Some candid thoughts from the outgoing digital communications manager.

March 5, 2020 by Charlie Eisenhood in Interview with comments

This interview was originally published as part of my In The Zone monthly email newsletter for Ultiworld subscribers. It has been stirring some discussion on social media, so I’ve unlocked it for everyone. Please consider subscribing: this newsletter is just one of many great benefits!

Maelyn Divinski served as the Digital Marketing and Communications Manager for USA Ultimate for three years, starting in early 2017. She just left the position to become the Manager of Communications for the USA Hockey Women’s National Team program after being contacted by a recruiter in late 2019.

Divinski was the person behind USAU’s social media accounts and helped to develop much of the organization’s digital strategy.

She sat down with me last week to talk about her experience working for USAU. Our interview has been edited for clarity.

What do you take away from your time at USA Ultimate?

I took away a lot of really great opportunities to start at the ground floor and just create a really big vision for some cool projects and ideas to help grow the sport, one being the #LiveUltimate brand and campaign in general and the other part working with some really passionate people, not just about the sport but the fact that they just want to do good work. And they want to feel like it adds up and matters to a bigger picture.

And then I definitely learned that USAU has to deal with some unique personalities within the community, some of the elite athletes.

Learning how to communicate with people that are just so passionate about a sport that they feel gives back a lot to them. That’s why they’re trying to give their opinions and their vision back to the sport to see it continue to thrive. But that also causes a lot of differing opinions.

I think overall I definitely walked away from this job with like a ton of different friendships, which sounds super corny but really true.

What does USA Ultimate need to do to take the next step in the sport?

This is a very unpopular opinion. Or maybe it’s not. Gotta get into the Olympics, and USAU is headed that way. I think they’re doing all the right things. But obviously that doesn’t come down to USAU, that comes down to WFDF.

USA Ultimate is working really hard, giving all their resources and assets to help WFDF reach that…