Flyers’ Next Shift program promotes female mentorship

PHILADELPHIA -- Tjaden Litwiler was used to being in male-dominated spaces, whether it was going to sporting events with her father and brother growing up in Colorado, or attending a mostly male STEM school during high school.

So Litwiler, a freshman at the University of Pennsylvania, jumped at the opportunity provided by the Philadelphia Flyers’ Next Shift program, which allowed 26 college-age women to shadow women throughout the Flyers organization before and during the game against the Toronto Maple Leafs at Wells Fargo Center on Thursday.

"I have seen what it's like being in certain environments where I'm the only woman in the room, especially with sports," Litwiler said. "I've never been in a situation where I am able to connect with women who are all interested in the same thing, have passions for the same thing, and it's strictly an all-women environment. So I think that's incredibly important in terms of motivation, and being able to look up to future mentors and just being able to see that yes, this is possible, and I have a group of women who will support me through whatever I would like to do in the future."

Litwiler shadowed Wells Fargo Center director of events Lyric Hamilton.

"It means everything to me," Hamilton said of being a mentor. "I never had a mentor that looked like me coming up in this space for the last 10-plus years. So to be that for someone else, especially girls of color, it really means a lot because I want to give back to girls that look like me who may not have that."

Hamilton said she had several valued male mentors along the way, but as a woman of color understands how much representation matters.

"Seeing that someone who looks like you can do it, who's already doing it, means the world," she said.

Next Shift is in its second year, with mentees shadowing women in departments ranging from events to game-night operations, broadcasting, public relations, sales, ticketing and more.

"It's a way to build the pipeline," said Blair Listino, Flyers chief financial and administration officer and alternate governor. "In order to get women into the industry, you have to build the pipeline. You have to start from the bottom and really build up to the people coming out of college, out of school and growing it from there."

Hailey Osowski is part of that group coming out of college. The Drexel University senior shadowed three members of the Flyers PR staff: manager of hockey communications Megan Kogut, coordinator of hockey communications Allie Samuelsson and publicist Kate Kizitaff.

"It's so special to be here and surrounded by all of these women and really just there's so much to learn," Osowski said. "Being able to come out in the field and see everything kind of firsthand and get that hands-on experience is really important."

Lauren Koranda knows how important that experience can be. She was part of the Next Shift program last year, shadowing Hamilton, and returned this year as a full-time employee in the communications department.

"I came into this last year truly just exploring my options," she said. "I was a theater major (at Muhlenberg College) and I specifically applied to shadow Lyric because I had read how Lyric was using her theater degree in this environment. And I was like, how could I maybe use my degree in this environment too. ... Getting the privilege of watching Lyric, who's the head honcho in the building on a given game night, she knows everyone that is coming through these doors and says hello to every employee, has a relationship with all of them and has the respect of everyone in this building. Seeing her in all of those interactions that night gave me so much hope that her applying her degree in that way would mean that maybe someday I could too.

"And now I'm here a year later and I get to watch all of these mentees tonight and think about my experience last year."

As much as the mentees benefit from the Next Shift experience, the mentors get something out of it, too.

"I honestly learn a lot from the mentees," Listino said. "They come with fresh ideas. They're all eager to be here. They're eager to work. It freshens you up. It makes everything really exciting. It makes you also get really excited about your job and realize how lucky you are to be in the position that you're in."