57. Imperfections in Perseverance: How to Never Give Up with Casting Director, Lisa Stokes

“Failure is not for the weak at heart. It's not, you have to own your failures in persevere through it because they allow you to grow.” - Lisa Stokes Failed it! Fam, on today’s episode we have a sports and entertainment expert with us, Lisa Stokes! Listen in as she tells us stories of overcoming setbacks in her career, how 2020 was the hardest year of her professional and personal life, and how hardships can lead to some of your greatest gifts. In today’s episode, Lisa talks to us about: A day in the life of a sports business professional When life throws you unexpected hardships Resilience and perseverance   Links from show discussions: F Words at Work with improve it! Instagram & Twitter: @LisaAStokes NeverLoseYourCape.com   About the Guest: Lisa Stokes has been in the sports and entertainment world for over 15 years as a Director of Casting, Talent Booking and Athlete Marketing. With two years in non-profit public relations and 13 years at ESPN, she has extensive experience within all areas of television and film talent procurement, celebrity and athlete booking, as well as influencer castings. Through her career, Lisa has built a large team and managed many areas of the sports business world. Lisa works with agents, PR firms, publicists, production companies and movie studio clients on a regular basis. You can see her work in commercials for Sony Pictures, Netflix, Land Rover, Universal Pictures, Warner Brothers, Paramount, Kellogg and other major national companies and brands (campaigns can be seen in the “My Portfolio” tab). Negotiating and executing all talent contracts and strategies is also one of her seasoned skills. Lisa also was the casting director and booker for ESPN’s high acclaimed annual espnW Women + Sports Summit. In Lisa’s previous roles, she ran the talent content booking department for seven years, securing guests for all ESPN television shows. This also included visitors to ESPN who go through the “Bristol Car Wash,” the somewhat tongue-in-cheek term for the often-hectic schedule sports and entertainment celebrities undertake in appearing all over ESPN family of digital, social and linear networks. Lisa also worked for the Women’s Sports Foundation in public relations, managing logistics of events such as press conferences, satellite media tours and professional and Olympic athlete appearances. She also wrote stories for and edited publications, was a ghost writer for the CEO, president and founder, and worked with the media on increasing the foundation’s profile.Lisa graduated summa cum laude from Georgetown University with a graduate degree in Sports Business Management and Boston’s Suffolk University with a bachelor’s degree in communications and journalism.  Lisa is also graduate school professor at NYU and Georgetown University. The former college hooper also coached basketball at every level for 15 years. She resides in the Boston area with her husband and three young children.   About the Host: Erin Diehl is the founder and Chief “Yes, And” officer of improve it! and host of the failed it! Podcast. She’s a performer, facilitator and professional risk-taker who lives by the mantra, “get comfortable with the uncomfortable.” Through a series of unrelated dares, Erin has created improve it!, a unique professional development company that pushes others to laugh, learn and grow. Her work with clients such as United Airlines, PepsiCo, Groupon, Deloitte, Motorola, Walgreens, and The Obama Foundation earned her the 2014 Chicago RedEye Big Idea Award and has nominated her for the 2015-2019 Chicago Innovations Award. This graduate from Clemson University is a former experiential marketing and recruiting professional as well as a veteran improviser from the top improvisational training programs in Chicago, including The Second City, i.O. Theater, and The Annoyance Theatre. When she is not playing pretend or facilitating, she enjoys running and beach dates with her husband and son, and their eight pound toy poodle, BIGG Diehl. You can follow the failed it! podcast on Instagram @learntoimproveit and facebook, and you can follow Erin personally on Instagram @keepinitrealdiehl here. You can also check out improve it! and how we can help your organization at www.learntoimproveit.com. We can’t wait to connect with you online!