My Last Firebird Focus 😢

Happy Firebirds Friday! This is the last ever Firebird Focus that I will be writing, so I want to say thank you and talk about my journey while celebrating all of our graduating seniors who worked for the Firebirds this past year. No ad today; let’s jump right in.

Table of Contents

• Shylah Ellison

• David Loutfala

• My Journey and Thank You

Shylah Ellison

Our first senior we’re celebrating is Shylah Ellison! Shylah just graduated from Rolesville High School and will be attending Queens University of Charlotte in the fall. She’ll be majoring in business administration and psychology.

For the Firebirds, Shylah served as our game day operations intern this year, helping to put together game day scripts, running events between quarters and halves at games, creating our TikTok account, and inviting many people to Firebirds games. Her favorite part of working for the Firebirds was going to practices and seeing the team work together behind the scenes, as well as getting to know them better.

Congrats Shylah!

David Loutfala

Our next senior is David Loutfala! David also graduated from Rolesville High School and will be attending NC State in the fall. He’ll be majoring in political science.

David was a jack of all trades for the Firebirds this past year. He served as an assistant to our team market owner, was instrumental in starting our TikTok account, developed key relationships with many Firebirds partners and groups that attend our games, and sent a lot of emails. His favorite part of working with the Firebirds is being able to interview all the players and the funny moments that they bring.

Congrats David!

My Journey and Thank You

I can’t believe how long it’s been at this point. I started working for the Firebirds in 2022, midway through my freshman year of high school. We hadn’t fully come out of the pandemic yet, and after writing The NBA Blog for almost a year, I needed more of a challenge…something else I could do within the world of sports. I ended up as the team journalist for the Raleigh Firebirds, which spiraled into so much more than I ever could’ve imagined.

When I started writing for the team, my job consisted of writing player features, game recaps, and posting on the team’s Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, and Instagram accounts. I also did some web design and maintenance, since our website was where all my stories were posted. However, my role kept expanding. I began working in sales, both for tickets and sponsorships. I did a lot with digital marketing, creating campaigns for our social media accounts and increasing the online avenues through which we told our story. Those avenues included the creation of this newsletter, Firebird Focus, as well as our Spotify podcast (The Raleigh Firebirds Show), and a book about the team that will be published shortly.

Then, this past year, I began leading our internship program. The Firebirds were consistent when it came to landing college interns (especially from NC State), but up to that point, I was the only high schooler to work for the organization. So, I set out to change that and give opportunities to kids like myself who were hungry for more. For our 2025 season, I hired and onboarded nine interns, with three coming from high school and the other six from college. The internship program will only continue to grow in the coming years, along with the Firebirds brand and reach.

I can’t thank everyone enough. This role with the Firebirds has allowed me to develop my skills in the sports world in ways I couldn’t have imagined, and given me three and a half years of work experience before entering college. It has springboarded my career and given me the confidence to pursue roles with other well-known brands, such as MADE Hoops and the World University Games. The Firebirds were instrumental in my professional and personal growth, and I will always be indebted to this great organization.

Thank you, Firebird Focus readers, for letting me continue my passion for writing while doing other jobs for the team. I was skeptical when I first shifted over from writing on our team website to Beehiiv, but it worked out far better than expected. We’ve scaled from 0→5000 subscribers in two years, with an open rate of 36% (way above industry standard). I have complete confidence that with Nicky at the helm, it won’t be too long before we’re at 7-8,000, or even 10,000 subscribers.

This fall, I will be attending William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, majoring in Business Analytics. I will also be serving as a student manager and practice player for the women’s basketball team. While I won’t be actively working for the Firebirds anymore, I will always be rooting for this team. If anyone has any questions for me or wants to talk Firebirds, my email address is [email protected].

So long,

-Tex