{"id":95251,"date":"2025-03-06T11:12:52","date_gmt":"2025-03-06T16:12:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsroom.carleton.ca\/?post_type=cu_story&p=95251"},"modified":"2025-10-17T18:55:19","modified_gmt":"2025-10-17T22:55:19","slug":"carletons-all-female-team-scores-gold-in-mlse-case-competition","status":"publish","type":"cu_story","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/story\/carletons-all-female-team-scores-gold-in-mlse-case-competition\/","title":{"rendered":"Carleton\u2019s All-Female Team Scores Gold in MLSE Case Competition"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n Carleton\u2019s All-Female Team Scores Gold in MLSE Case Competition\n <\/h1>\n \n <\/header>\n <\/div>\n\n \n <\/path>\n <\/path>\n <\/svg>\n <\/div>\n\n \n\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n

While case competitions have traditionally been the domain of business schools, three Carleton University students, Itoro Umanah (Bachelor of Communications and Media Studies<\/a>), Lauren Tham (Bachelor of Public Affairs and Policy Management<\/a>) and Jahnelle Woldegiorgis (Bachelor of Global and International Studies<\/a>) rose to the challenge as first-time competitors and won first place in the MLSE Global Partnerships Case Competition<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The annual sports marketing competition drew more than 1,350 participants from across Canada and globally, divided into 290 post-secondary teams. The competitors harnessed their expertise and creativity \u2013 developing novel partnership proposals for one of the company\u2019s sports teams and a potential corporate partner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Winning
Winning team members Lauren Tham (second from left), Itoro Umanah (centre), Jahnelle Woldegiorgis (right) and competition officials.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Carleton Faculty of Public and Global Affairs<\/a> team set out to create a comprehensive marketing plan leveraging the well-known brand of the Toronto Maple Leafs in new ways to promote a drugstore pain reliever to fans. Their innovative approach to the partnership won them the top spot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But how did they get involved in the case competition in the first place?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to team captain Umanah, her passion for sports marketing and brand partnerships led her to discovering the competition a few days before its application window closed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was a great opportunity for us to get our foot in the door in the sports marketing industry,\u201d says Umanah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Time was of the essence, so Umanah reached out to Tham and Woldegiorgis \u2013 two of her peers  from extracurricular activities with the Carleton University Students\u2019 Association.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They readily agreed and the team got to work, submitting their first partnership pitch to the judges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI’m passionate about business partnerships and sports,\u201d says Tham. \u201cThis was a perfect way to combine both of my interests.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

\"The<\/figure>\n\n\n

From Classroom to Competitive Edge<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Their entry into the contest was an opportunity to utilize their classroom skills in new ways, according to Woldegiorgis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy concentration is in media communications and I have an interest working in sports public relations,\u201d she says. \u201cBeing able to see how my degree can be applied differently helps me determine where I can succeed and where I can grow.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The subsequent rounds of the competition saw the field of teams whittled down from the original 290 to 60 to the final 15. The team convened at the Scotiabank Arena in downtown Toronto to deliver their winning pitch to the judges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cWinning this competition, especially as non-business students, has been an incredible experience,\u201d says Tham. \u201cCollaborating with my teammates to develop creative partnerships was both challenging and rewarding.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to what they learned in the classroom, the three winners agree that their experiences working with Carleton\u2019s many clubs also helped to provide the marketing skills and creativity needed to succeed against the fierce competition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDespite being one of the only non-business student teams, our unique insight on the industry was to our benefit,\u201d says Woldegiorgis.<\/p>\n\n\n

\"The<\/figure>\n\n\n

Confidence: Fuel to the Fire<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

As first-place winners, each of the Carleton students were selected to interview for MLSE\u2019s Summer Associate internship. While they await the results of the interviews, they look back fondly on the experience and the added confidence they have gained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe took a chance on ourselves and came out on top,\u201d says Woldegiorgis. \u201cI have a new level of confidence in myself. This experience really puts into perspective how important it is to believe in yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Winning<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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The team hopes that their success encourages others to explore non-traditional paths in their careers \u2013 no matter their degree.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI couldn\u2019t be prouder of what we achieved,\u201d says Tham. \u201cI hope our journey inspires other students to step outside their comfort zones because success isn\u2019t limited by a specific background.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is a sentiment shared by Umanah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI hope this win is an inspiration to any student who thought they had to fit a certain description to realize a dream of theirs,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere is no description, never settle.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

–
\nMore Stories<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Photo of Toronto Maple Leafs Jersey by Scott Gummerson \/ Unsplash<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Photo of Scotiabank Arena by FarzadFrames<\/span> \/ iStock<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While case competitions have traditionally been the domain of business schools, three Carleton University students, Itoro Umanah (Bachelor of Communications and Media Studies), Lauren Tham (Bachelor of Public Affairs and Policy Management) and Jahnelle Woldegiorgis (Bachelor of Global and International Studies) rose to the challenge as first-time competitors and won first place in the MLSE […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":410,"featured_media":95286,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"cu_story_type":[25],"cu_story_tag":[1921],"class_list":["post-95251","cu_story","type-cu_story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","cu_story_type-student-experience","cu_story_tag-faculty-of-public-and-global-affairs"],"acf":{"cu_post_thumbnail":"blueprint"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/95251","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/cu_story"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/410"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/95251\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":98476,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/95251\/revisions\/98476"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/95286"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95251"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"cu_story_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story_type?post=95251"},{"taxonomy":"cu_story_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story_tag?post=95251"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}