Sitting alongside her classmates in the stands of Bridgestone Arena, Jaylah Milfort was shocked as she was announced as the first-ever scholarship winner for attendees of the Smashville Seminar, in partnership with Nissan and Tennessee State University.
Smashville Seminar is a week-long program for TSU students that offers hands-on experience with the Nashville Predators organization, preparing them for careers within the sports industry.
Milfort got a behind-the-scenes look at how the Predators organization runs. “It was great to see how all the different departments come together to make a sport organization like this run smoothly and successfully. From the outside looking in, you would never think it takes all of this to make everything run, but I got to see it from a different lens.”
Students at the Smashville Seminar shadowed different departments during the Preds 6-3 win over the Boston Bruins on March 5. Milfort got the opportunity to shadow in the guest services department where she helped create Golden Moments to give fans the best Smashville experience possible.
As a former Division 1 athlete, Milfort experienced a different side of the sports industry throughout the week. “A lot of us come from being athletes and only see one side of sports,” she said. “We got to see the sports business side and all the different levels that bring it together and help drive revenue and bring enjoyment and fun to the athletes, fans, and the community.”
Milfort was presented with the $2,500 scholarship on the closing day of the Smashville Seminar. “This scholarship is such a great honor,” she said. The scholarship is aimed to ease any financial considerations for Milfort to help her pursue her career in the sports industry. She has plans to apply everything she learned from the week to work with many sporting teams in any role. “You can’t do everything at once,” Milfort noted, “but I have so many aspirations and things that I want to do, and I want to start somewhere.”
“Jaylah was an excellent candidate from the start,” Nashville Predators Director of Social Impact and Growth Amy Bratten said. “We are grateful to Jaylah for being here in Smashville, and we are so appreciative of her time and her talents.”
“Adding that scholarship portion to this particular program is vital to take some of that financial burden off students so they can just focus on their studies and career trajectory,” Nissan’s Senior Manager of Multicultural Strategy and Marketing Operations Lanae Williamson said.
Milfort certainly has a bright future ahead of her in the sporting industry, starting with her time at the Smashville Seminar. “These relationships that you build are great and they are life-lasting,” she said.
After earning her master’s degree, she would like to work her way up in the sports industry, with the ultimate goal of owning a sports franchise. Milfort says her main goal for her future is “to be a leader in sports to help create environments in an organization to help fans, athletes, and the community thrive.”
Like many of her peers at the Smashville Seminar, this was Milfort’s first up-close experience in hockey. She is a first-time hockey fan but now has a special connection to the Predators team and organization. “My favorite part of the seminar was being able to experience a game as a first-time hockey fan,” she said. “Now, I’m definitely going to be a fan for life.”
