Whether running on-field promotions, operating stadium music or manning the marketing table, Cappellett, who capped off her career with the Elon women's soccer team in October, has become a vital part of Elon's athletics marketing staff since joining last year. 

"Seeing as a student-athlete what goes into our games was amazing," Cappellett said. "Being able to play a part in the environment created by marketing has been amazing."

Cappellett started playing soccer at a very young age and decided to pursue the sport in college. A New York native, Cappellett wanted to head south for college. Elon was the first school Cappellett toured and she quickly fell in love. 

"It's like the cheesy feeling when you feel you're at home, but I just knew that this was the place," Cappellett said. "Everything about Elon was just perfect. Academics, athletics, everything was right up my alley."

A senior captain for the Phoenix on the pitch this season, Cappellett was a four-year player for the program and was part of Elon's spring 2021 CAA championship win, the first in school history. She finished her Elon career with 17 starts and four assists.

Off the pitch, Cappellett is a sport management major that is heavily involved in extracurricular activities. Cappellett is the vice president for Elon's Sport Management Society, the mental health committee chair and one of the women's soccer representatives for Elon's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, a member of the executive board for Elon's branch of Morgan's Message and a member of Elon's chapter of Women Influencers in Sports. 

In addition to those roles, Cappellett works as an Athletics Marketing Assistant at Elon. Cappellett's interest in marketing was piqued by one of her sport management classes. Wanting an on-campus job to gain experience in sports, she applied for a role in Elon's marketing department with Mary DeFriest, Elon's Assistant Athletic Director for Marketing and Fan Engagement. 
 
As a full-time student athlete, Cappellett was worried about not being able to commit much time to marketing due to soccer practices and other team functions. However, DeFriest said she was grateful for any time Cappellett could provide. 

"We try to say to our students in general, whatever you can give us, we will take," DeFriest said. "Emilia really embodies that piece because she gives us a lot of her time and she's also a full-time student athlete." 

Before joining Elon's athletic marketing staff, Cappellett said she never thought much about the work that goes on behind the scenes to put on games. While working her first game for marketing, she was surprised to learn how much attention to detail goes into planning an event. 

"It was definitely a shock working my first game, just opening up and seeing the script and everything that goes play-by-play," Cappellett said. "As an athlete, you hear the anthem and you hear the advertisements, but you don't know how much actually goes into that." 

Having student-athletes assist with marketing is helpful for DeFriest as they can provide valuable feedback and insight from their teammates and peers and inspire new ideas for promotions that teams will be excited about. 

"It's really great when we know from a student-athlete standpoint what teams are passionate about," DeFriest said. "It's helpful because we can make sure we're doing things that the team cares about as well, and then making sure the team's bought into it and knows what's happening." 
 
DeFriest and Assistant Director of Marketing Zoe Mooney empower their student workers to take on more responsibilities than might be available for students at other Division I schools. For DeFriest, who worked in marketing as a student herself at Indiana University, watching students develop and progress throughout their time at Elon is her favorite part of the job. 

"We give our students experiences and opportunities that other schools don't," DeFriest said. "Our Elon students have a leg up in the competition when it comes to careers or internships." 

Since joining Elon's student-marketing staff, Cappellett has worked in several roles across different Elon sports and has become one of marketing's most reliable students. 

"She has grown significantly because of the amount of time that she's given us," DeFriest said. "She was hungry to learn a lot of things. She's really passionate about doing a good job."

Cappellett parlayed her job with Elon athletics into a summer internship with Major League Baseball doing marketing operations. Among the projects she assisted with included All-Star Week, the Home Run Derby and the MLB's London series. 

"It was a once in a lifetime summer," Cappellett said. "I learned so much and being with that group of people in my department and the interns every day was truly a blessing." 

While marketing has become a passion and career aspiration for Cappellett, the job also gives her an opportunity to cheer for her classmates and friends at home games. A member of Phoenix Phanatics, a group of marketing students that helps lead the Elon student section, Cappellett relishes the opportunity to root on her fellow student-athletes. 
"I'm always going to support my student-athletes," Cappellett said. "I'll be at every game I can and I'll love every single moment of it because that's just the person I am. I love supporting people that I know."

When she returns to Elon for the spring semester, Cappellett will work for marketing in the spring before graduating in May. After enjoying her time doing marketing with Elon and the MLB, she hopes to pursue a career in sports marketing. 

This spring will be bittersweet for DeFriest, as she has loved working with Cappellett the last two years but is happy to see her working toward a promising future career in the industry. 

"I'm really excited to see what she does because she is such a passionate person," DeFriest said. "She's hardworking, dedicated and she's incredibly loyal. She does not shy away from any opportunity that's presented to her, which is incredible. Any employer would want something like that." 

As Cappellett looks ahead to her final semester at Elon, she is thankful for those that have helped her get to this point, in both soccer and her career in sports.

"Trying to balance it all is honestly easy because of my bosses. They're the best and they appreciate whatever time I can give to them," Cappellett said. "I'm also so grateful for everything my parents have given me along the way because I wouldn't be here without them. I would not be able to have this opportunity to play college soccer or any of the years of soccer I've played without them and their support continuously. I can't thank them enough." 
 

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'Rising Phoenix' is a new student-led initiative to cover Elon Athletics. Through innovative content creation and storytelling, Elon University students will have the opportunity to highlight the moments, people and events that make an impact, leveraging the athletic department's various web and social media platforms for distribution. Follow Rising Phoenix on Twitter (@EURisingPhoenix) and Instagram (@elonrisingphoenix). Interested in joining this initiative as a content creator (video, graphics, writing, storytelling, or more)? Contact Jacob Kisamore at jkisamore@elon.edu.

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