June 30, 2008

Former Georgetown women's basketball standout and recent graduate Kristin Heidloff is getting her first taste of the "real world" far away from the Georgetown's Washington, D.C. campus. Yet one thing hasn't changed for her - the proximity of the Nike swoosh. Heidloff is one of 204 interns at Nike headquarters in Beaverton, Oregon this summer and for 10 weeks, she'll be surrounded by the swoosh, just like she was during her Hoya playing days.

The Chicago native is a Consumer Experience Intern concentrating in basketball and is working with Nike's retail brand marketing efforts.

"I've only been here for two weeks but eighty percent of the job is based on day-to-day marketing while the other 20 percent focuses on our group project," Heidloff said.

Heidloff is spent the weekend of June 27-29 in Spokane, Washington at the Spokane Hoopfest. The Hoopfest featured a 3-on-3 tournament, long-range shootouts and other basketball related activities, including a community concert.

"Ten or 15 Nike personnel are making the trip where we'll have tents set up promoting the brand while testing various new sneakers," she said.

Heidloff earned the internship opportunity right on the Hilltop.

"There were 15,000 applicants," Heidloff described. "Georgetown is one of 12 college campuses that a Nike rep visits. Last November, I applied for three or four different positions because I wanted to get my foot in the door. I had never really thought about or had done any retail brand marketing before.

"I received an email from Nike human resources saying there were still some spots available," she continued. "I responded right away and was fortunate to set up an interview. I actually had the interview on the day of our Cincinnati game. I earned a second interview where we spoke about what department would be a good fit for me. Three weeks later, I spoke on the phone with my current boss!

"It's been a great experience so far. I actually live here with two other interns, one being former Hoya women's lacrosse player Devin Dow," Heidloff said. "We come home in the evening and we talk about work (laughing). We're learning the thought process of how specific shoes end up on specific racks in the stores. There's a lot of research that goes into that."

Heidloff and her colleagues always have their group project in mind.

"Our group project is based on Nike's new `Human Race' initiative," she noted.

On August 31, 2008 Nike is `putting on the world's largest running event'. The 10K race is open to everyone and looks to unite runners everywhere. It's taking place in 25 cities worldwide and will feature live concerts as well.

"Our group is doing research for Human Race 2010," Heidloff said. "We visit social networking sites to find out what the consumer and the market will look like in the future and we'll do a lot as far as recapping the Human Race later this summer."

Heidloff, who finished her career ranked on the school's top five in both three-pointers made and three-point field goal percentage, was asked about Nike's corporate culture.

"Nike has 18 buildings on the headquarters campus and they're all named after athletes," she said. "I work in the Nolan Ryan building. It seems like it's pretty casual so far. Khakis or jeans and almost everyone has on Nike sneakers. My boss will give us a vague idea of what a particular project might be and we'll be expected to go after it ourselves. It's unlike school in that a professor will give us what we need to do. Here, we have to go out and get it. We're expected to be a lot more proactive. It's challenging, but in a good way."

There have been a couple of neat moments already.

"I saw Nike founder Phil Knight earlier in the week and I've seen some of the new sneakers that haven't hit the market yet but I'm giving out any of the secrets," she said with a wry smile.