BANNER ELK, N.C. – Director of Sports Broadcasting,
Dallas Renzi, talked with former Lees-McRae Women's Soccer Player,
Julie Perkins on this week's episode of Bobcat Banter Alumni Spotlight.
Question: Talk about some of your favorite memories as a Bobcat and what did it mean to you personally going to LMC?
Perkins: "When I think of favorite memories, of course, like being a student-athlete and playing soccer, like love the game, love practice, love games and everything. However, when you really think about it, it's like a lot of off the field memories that really stick with you and kind of your close friendships that you create there, especially going to like a smaller D2 school, you really get close to your teammates. So it's not only just practicing games and conditioning, but and you eat literally every single meal together, you live together. Since there's not as many classes and the class sizes are pretty small, then you're typically in classes with them as well. So you get really close to your teammates really fast. I've created lifelong friendships from there. I've seen friends get married, I've been in weddings, seen them have children and that's something that like makes Lees-McRae really special. It's how close you get to everyone in the community and then also Banner Elk is just a special place in general. You get to live in a place where people pay to have vacation and have vacation homes and it's a beautiful spot. If we ever had an off day, sure, coaches and the ATs didn't love this, but there's always somewhere to explore or hike to do. People think of Banner Elk in the mountains as like not having like a huge big city nearby or anything, but there was a lot of fun for us to have there."
Question: In 2017, you graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with concentrations in marketing and finance. However, when you came to LMC you were unsure about what to study. Who would you say played an important role in helping you find your path?
Perkins: "Definitely the professors in the business department, Amy Anderson, Joe Walsh, Dr. Weaver were all huge. When it came to me figuring out exactly what I wanted to do, my brother and my dad work in sales, both were super successful there. I at least knew I wanted to work in the business world. So thankfully Intro to Business worked out. Amy became my advisor my sophomore year and she essentially sold the classes I signed up for myself. She was like, absolutely not. And reworked those for me and then I always knew marketing. Once I figured out I liked business, I knew I liked the marketing world. I always kind of liked numbers and then once I start taking like Intro to Finance and more of those classes, Joe Walsh was like, you definitely need to look into having more of a concentration in finance as well. So I ended up doing those double concentrations and just absolutely found my passion there. I was like always okay in school and did decent, but once I really kind of like found what I really loved and like my business classes and getting the support from them. I also like since they are smaller classes, you're on a closer relationship with your professors as well. Since you do form such a close relationship with your professors and you have so many classes with them. We have so many business classes and we have so many professors.and you're most likely going to be with Joe Walsh if it's a finance or accounting class. If it's marketing related, it's most likely going to be Amy Anderson. So you get really close with them really fast and by the end of it, if you do the work, you're not going to second guess on asking them for a recommendation. So it's those three really played a big role in kind of helping me figure out exactly what I wanted to do."
Question: What else have you been up to since you graduated?
Perkins: "So besides working in analytics, I have had some other hats as well. I had a few side hustles in my 20s. For a while on weekends, I was working as a bridal makeup artist, which was fun. I would basically work my corporate day job during the week. On the weekends, I would go to like beautiful venues in North Carolina and be able to like play with makeup and skincare all day. I've always loved all the products when it came to makeup and skincare. So it was like a fun side hustle to have and I was really close to the girls I would always go and do the makeup with. It felt like honestly hanging out with friends all day and then for a short stint there, I also was a cycle (5:03) instructor. Granted, my certification was only through that franchise, but it was so fun. If there's ever a cycle bar wherever I live next, like I definitely would love to do it in the future."
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