Christine Simmons
Los Angeles Sparks
Los Angeles, CA USA
"Just because you have ‘failed’ at something, doesn’t make you a failure. It’s just a learning moment. It’s about managing how you perceive failure."
Career Roadmap
Christine's work combines: Business, Non-Profit Organizations, and Helping People
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Day In The Life
Skills &
Education
Advice for getting started
Volunteer and intern for the part of the job that you think you would like the least. Getting experience in those areas will help you not only figure out what you really like, but will also allow you to tackle the areas you don't with a better perspective and appreciation.
Here's the path I took:
High School
Bachelor's Degree
Physiology, General
University of California-Los Angeles
Life & Career Milestones
My path in life took a while to figure out
1.
Attended UCLA and received a degree in physiological sciences as a pre-med student with the goal of opening nonprofit health centers to help her community.
2.
Advocacy and diversity have always been her passions—admits that she spent more time doing community service than studying, so her grades suffered.
3.
Instead of pursuing a medical degree, she attended a post-baccalaureate program and discovered that she could pursue her passion for community service in a different industry.
4.
For over a decade, she worked in various diversity and sustainability roles for United Technologies, The Walt Disney Company, and NBCUniversal, Inc.
5.
Got the opportunity to work for Magic Johnson Enterprises—first, as the vice president of strategic alliances and, later, as the organization’s executive vice president.
6.
Was mentored directly by Earvin "Magic" Johnson Jr.
7.
Now serves as president & chief operations officer of the three-time WNBA championship team, the Los Angeles Sparks, and helped lead them to their 2016 championship.
8.
Also serves on the Board of Directors for the UCLA Alumni Association and volunteers with Better Futures for Thomazeau, a nonprofit providing aid to Haiti.
Defining Moments
How I responded to discouragement
THE NOISE
Messages from Myself:
I failed. I'm a failure.
How I responded:
I've "failed" at a lot of things. It took me a long time to learn how to reframe how I think about failure. I may fail at things, but I choose not to think of myself as a failure. I just move on to the next thing.
Experiences and challenges that shaped me
I've switched my career path several times. Going from being pre-med in college to pursuing diversity at large corporations to leading a professional sports team. They all came with challenges, but I have a skill set that I adapted for all of them.
My mom was a single parent and raised me and my 3 sisters on her own.
I was the first in my family to graduate from college. My mom didn't know anything about the process, so I didn't have any help. I learned to network in order to get ahead.
When I was in high school, I suffered some sports injuries that prevented me from pursuing my dream of being a college athlete. I had to pivot and go down a different path.
Working in sports as a woman is challenging enough, but running a sports league for women in an industry that is dominated by men is harder. We constantly face the challenge of having to prove that women can play basketball at a professional level.