CoSIDA Member Profile: Alisha Alexander – Lewis-Clark State Sports Information Director
College Sports Information Directors of America
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CoSIDA.com/ThankYourSID
This feature is part of our series of profiles showcasing members throughout the CoSIDA membership during the celebration of CoSIDA Membership Recognition Week for 2019. See more features at CoSIDA.com/ThankYourSID.
Alisha Alexander – Lewis-Clark State College, Sports Information Director
by Rob Knox – Towson University, Associate Director of Media Relations // CoSIDA Past President
Alisha Alexander is an inspiration. Living by one of her favorite John Wayne quotes of “courage is being scared to death, but saddling up anyway,” she exited her comfort zone by traveling from her southern California roots to work in Idaho. Within a year on the job, she experienced negative temperatures, took a 10-hour bus ride and made an immediate impact with her superb photography.
Get to know more about Alexander, who is in her second year as Sports Information Director at Lewis-Clark State, with our Q&A. She talks about dealing with an autoimmune disease, how she and Lewis-Clark athletic department colleagues interject humor and fun into the workday, and shares her perspectives as a young athletic communications professional.
Alexander getting the volleyball team lined up for a team poster photo.
Is there an achievement or contribution that you are most proud of?
At just 23 I landed my first full-time SID job. I wasn’t an assistant or a grad assistant anymore. I ventured out to a place 1,000 miles from home and earned the title of Sports Information Director in a successful department and made a life for myself out on my own. Not many young women can say that so it is something I am extremely proud of.
As a young professional, what’s the biggest career lesson that you’ve learned so far?
You are not always going to work in an environment that you are comfortable in, but those are situations that you can learn the most from. I once worked in a department where I dreaded going to work and did not gel with certain coworkers. That was a huge learning experience for me.
Alexander with boyfriend, Zac, and Hunter, their new puppy.
What might (someone) be surprised to know about you?
I have an autoimmune disease called Ankylosing Spondylitis. It’s really just a fancy way of saying my lower back almost always hurts, but it can’t stop me! It stopped me from playing softball in college, but I realized that if I let it control my life then I would never be able to do things that I enjoy. There are days where the pain is pretty bad, but I am lucky to have a team of coworkers who help me when I need it. The athletics training staff helps me out with ice and heat, and my coworkers help me set things up on game days when I have a hard time bending over or lifting anything.
How do you have fun at work?
My coworkers here at Lewis-Clark State College are incredible. They were welcoming from day one and we always find ways to have fun at work. We go out to lunch, play practical jokes, hold our own watch parties and we all really love where we work. I also have gotten to know a lot of our student-athletes and that makes the job way more enjoyable. I can joke around with them and have conversations with them around campus.
What have been the most memorable and/or rewarding moments of your career?
When I was an assistant at Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (Claremont, Calif.) I was able to photograph our women’s tennis team winning the national championship on our home courts, so that was pretty cool. Last year, which was my first at LCSC, I was able to travel with our men’s basketball team (a 10-hour bus ride through snowy mountains) to Helena, Montana for our conference tournament championship. We won, so being there for that was great, but I also got to experience negative temps for the first time. Coming from Southern California, I never thought I’d ever see -24 degrees in my life!
Last year I orchestrated our first LCSPYs, a student-athlete award show. The president and our AD both said it was a great event, and the student-athletes had a great time. It was nice to get a little recognition for something I worked so hard on.
Alexander graduated with her Masters in Coaching and Athletics Administration from Concordia University, Irvine in December 2018.