Every day, Nan Turner-Callahan strives to make her community more active. After receiving her masters degree at the VCU Center for Sports Leadership, Turner-Callahan began her career working with a company called Sports Backers.

“I’m the Digital Engagement Manager at Sports Backers. Sports Backers is a 501 (c)3 non-profit, and we work to make our community more active,” Turner-Callahan said. “We’re most well known for our 13 or so events that we operate throughout the year, some of the biggest being the Ukrop’s Monument Avenue 10k, Dominion Energy Riverrock and the Anthem Richmond Marathon.”

Turner-Callahan works with social media at her company, and manages the accounts.

“I manage all of our social media, and am responsible for our social strategy and executing posts,” Turner-Callahan said. “We have a Facebook page for every event, two Instagram accounts and two Twitter accounts. I’m also responsible for our Facebook ads. As a member of the marketing department I help with our marketing strategy for all events.”

Although Turner-Callahan works primarily with social media, her position also incorporates creative writing.

“I do a good amount of creative writing for our website, print materials and emails. I also help with some experiential marketing,” Turner-Callahan said. “On event weeks we all play a role in the set up, staffing and breakdown of the event. It makes for some long weekends, but everyone on staff is really close and it’s always inspiring to see it all come together and have fun while doing it.”

Turner-Callahan finds some challenges in her position, however she is quick to remind herself that those struggles are not necessarily a bad thing, simply a sign of growth.

“I just started learning about Facebook ads in the last few months and that’s been a huge challenge for me,” Turner-Callahan said. “There is so much information, and reporting tools that it can feel really overwhelming. Also, when you’re spending the company’s money, it feels like a big responsibility. I’m about to try to get Google AdWords certified so I’m sure that will feel similar. I just have to remind myself that it’s a good problem to be growing in my career and learning a new skill.”

Despite some of its challenges, Turner-Callahan finds that many aspects of her job are very enjoyable.

“We get to be a part of a lot of big weekends in Richmond so being in the midst of those is always exciting,” Turner-Callahan said. “We also go on a lot of fun staff outings together. We’ve been hiking, tubing down the James, climbing, to escape rooms and lots of other stuff! I would probably say the two “coolest” were when I got to throw a pumpkin off the roof of our building for a social media video. That sounds super lame, but I got a kick out of it and everyone who was a part of the video got really into it in support so that was nice. Last spring we also did a collaboration on a Ukrop’s Monument Avenue 10k popsicle flavor with King of Pops. They made a rainbow cookie popsicle and then we had a pop-up shop one day at their store. It went viral and everyone was really excited about it, and the pops were delicious.”

Turner-Callahan’s current job is a pursuit of a passion that she discovered during her time in college.

“In college I got really interested in event production. Richmond is a city that comes out in full support on a festival or local event,” Turner-Callahan said. “I love the buzz around an event weekend here whether it’s Easter on Parade, the Greek Festival, the Watermelon Festival, Grand Illumination, Dominion Energy Riverrock, or the CarMax Tacky Light Run. To be able to work on a few of the events that I feel make my city special is something I try not to take for granted. Being out in the community everyday and involved in something that I think really makes the quality of life in Richmond better is a great feeling when you go to work everyday. I’ve also always loved creative thinking and this job really allows me to play with new concepts and try new things.”