ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. — Thirty-three times St. Bonaventure has hosted its Girls & Women in Sports Day, but it’s doubtful that the university has had a main speaker who has enjoyed so much professional success at such a young age.

Thursday morning at the Reilly Center, girls from 13 Big 30-area schools, plus Southwestern, Bath and BOCES heard some valuable insights from Anna Stolzenburg, director of Social Media Strategy and Content at Pegula Sports and Entertainment.

Her talk preceded sports and health clinics that included softball, basketball, soccer, lacrosse, rugby, tennis, swimming, cross country/track, volleyball and yoga with St. Bonaventure coaches and student-athletes conducting the sessions.

But it was the 31-year-old Stolzenburg, a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Syracuse in broadcast & digital journalism and political science, whose message resonated most with the several hundred high school girls in attendance.

She heads an eight-person team executing all social media for the Buffalo’s Bills, Sabres, Bandits and other entities within the Pegula realm.

“IT’S ODD standing here as a professional in the industry,” she said opening her remarks. “When I was in your shoes (as a high school student), if you had told me I’d be working in sports I would have said, ‘You’re insane.’

“But as I look back, sports have affected each area of my life. Growing up my free time was consumed by sports as I’m sure it is for all of you. I went from (youth) sports to AAU to high school where I played softball and basketball. My mother, when she was young — only 30 years before — pointed out that sports weren’t nearly as accessible for her as they were for me.”

Stolzenburg admitted, “I remember thinking that was a bit dramatic at the time, but as I look forward to all of you and the opportunities you have on the college and professional level, we’ve come so far. Entering professional sports as a career was even less (a thought) when I was young.

“Upon graduation from (Syracuse) I had no intention of starting a career in sports, but I found myself searching for connections and got a season-long internship on the digital marketing team for the Bills. I figured I’d have a great experience with the Bills while I figured out what I really wanted to do … and it had nothing to do with sports.”

BUT CIRCUMSTANCES changed that.

“At the time, social media was new and the Bills truly were only (on it) part-time,” she said. “So I started a web site, buffalobills.com, did some updates and wrote some stories, the whole time working my hardest to provide value to the Bills in any way I could. That’a certainly something when I look back now realize I learned playing sports on teams at your age.

“I was hired full-time after my internship as they needed more bodies for digital marketing and all of our digital groups. And when the Pegulas bought the team in 2014, the reorganization of some of the business side (included) an area devoted to the new industry that is social media.”

Stolzenburg continued, “From there, as the social media department grew, I took over the Bills and Sabres sites and now have a social team across all the teams in the Pegula (corporation). Our platforms include Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat and Tik-Tok.

“What you all should know about sports is that no day is the same, no week is the same, no game is the same. We might not be the ones on the field but in the press box we watch what happens on the field (or ice) ready to put out the most engaging content possible for the fans of the Bills and Sabres.”

THEN SHE turned to finding a career in sports.

“There are so many ways you can enter the field and provide value to a team,” Stolzenburg said. “Take the Bills for instance: marketing, ticketing, media relations, public relations, social media, video content, web site, radio productions, security, equipment, community relations, football administration, stadium operations, coaching … you get the idea. There are so many people that are needed and not just on the professional level but on so many levels of sports. Continue to look at all opportunities to get your foot in the door.”

She added, “There are a few pieces of advice I give to students that I talk to if they’re interested in working in sports. The first is to network as much as you can, talk to your teachers, your coaches, people in the industry … get advice and people’s views so that when opportunities come up that they’re hiring, they’ll think of you. There are so many jobs, but finding the right job at the right moment is crucial and it’s not always easy, so make as many connections as you can. Take advantage of any opportunity that comes, even if it ends up not being something you love, you’ve learned it’s something you don’t like and obviously that’s just as important.

“Number two, right now you might not know where or if you want to go to college or what you might want to major in, but continue to take steps to try to figure it out and learn as much about yourself as possible. But do not stress if you don’t know.”

In conclusion, Stolzenburg, who worked for NFL Public Relations at six Super Bowls, advised, “Work hard no matter what you do and no matter what industry you go into. In my short 10 years with the Bills, when I started there were only a couple of social media managers across the NFL that were women. Now it’s over half which is pretty significant.

“It wasn’t easy in a male-dominated industry, but women have a place there just as much as any male. The opportunities for women working in sports are only growing.”

(Chuck Pollock, an Olean Times Herald senior sports columnist, can be reached at cpollock@oleantimesherald.com)