TicketsBritney Spears, Jeff Gordon, Beyoncé, Ray Charles and countless others now share one thing in common with Cincinnati swimmers Joleigh Crye and Payton Woodring.
They have all worked with Pepsi.
Most of those household names did their part in large-scale commercials for the worldwide brand, but these two Bearcats have been in the trenches at Pepsi's offices.
"Pepsi is in an interesting place with their brand because it is such a well-known company," Woodring said. "We spent a lot of time discussing how to connect Pepsi with a positive experience and developing that from a young age for all of our customers. Pepsi gave me such a unique opportunity to better understand how brands connect with their customers and maintain that relationship, and how they continue to make this a top priority at every level of their business."
Crye previously worked for the Cincinnati Reds in gameday sales and has NIL deals with Medpace, MEAS and Good Molecules, among others. The latter also served as an internship, and while she says she did not know if she wanted to go into sales or not, she credits that realm with instilling "resilience and confidence."
"I went to Eddie and told him why I would be good at working at Pepsi," Crye said. "I went three or four times and told Eddie this was for me, and I wanted a recommendation. He then sent it over to Sean Hoffer, and we hit it off right away."
For Woodring, it was a feeling that any of us have experienced in a job hunt: the loud silence while awaiting the call.
"I thought I got beat out during the interview process because I hadn't heard back from them in a while," Woodring said. "We were actually getting back on the bus from our dual meet at Northwestern when I got the phone call. It's a really good memory I have getting to tell my teammates and Joleigh. It was such a good experience for the both of us and was so much fun to do with one of my closest friends."
From there, the whirlwind began.
"It was really interesting to see the layout of it," Crye said. "It was super sped-up, so we got to talk to every high-up person. I still am connected with a lot of people that work there. We were able to see delivery, the warehouse and merchandising. My favorite part was going to the stores, bouncing around from Walmart to Kroger and seeing how the salespeople operate.
"Luckily, with this whole internship, they are very understanding that we are athletes," she said. "During May, with one practice a day, I was able to really put all my time into Pepsi, which was nice and accommodating for Payton and our schedules.
"Pepsi and NIL as a whole have definitely taught me so much about myself and how to carry myself into life after college," Woodring said. "This internship has taught me so much about sales and how important it is to maintain relationships. Throughout this whole experience I have learned how to transfer confidence from my sport and carry it into the professional world, which will help set myself up for success as I get closer to graduating."
Both Crye and Woodring have relished their opportunities to grow for today, tomorrow and beyond.