SPORTFIVE Careers - Lizzie Stokes, Partnership Marketing

Turning passion into a career

Sport has a special place in a lot of people’s hearts - whether it’s playing, watching, analysing or just complaining about it, it is one of the few things in life that attracts universal passion. This passion has been ever-present in Lizzie’s life. From competing in team sports at school, to developing a love for the outdoors and running, sport was always central to her life growing up. 

After finishing an English Language degree at university, Lizzie had realised her strength in working on projects and wanted to combine this with the passion she had for sport - and turn it into a career. 

With no work experience or education in sport, Lizzie started to volunteer at major UK sporting events before securing an internship at a non-sporting events agency. Here, she developed the core skills of event and project management, eventually allowing her to get her first full time job in sports, servicing major sporting event sponsors. 

Looking to develop further, Lizzie moved to a sports marketing agency where she worked with some of the world’s biggest brands, including Pepsico and Nissan for their partnerships with the UEFA Champions League. She then went on to gain experience of rightsholders’ perspective whilst working for Team GB’s Taekwondo team during the year they held the World Taekwondo Championship in Manchester, 2019.  

Lizzie on leadership

A natural part of many people’s careers is the transition into a management position. Having gained experience managing people and small teams throughout her career, Lizzie’s current job has seen her take on a more demanding management role.  

As Account Director, Lizzie is responsible for the overall success of SPORTFIVE’s work with EA SPORTS, as well as managing the account’s 10 team members, spread across four countries. 

Wanting to find out more about how she manages the balance between managing a team and managing people, we asked Lizzie about her leadership style. 

She said, “My management and leadership style hasn’t changed, it is still centred around trying to create an environment for us, as a team, to deliver the highest quality of work to our client. We aim to achieve this by having clear communications, delegating, having trust and giving ownership of tasks - and most importantly, being there for each other. 

Speaking about what shaped her leadership style, Lizzie said: “My experiences from my early career have really shaped who I am as a manager today. 

“From starting off as a volunteer to working as an intern and then progressing to work with clients in the private, public and charity sectors, as well as gaining experience with rightsholders, I’ve learned to understand how sport impacts so many different people. 

“These experiences, coupled with my genuine interest for people and their lives, mean that I relate to and care about people - and when you care about people, management and leadership comes naturally.”