Two years ago, Allison Phillips saw her childhood dreams of having a career where she’s able to be creative unfold, as she accepted a job as creative coordinator for Eastern Michigan University’s football team.
Phillips attended Pace University where she earned her Bachelor’s degree in digital cinema and filmmaking. After graduation, she landed a job at a web design company before touching down in Ypsilanti for her current position.
“I am very grateful that in my job today, I am able to continue making art through graphic design as well as create inspiring videos,” Phillips said.
As creative coordinator, Phillips is responsible for creating graphics and videos that help tell the story of EMU football on social media.
In her role, not only does Phillips have to be creative, but she also has to keep in mind that part of her job is to continue to help the “familE” grow.
“There is the idea that everything we put out as EMU football has to draw in recruits so we can continue to build our team,” Phillips said.
With that idea in mind during the creative process, she finds it best to plan out her ideas for each video, shoot the shots she has planned, and edit everything together, including music and sound design.
Although Phillips has seen many highs in her role at EMU, she still faces challenges as a woman working in the sports industry.
“Sometimes people don’t take me as seriously as they would if a man had my job,” she said. “People still assume I am a student just doing this for fun or an internship and that this isn’t my actual job.”
As easy as taking a photo or recording a video sounds, it’s not as simple as people think. With a smaller staff than other universities who have more people to help with different responsibilities and opportunities for collaboration, sometimes Phillips finds herself working alone.
Despite the challenges she may run into during the creative process, Phillips said that shooting and editing videos come to her naturally, especially because of her background in filmmaking.
“Creating content is a challenge because you have to be aware of trends that are happening in sports media and you have to come up with original ideas to be competitive with what other teams are putting out,” she said.
Outside of being a creative, Phillips has competed as a synchronized skater throughout her life, beginning on the Hockettes team in Ann Arbor.
In 2018 and 2019, she had the opportunity to compete at the International Skating Union World Synchronized Skating Championships with Skyliners Senior.
Currently, along with her job at EMU, Phillips is a coach for the Michigan State University synchronized skating team.
“It is amazing that I have this opportunity to coach a sport I have been so passionate about all of my life,” she said.
Right now, Phillips is focused on improving EMU football's social media and creating content that sheds light on the program in a special way. In the future, she hopes to start her own production company.
To see more of her work and ways she’s contributing to EMU football, follow Allison Phillips on Instagram @alliwutcreative.
