Olivia Petnicki: Associate Social Media Manager | WNBA

The Ballers Magazine
3 days ago
12 min read

A strong faith. A deep passion for sports. A love for authentic storytelling. Three pillars that have grounded Olivia Petnicki through her journey in the industry, and ones that continue to guide her daily across her endeavors in the space. It all started back at the University of North Texas after Olivia secured her first internship in the world of sports public relations with Tony Fay PR—a renowned communications firm specializing in sports, entertainment and mega-events. From PR to social media to administrative work to project management to event planning, Olivia immersed herself across an array of areas in the industry. This was just the beginning. Committed to securing a role in sports social, Olivia then decided to take a leap of faith and move to Atlanta to join Overtime Elite’s social and digital team. It was up from there. After her time at Overtime, she accepted a role with the WNBA and hasn't looked back since. Currently in her fourth season, Olivia is more inspired than ever to continue highlighting the league and its incredible athletes through authentic, impactful, and intentional storytelling. Truly inspiring!

Let’s dive into that journey early on! How was that transition from college or even PR to the world of social media and content creation like for you? What were some challenges that you faced early on and how did you work to overcome them?

Yeah! I've almost felt more challenged in the positions that I didn't like (*laughs*). Even when I studied in college, I think I knew a lot of information about PR but I knew deep down I didn't want to do that. I think a lot of times society will tell you to just settle for a traditional route, not have these big dreams, and just play it safe because that's what everyone else in this major or degree is doing. I think that's kind of where my mindset had been at the time. I was like, “Ok, I heard you make a lot of money in tech sales and marketing analytics, so maybe I'll just do that.” But, that never sat right with me. You know, that was just never what I wanted to do. So I think the challenge was trying to align who I was and what I was passionate about with what I wanted to do for my job. In that first internship, I remember thinking: “I just can't have a job that I'm not passionate about and I'm just doing it to make money.” I feel like that was a big motivator for me to enter into the social media world, or at least try to. Thank the Lord it worked out the way it did. I would say another challenge I faced getting into the industry was imposter syndrome. The thing about imposter syndrome is that everyone feels it, whether or not you think they are the most successful person. It’s all about being confident in who you are and (knowing) that no one else has the same experience as you. No one else can do what you do and provide the insight you provide. You're your own, unique individual. You're going to have something different than what someone else has to offer. So I feel like it's just about being confident in what you do have to offer. Sometimes it’s almost like faking it till you make it in a way. It’s just an understanding that you are in the position you are for a reason, at the time you are for a reason, and to be confident in what you have to offer.

You played volleyball throughout your collegiate career. What were some key takeaways or lessons that you learned from your time as a student-athlete that you carried with you into the world of digital media and content creation in sports?

I think just being driven, relentless, and not taking ‘no’ for an answer helped me be successful in the way I was. I think when you are a college athlete, you just get taught a whole different set of skills on the court that you can apply into real life. From the backend, just seeing trends that I thought were cool was great. We had a social media guy and we would do stuff with him for social media and I just thought it was cool. You know, it was cool how he would pull us to the side and try to do these trends for our social page. It was just so fun. So I was like, “These women deserve that same attention, if not more.” Nowadays, we're in such a social media age where this is a lot of people's main source of news and information consumption—videos. Social media has become one of the main forms of marketing. Our league grows because of social media as people see these trends, learn to love these players, and then in turn decide to tune in. I feel like social media is just a big outlet with so much marketing potential, and that's where I also found a lot of passion.