Embracing & Implementing Change With Vanderbilt’s Lauren Belisle

Summary

• - You’ve been at some big name institutions throughout your career. Talk to me about the power of a strong institutional brand, from the external relations perspective.
• - Let’s talk about personal branding - how do you position yourself through your personal brand. Tell me who Lauren Belisle is and what she brings to a department.
• - Going back to your earliest days as an intern at Florida State and USF - was college athletics something you were hoping or expecting to get into for your career?
• - How has your evaluation of new opportunities changed as you’ve grown throughout your career?
• - Let’s dig into your experience thus far at Vanderbilt. You arrived in 2021, in this post-pandemic landscape when things were probably very up in the air. Tell me about the challenge of taking on a senior leadership role, in a fan-facing unit, during this period of change for athletics.
• - So much of the challenge was probably just approaching the fan experience in a totally new way.
• - You also arrived when the institution was making a shift to new marks - what was that experience like in the early days of your time with the Commodores?
• - Let’s talk about resource allocation in times of major facilities change. What are your key takeaways for balancing the student-athlete experience and the fan experience with facilities renovation and construction?
• - What has the feedback from fans been like?
• - What about the student-athlete feedback?
• - What aspect of your work gives you the most pride - the feeling that you’re contributing and doing the most useful thing for the department?
• - How do you push and advocate for change within the department as well as for your team and their personal growth and development?
• - How do you try to embrace a growth mindset?
• - Have you always been that way? Comfortable with critical feedback?