journeys with us!
