A Dundee University student who spends her spare time creating YouTube content about ice hockey has landed a dream job.
Victoria Stewart’s obsession with the sport started in 2016 when she was invited to a Dundee Stars ice hockey match by a friend.
Even though she had never watched the game before, she was instantly transfixed and was soon a committed Stars season ticket-holder.
From there, she gravitated towards North America’s National Hockey League (NHL), the world’s top ice hockey competition, and the Toronto Maple Leafs in particular.
Her musings on the fast-paced, physical sport have earned Victoria a following of around 20,000 across Twitter and YouTube, many whom are from ice hockey’s spiritual home of Canada.
The Maple Leafs even tweeted to their two million followers to welcome Victoria to their Scotiabank Arena when she visited for the first time in November.
Dream industry job for Victoria Stewart
The 22-year-old from Dundee is studying the MSc International Marketing and Management course at Dundee’s School of Business with hopes of one day working in sports media.
This, along with her social media skills, has landed a job in her dream industry before she even graduates.
Victoria is taking up a role as media manager with digital marketing agency Key & Eagle, where she will promote the company’s sports clients.
She said: “I have been to pretty much every Dundee Stars home game since my first one but my YouTube and freelance stuff is more focused on the NHL. It’s the biggest market and the best standard.
“I am a massive Maple Leafs fan and I managed to get over to Toronto for the first time a couple of months ago and it was amazing.
“The time difference doesn’t make it easy to be an NHL fan in this country. I’m up to 3am most nights watching games and creating content around them.
“I came to know the owner of Key & Eagle through the UK hockey scene. He knew about what I was doing on social media and invited me for an interview when this job came up.
“I love sports marketing and it’s the perfect place for me to start my career.
“It is amazing that it has happened while I’m still studying.”
Dundee Uni links to ice hockey
The university enjoys a strong connection to her favourite sport.
A long-standing partnership sees the School of Business offer scholarships to talented players who continue their studies while turning out for Dundee Stars.
This partnership also informs the Managing and Leading in Sports module which sees students explore the challenges of managing a sports team as well as wider community engagement in terms of branding, marketing, and sponsorship.
Victoria will balance her role with Key & Eagle with her studies for the rest of the academic year.
“I’ve learned so much already from my masters degree, but in particular studying place branding and strategy have been really beneficial to me,” she said.
“We are covering project management and digital marketing this semester too, both of which will be useful to me in my future career.”
Conversation