Women’s History Month Q&A: Imogen Rosa from CLTX Gaming

As part of Women’s History Month, we’re spotlighting women in the esports field who are changing the game. We recently caught up with Imogen Rosa from CLTX Gaming to learn more about how she makes an impact.

 

How would you describe your role and responsibilities in your position? 

I manage all of the social media and content for the Boston Celtics NBA2KLeague team, CLTX Gaming, so whenever you’re talking to a CLTX Gaming account, it’s usually me. At the Celtics, our gaming department falls under corporate partnerships so a lot of the work in the offseason is creating new concepts for partners and planning what our season will look like content-wise. Prior to the season, I’m heavily involved with deciding which new players join our team alongside our Coach Ricco and team operations manager Michael. Once the players get to market I work with them to help them feel more confident talking to the media and I really get to develop our social and digital assets based on their personalities.

 

What do you enjoy most about what you do? 

I love how every day is different. When you work on social media you really don’t know what news story is going to break or how your team is going to perform, so it keeps every day really interesting. I also pretty much have free range on what I want to create and how I am going to do it, which is incredibly rare in sports organizations.

 

Who have been your biggest role models and inspirations? 

First and foremost, I would definitely say my mom. I was raised by a single mom who is a pioneer in the international education community, so I definitely felt that I was encouraged to push myself so I could achieve my goals. I’m a big tennis fan so Billie Jean King and the Williams sisters inspired me a lot growing up. I saw how they broke down barriers and from a young age, it really showed me how if you want something bad enough and you work hard enough you have a chance at achieving your goals.

 

How do you celebrate Women’s History Month? 

I would say I focus heavily on championing women as a whole. Whether that’s supporting someone’s brand, by buying from them, or supporting them through a career change – or really just being open to talking with them.

 

What does it mean to you to have CLTX Gaming select the second-ever woman player to play in the NBA 2K League? 

It means a lot to our team and organization as a whole. Prior to the draft, we reached out to our VP of Player Development at the Boston Celtics, Allison Feaster (who is also a former player for the LA Sparks, a Harvard graduate and an all-around incredible woman) about announcing our pick of Alaina (DjLayyy) in the 2021 Draft. She was super excited about the possibility, as was the rest of our front office, that Alaina could be joining our team. At CLTX Gaming we are very focused on improving our players on and off the court. We enjoy looking at prospects through a holistic lens and see who has the most growth potential and could be the best cultural fit for the team as a whole. This year felt like the perfect year to draft Alaina (DjLayyy), as she ticked all the boxes. On a personal note, I’m incredibly excited at the thought of having another woman on the CTLX Gaming team after 3 years of being the only one.

 

How do you think companies can strive to be more inclusive to women in the workplace? 

I think that one-way companies can strive to be more inclusive to women in the workplace is by recognizing that equity does not mean equality. As women, we’re often under more scrutiny than our male counterparts to prove that we know the sport we are covering. My first job out of college was at the NFL and as a woman who had never played football in her life, I constantly found myself trying to prove that I belonged on the field. If more schools, universities and organizations could allow and encourage women to explore different career paths I think we would start to see a lot more inclusivity in the workplace.

 

What advice would you give to other women trying to break into the sports and entertainment industry? 

I would say, don’t be afraid to apply. The worst that could happen is that they say no. You never know what a company is looking for. I came into my position with very limited knowledge of the NBA2KLeague, but my previous background spoke for itself and fit the needs of the Boston Celtics. Also, don’t be afraid to reach out. My DMs on Twitter are always open and I can always be reached on LinkedIn and I know there are so many other women in sports and entertainment who are always open to talk. We have all been in your position before!

 

How important is it to you to work for an organization that constantly strives to bring greater awareness and equity to women in the workplace? 

It’s incredibly important and I love how much emphasis there is on it at the Celtics. I love going into meetings where we have an equal split between genders, but we also have such varied backgrounds as individuals. Our community engagement team does an incredible job having so many external projects on the go at once and also looking at ways our organization can do better internally. I’m excited to add Alaina to our team and I hope in the future we see many more women drafted into the NBA2KLeague.