The 35th Annual Whitney M. Young, Jr. Memorial Conference
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Karlyn Lothery
Founder, Sports Talkers
Karlyn Lothery formed Sports Talkers after more than a decade of communications and training experience. Sports Talkers allows her to combine her two great loves: sports and communication, by offering image and spokesperson development sessions to college and professional sports teams, players and coaches. Lothery grew up as an active athlete, playing basketball, softball, soccer, tennis, swimming, gymnastics, and she ran track.
Beginning her professional career as a news and sports reporter/anchor in Charleston, SC (WCSC) and Augusta, GA (WRDW), Karlyn covered baseball, basketball, football, NASCAR, PGA, WWE Wrestling, and hockey.. After leaving television, she moved behind the camera to help executives, sports figures, and other public figures become confident and poised spokespeople for their respective organizations. Whether she coached them to face tough media interviews, or simply be more camera friendly in advertising campaigns, she’s assisted more than 1,000 clients in shaping their personal and professional image.
She later moved on to work for the United States Tennis Association (USTA) where she created the Office of Diversity, working to bring greater ethnic and gender diversity into the sport of tennis, on and off the court. Training more than 2,000 members, staff, volunteers and stakeholders in sensitivity and awareness, team building, outreach and recruitment during her tenure, the national diversity initiative thrived. Lothery changed the way diversity was perceived, by focusing on the business case for inclusion and how to best break the barriers getting in the way.
Recently, Karlyn returned to face the camera, covering the Nautica New York City Triathlon in 2007 and 2008, which has been carried on NY-1, NBC and Fox. She is a member of the Adjunct Faculty at her alma mater, Georgetown University, teaching in the Sports Industry Management Program.